www.GANCARZ.com

Here is a picture of our Resort Hotel as we approached. Our tour guide said that there wouldn't be anything to do around the hotel, but most people don't want to leave anyway. She wasn't exaggerating at all.

This was 1/2 of the pool area. It connected to another pool in the center of the hotel.

The landscaping was just gorgeous. Beautiful plants and flowers among black volcanic rock out croppings.

There was a paved path along the shore line, but no beach. Just razor sharp volcanic rock.

There was also a sweet water slide for the swimming pool. Sue and I also rented one of these "Cabana" pool chairs for the day when our helicopter tour was cancelled. Seemed like a great idea, but it gets hot in those suckers.

Here is another picture of the lava shore line.

Some of the lava rock had really cool colors inside it. Almost looks like it is still hot, doesn't it?

Sue decided to show off for me on the monkey bars. She bragged that she could hang on them all day when she was a kid.

She had a little harder time getting back down. We found out later that a group of people from our tour witnessed the entire "lady-like" act from their hotel room balcony.

Here is another beautiful picture of the landscape.

At night, a guy came around and lit the tiki torches with a propane torch. Talk about "ruining the magic".

Here is a picture of Sue and I at the big Luau fest.

Mmmmm.... Poi.

It wasn't actually that bad. More bland then anything else. I watched a show on the travel channel that said before Hawaii had refrigeration, all their meat was salt cured. So, they ate poi to cut the saltiness of the meat. It actually made almost anything you dipped into it taste better, I thought.

Here are our friends Curt and Marion at the Luau. Sue got them both hooked on the Lava Flow frozen drinks.

Here is the view from our private patio off of our room.

This isn't a great example, but it is the best picture we were able to get from a moving bus. Most of the island is covered in this black 'A'A (pronounced ah-ah) lava. Native hawaiians take white coral from the beaches and make shapes or words in the black lava rock along roads. It's called Hawaiian graffiti.

Here is a good picture of a lava field which is just starting grow plants. Driving past miles and miles of these lava fields, they sort of reminded me of tilled farm fields back home.

We caught a glimpse of the Mauna Kea summit through a break in the clouds. Mauna Kea means "White Mountain", because its peak is usually covered in snow. It is the largest mountain in the world when measured from the ocean floor (33,474 ft, of which 13,796 ft is above sea level).

We drove to the Parker Ranch in Waimea. Founded in 1847 it is one of the oldest ranches in the United States. And at approximately 150,000 acres of land, Parker Ranch is also one of the country’s largest cattle ranches. Sue thought it would be the perfect time to saddle up next to a cowboy.

Here we are at the Kona Airport. The facility is open air, and you wait for your plane under open-air wooden pavillions.

Then you board the planes from the runway with stairs.

Hard to believe it's all high security, but it was definately a refreshing way to fly.

During one of our stops at Kona Airport, our plane pulled up next to the Arizona Cardinals team plane. At 5-11 last year, what exactly did they do to deserve a trip to Hawaii? Maybe they should concentrate more on practicing?

This statue was in the center of the main court yard at the Kona Airport. Sue wanted a picture of it and got her chance when we had to lay over on our flight home.