We had an awesome day yesterday. We began with a drive through the mountains and along the coast towards the south of the Big Island, where we visited the southernmost point in the United States - and the southermost bakery. The views of the ocean were just spectacular from the mountains. Along the way we drove by countless macadamia nut farms and kona coffee farms.

We then headed on to Punalu'u, a black sand beach, which was really amazing. The sand is made of fine grains, just like the sand on a normal beach, but it is formed from black lava. There were lots of sea turtles in the water sticking their heads up, diving down, or sticking a flipper up to say hi. We were luck enough to see one of the sea turtles sunbathing on the beach for a few minutes before it let the waves carry it back into the water again.



After the black sand beach, it was onward to the volcano! Kilauea is still an active volcano, and while it hasn't had an eruption in 2 years, we were still able to see the lava flowing into the ocean. We began our adventures in Volcano National Park by hiking through some lava tubes (a cave-like tube through the lava) and through the rainforest at the top of the mountain. We then hiked over to one of the craters at top that looked like a hard black swimming pool. You could see how the flow had just wiped out everything in its path.

We then visited another crater that still had active steam vents, and you could actually see the steam rising out of the earth! There was so much sulfur in the earth at this crater that you could see the yellow layers on the side of the crater. Even more than seeing it, the smell of the sulfur was worse than Ari after Mexican food.

Then we drove down the side of kilauea and did another hike out to some ancient petroglyphs that were carved into the lava. There were circles and glyphs of people even a flying saucer! Just kidding. There weren't any circles.



We finished our drive to the bottom of the mountain, where we hiked across the lava closer to where the flow was hitting the ocean. The flow created a wall of steam, which was visible from miles away. It was amazing-- on the hike, you could see where the flow had just gone right over the road. There were even little sections of the road were still exposed, where the flow had spared it. You could turn around 360 degrees, and all you saw was black lava! We waited until dusk, and then you could actually see the bright orange lava flowing into the ocean. The lava is "making the Big Island bigger" as they say in all the tour books. On top of an old lava flow, we sat in awe of the great power of the earth that was evident all around us.



Last night we stayed in Hilo, on the east side of the island, and we are going to explore some waterfalls today before we head back to Kona.
We have tons more pictures that we will be able to post when we get home, but we an only do so much at an internet cafe.
Lots of love,
Ari and Jillian

May 30- Kona, Hawaii

Aloha! Hawaii is beautiful and we have gotten some much needed sleep. Many thanks to our families who helped make the wedding such a beautiful day for us and to our friends who helped pack us up and get us out of Brooklyn. Thank you also to everyone who wrote comments and emails to us-- internet time is at a premium, so we cannot reply individually to everyone, but we really appreciate hearing from you all!
We got to into Kona, on the west coast of the Big Island of Hawaii on Saturday, though we can't say the same for our luggage. No need to feel bad, we had bathing suits with us, and really, what more do you need here? We promptly went to the farmer's market for some fresh papayas and pineapple and then straight on to the beach where we swam with sea turtles. After all of the madness of the last few weeks, we were thrilled to be able to relax and cook an intimate dinner for two with some of the local vegetables we picked up at the farmer's market. We ate our meal on our balcony, overlooking the ocean.
Sunday we went to "Puuhonua O Honaunau," the Place of Refuge, where all of the ancient Hawaiian kings were buried. It is considered the most sacred spot on the Big Island to the native Hawaiians. We saw some replicas of ancient Hawaiian huts and of course, tiki statues.


Then we walked along the coastline, made completely out of lava. We peered into wading pools and saw sea urchins, black crabs, and some sea cucumbery looking thing. After such a long hard morning, we had to just spend the rest of the afternoon on the beach.
Yesterday, we vegged out on Hapuna beach, a beautiful white sand beach on the Kohala coast. We divided our time evenly between playing in the waves, walking the beach, and napping in the sun, so as to have a well rounded day. The water was bluer than you could ever believe water to be. And yes, Grandma, we wore lots of sunblock. Last night we dined at the Fairmont Orchid hotel and watched the sun set over the palm trees, the lava, and the hula dancer. It was just spectacular!



Today we are headed to Kilauea (a live volcano!!!!) to see where all of this lava really comes from. Every year, the lava flowing into the ocean adds 20 acres to the Big Island (or so we were told by a drunk retired plumber we met on the beach). Tonight we will spend the night in Hilo, on the eastern side of the island and check out some waterfalls tomorrow.
Talk to you in a few days!
Aloha,
Ari and Jillian

May 23- Brooklyn, NY

Well, we did it! We are back in Brooklyn after a marvelous wedding. We are shipping out for Hawaii on Saturday, where we will spend one week on the Big Island, and we will update you from there.
Aloha,
Jillian and Ari