Our Last Day ....... Aloha with a smile

our last sunset..... and some darned cruise ship sat out right in the middle of it.

On Saturday night we drove Linda and Ray to the Airport for their return home to Medford.   We were sorry to see them go ...   Honestly, I don't know how we could have had a better time.   It was so relaxing and fun to see them for the week.   Ray and David talked about their work and Linda and I talked about family and our goats.....  and of course, we all mixed our talk too......  Linda and Ray are our idols and good friends so it was great having this time together.   

The next morning at 11 we had booked a flight around the island.....  We ate cereal for breakfast and arrived an hour and a half early for the flight.

Wonderful colors

   We sat in the waiting room and chatted while we waited.   When the hour arrived we were collected by the pilot and walked out to the runway.  The pilot was a great guy who quickly assigned seats and handed out headsets.   We tested the headsets and made sure they worked.   It came out it was first come first serve on the flight.... so we felt pleased at the seats we got.   Directly behind the pilot and forward of the wings.....   We had our cameras and we were ready to go!  David chose this particular event so he was especially happy......   The pilot explained the proceedures for crashes and what we would be seeing.   We were sooo excited when we headed down the runway.  It was the smallest plane I had ever been in.

The control panel....

  I couldn't believe that I could see the runway hurtling towards us then  the lift.... yikes....  Ok ... it was great and exciting but my first time where I could reach out and touch the pilot....   cool.

The flight was really amazing.  We took hundreds of pictures.   David's camera died but mine kept going.   Usually either one or the other of us had a view depending on the banking of the plane so we handed my camera back and forth.     We flew over the island and saw wonderful waterfalls,  forests, desert land (with cattle),  huge waterfalls shooting out into the ocean and we saw the crater of a live volcano.   The pilot was great.....  He flew back and forth and then would yell at the top of his lungs....... "lookit, lookit, lookit, lookit" and point to the lava .....  David got most of the action on the lava but that worked for me...   The flight was about an hour and a half.   It was really amazing and lots of fun....   

After the flight we did some shopping then went to the Hard Rock Cafe for our final meal and final sunset.   All good things must come to an end and this little vacation was no exception....