When we arrived at the Kona airport on Friday night it was already dark, so we drove with the top down (yes, we got a convertible), enjoyed the stars, and wondered what was in the black expanse surrounding us.
The hotel was very nice and we checked in and checked the place out. Had one mai tai at the bar and called it a night, and woke up to this view:
Mauna Loa (Long Mountain) was looming out our window. I didn't know it was there when I went to bed! We had to get up and out early on Saturday as the Ironman competition was going on and would be shutting down the highway on Kona side (where we were staying). For those of you that don't know about the Ironman (I didn't), it's a 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike ride, rounded out with a 26.2 mile run. All in a row. Ouch. The winner completed all of it in 8 hours and 15 minutes. That's a whole lot of exercising in a row. People do this for fun? Uff da. Kudos to them.
Anyway, we were on the road by 7 AM and we headed north around the island (instead of south as we had planned--the Ironman put a damper on that). We put the top down, and it was cold! I was amazed at the lack of life on the Kona side of the island. The lava ground is not the most hospitable environment, and it's also in the rain shadow of the two mountains on the middle of the island. The result: green and lush on one side, lava rock and barren on the other.
On the northern side of the island we could see the cliffs of Maui, and wherever we went, we could see Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea (white mountain). It was so clear that morning we could see the observatories on the top of Mauna Kea. I thought that was really cool.
Our main goal on this trip was to go to the Volcanoes National Park, so we drove around the island with glances and a few stops, but we were on a mission. And we've seen waterfalls and beaches and mountains--we wanted to see something different. Saturday we spent most of the day at the park. More on that soon...
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