In Port: Hilo, Hawaii

We spent two days in Hawaii. We had arranged to rent a car before arriving, so we picked up a very bare-bones Jeep Wrangler and then headed off for some supplies at the Walmart in Hilo. After getting our chocolate, snacks, beverages, and some lunch supplies, we drove up the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, about 25 miles from Hilo. It was pouring rain most of the time we were in the park, but we saw some interesting lava formations, including a lava tube we were able to walk through. Jr had the smart idea of bringing Grandpa's flashlight into the tube. One of the pictures below is looking out of the tube. 

On the second day in port, we went up to Akaka Falls. The other picture below is of me in front of the falls, which were beautiful, wild, and tropical but a very short hike from the parking lot. I am holding some Birds of Paradise (my mom's favorite flowers) which I bought in the Hilo Farmer's Market that morning.

When we got back on the ship last night, it was a little hard to transition back into shipboard, academic life. I almost forgot to give the films to the crew member who puts them on the AV loop until Grandpa said he needed to go to his cabin to watch a film for one of his classes. I spent a little time in the library getting books and answering locational questions for a bit after that. By this morning, we were back to normal classes (it is day A3) and activities.

Jr did a great job this afternoon at a travel writing session for the dependent children. He wrote about the terrible Jeep, climbing the lava, and the cheese doodles he ate in the car on the way to the waterfall. We will send his writing to his classmates back in Charlottesville as part of the "Vicarious Voyage" program. Hopefully they will write back.

Right now we are docked in Honolulu to refuel for a few hours, but we cannot get off the ship. Sometimes they have stopped for fuel for a few hours before getting into Hilo, which is much worse than having already been to Hilo and stopping here. We are all enjoying good cell phone service and data uploads for the next few hours. When we leave for Japan this afternoon, we will be at sea for the next nine days until we land in Yokohama (near Tokyo) on January 27. Or maybe it is eight days, since January 21 is a "lost" day when we cross the International Date Line. I'm not sure how that will work, I'll post about it when it happens!