Merry Christmas!!

You may have to click on the card to see the details...

Still alive!

Well, sort of.

Sorry for the long stretch of time. I guess that's why I began blogging when I was still in Hawaii...because I assumed that I would not get around to blogging about the trip very quickly AFTERWARDS. So, our stay in Hawaii was 14 days long. 7 nights of that were spent in a tent, 2 nights in the car, and 5 nights in cheaps hotels/hostels.

I would say it was definitely more of a work trip than a pleasure trip. We made it to the beach once, but did manage to do some sight-seeing. To see all of the potential shopping areas on each island, we literally circle the perimeter of each island. We drove a LOT, and I was sick a LOT. It didn't help that the is the first time I've ever had "Morning Sickness" in droves...oh wait...did I just write that? Yup...due July 5th-ish.

So, we arrived on the Big Island for the last 5 or so days of our trip. We visited every major shopping area we could (the not-so-fun-part-of-the-trip-to-blog-about), and also managed to see where the recent lava flows are. We were driving on recently paved roads over stretches of dried volcanic rock, such as this.

This lava flow is fairly recent, and covered whole communities. So what do they do? Rebuild on top...

And please note the steam from the STILL ACTIVE lava flow viewable from the house...

We drove up to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park for a total of 30 minutes, or however fast we could make it through. They had notices for high sulferic gas levels, and encouraged visitors to not stay long if they felt unwell. Jared is trying not to get burned from the steam coming out of this hole...

And I am simply trying to BREATHE. Steam was coming out EVERYWHERE you looked. It reminded me of Yellowstone.

Volcanic tubes can be found under the dense rain forest-type canopy...really amazing!

We ventured to the Southern tip of the Big Island, and saw some turtles laying around...

And despite what the GPS says...we didn't go boating or swimming.

The Southernmost Restaurant in ALL of the US.

And skipping to somewhere else...

Random Hawaiian-style graffiti (white rocks placed on dried lava rock)

Beautiful Temple on the Big Island

I've seen speed BUMPS, but never a speed...

Went to a restaurant that had this plastic bag of pennies nailed to the wall. I asked why, and they said it had to do with giving the business prosperity, and keeping the flies away (not in a literal sense...but in a "blessing" type of sense)

This is how I felt almost the whole trip...YUCK.

We also visited another area, south of Kona. A large portion of the Western Shore looked just like this...dried lava flows, with housing developments going up right on top of them!

We stopped in and saw Jim & Teri Richards (remember Jim? He's Soapy Smith from the Days of '98 Show across the street from us in Skagway)! He bought this property 20 some years ago (2 lots for $7,000...that's the kind of price you can get for building on VOLCANIC ROCK!), and has built this house from scratch. We posed for the camera (with the trash...and yes, that was strangely intentional...but that's Jim)...

Some random National Park we visited...

Very pretty & educational. But don't ask me to remember anything...or the name of the park, etc...

And although I'd love to keep a better record of the trip, for my own personal reasons...this will have to suffice. I made a photo album on my Facebook account that has some more scenic photos...so you can check them out there.

Since returning from Hawaii, we built an entirely new website, added entirely new product, visited Southern Utah to find new Wood Watch accounts, and then drove cross-country through Colorado, Kansas, Tennessee (and many in-between), and we've finally landed in the Atlanta, Georgia area for the winter. We are so thankful to not be living out of a suitcase (after 2 1/2 months of that)!