We decided to visit the big island of Hawaii for our 40th wedding anniversary in November. We'd thought it might be interesting to see the lava flows from Kilauea, some nice beaches and maybe some of Hawaii's endemic birds. We'd found a very nice cottage in a rain forest, miles from anywhere, and it did turn out to be very nice indeed, in a RAIN forest. Perhaps we should have thought a bit harder about the rain forest, since we went to Panama for our anniversary in the height of the rainy season, but we didn't. There were lots of birds, mostly very small and in the understory of the forest canopy. we could hear them, but not see them! The lava flows turned out to be a 2 hour hike, in the dark, over lava, and, funnily enough, a two hour hike out afterwards, so we didn't get to see them. The volcano on Maui was spectacular, Kilauea not so. All in all, a little disappointing, and we weren't overwhelmed with the beaches, either. Coming home, we were up at 3 am, and got to bed at midnight, quite a long day. And, fifty bucks for a couple of beers and sandwiches at LAX!
