The Big Island with big problems...

Stayed at Hilo Seaside Hotel. Old but nice with a BIG koi pond out front. Would stay there again. Nice staff. They had a great breakfast of pancakes with macadamia nuts and grilled bananas.

But...

This island is at the bottom of my island list! Maybe a lot of it has to do with being exhausted but I don't know. They need to play those afterschool specials from the 80's about not doing drugs because it is ridiculous here. Very out in the open. If I were to come back I would do a night helicopter ride to see the lava flow and the summit of Mauna Kea. There isn't much else here. No pretty coastline, no good maps, confusing directions, and places to eat are few and far between. We could have made the drive on Crater Road but it is only open between 5-8pm and we didn't find out until it was to late. We went the scenic route and the signs for the lava viewing area are only posted in one direction so we missed it. We made it to the black sand beach, which was cool. We wanted to check out green sand beach but there was a 3 mile hike to it and it was getting dark. We made it to the Volcano National Park but most of it was closed because of Sulfuric gases. A cop told us another place to view the lava from afar. So we went and turned around on a turn off got stuck on a rock. No phone service. The jack had to be on lava rock. Not many people drove by. Flagged down some guys they didn't have a crowbar so they went to see if their friend had one. Meanwhile, Mahalia risked her limbs and pulled they rock out. The guys came back and said, "We are staying at a gay B&B so there was no crowbar". They stayed while we drove out and had to give us a push. Praise the Lord for saving us on a dark road, no phone, safe guys, and no limbs lost Amen!!!

Ready to go back to Maui!!!