The Big Island in 72 hours ...

Remember this post when I made non-refundable reservations on the Big Island, and then found out the temple was going to be closed. And I was upset at priceline because we couldn't cancel our trip to the Big Island. Well, we just got back and its time to report on our 72 hour Big Island trip ...

Day 1: Kona & Visit the temple. Unfortunately it was closed for cleaning. But we stopped by and visited the grounds anyways ...
Our car got upgraded to a PT crusier. should we really consider that an upgrade, i dunno? relax at the hotel. I know I said I hated priceline when they wouldn't let me cancel my reservations, but all this for 90 bucks ... I love 'em now. Day 2: "Adventure Day"/Driving in the Car for a really long time day
Captain Cook Monument. First, we rented kayaks, paddled for 30 minutes across a bay, and arrived here:
Then we got out our snorkels, masks, and fins ... the best snorkeling ever ... it was AMAZING. We saw a giant ray, a ton of beautiful tropical fish, huge colorful corals. Then we ate some snacks and paddled back. my favorite part of adventure day.


Question: Where is the southern most part of the United States?
Answer: If you said the Florida Keys, your wrong its South Point, Hawaii, our next stop:

Jordan jumped off the point... I have before, but I was too chicken this time. Then we played with rocks ... Enjoying our time out of the car and in the sun Volcano National Park: we wish that we would have had more time to explore the Volcanoes ... we both wanted to see the lava, but we didn't have the time to hike to it. But we checked out the steaming caldera and the lava tubes ...
Mauna Kea: we dont have any pictures of this part, but we drove to the top of Mauna Kea (over 13,000 ft) as the sun was setting, by the time we got to the top the sun was gone and we were the only ones there. It was AMAZING. It was so dark, you could see every star in the sky! We stopped at the visitor center on the way up to acclimate and we got to check out Saturn & its rings in one of there telescopes. this was Jordans favorite part of adventure day. Then Jordan drove for about 2 hours, while I slept in the passenger seat.

Day 3: we spent nearly the entire day in the sun. We went from the ocean, to the pool, to the hot tub and all over again. Only breaking for a quick lunch in Waimea. Jordan's new favorite town in Hawaii, because there are real Hawaiian cowboys there. Then we went back to our hotel for some more reading and relaxing in the sun. Then we drove to costco to fill up on gas and get ice cream. Dropped the PT Crusier off and then we nearly missed our flight, we made it by seconds ... they were closing the doors when we ran up to the plane.

The Big Island is really BIG. We didn't have the time to see everything that we wanted to. We can't wait to go back!