Trees of green, red roses too

Where to begin, where to begin...
I'm back from Hawaii, and it was exceptional. It's been on my destination list for a long long time, so even I am a little surprised it all came together so quickly and so well. Thank you Zoe, for planting the seeds over Labor Day, and for being a terrific travel partner!

Sadly, I've only ever taken one other vacation to a tropical destination (and as great as Puerto Vallarta was, it's got nothing on Hawaii); most of my time off is burned in less glamorous places. I was, therefore, quite excited, though not entirely prepared.

First, the Big Island is BIG. I mean, I knew it was bigger than the others combined and that it takes a couple hours to drive around, and that it has 5 main volcanoes, two of which top out over 13,600 feet, but still I was taken aback by the sheer bigness. Second, it's warm and muggy. Obviously, right? But when you're used to sweaters and heat lamps year 'round, it's pretty novel to be in flipflops and short sleeves after dark. Also, ocean water is salty. Well duh. And warm! So clearly I'm never in the icy waters of NorCal, and it was a revelation to be in the bathtub blue there, swimming, kayaking, snorkeling (gasping, choking), body surfing.

The trip in brief: Landed in Hilo. Swooned over the blue-eyed Brazilian "Paulo" at the car rental counter. Drove off in our banana-yellow Jeep Wrangler Sport, winding our way up the spectacular (!!) Hamakua Coast. Hit the fog at nightfall in Waimea but found our way to the hotel in Kona. Barely squeaked into the restaurant reservations and got a little lost getting back from dinner. Went to Wal-mart. Sunscreen. Lay on the beach, pet sea turtles, explored the Kona coast. Ate cinnamon buns the size of my head. Sunscreen. Kayaked into a sea cave and had an entire bay to our snorkeling selves. Drove back across desolate lava fields, ate local ice cream in Hawi, checked into our B&B on the slopes of Kohala. Sunscreen. Lay on the beach, swam. Looked out over the stunning Pololu Valley (trails down in closed due to the earthquake), drove (top down!) the mountain road to ranch country, failed to find internet cafe. Sunscreen. Drove Saddle Road between the volcanoes back to Hilo. Shopped, walked to waterfalls. Fish tacos. Went to Volcanoes National Park, hiked, dined, dropped. Doorless helicopter tour of the volcanoes. Sunscreen. Hiked across the floor of a huge crater, trailblazed across the floor of the caldera. Turned off our headlamps at the back of a long and deserted lava tube. Sunscreen. Hiked and explored the remainder of the crater trails, saw nene, hiked to petroglyphs, hiked across frozen lava flows into the dark to see red hot lava pouring into the steaming surf. Knit.

And just like that, the week was over and I was back at work almost as though it had never happened, with hardly a tan to show for it, what with all the sunscreen.