FLASHBACK

Hawaii (hə-WY-ee) is the largest of the Hawaiian islands and the south easternmost of the Hawaiian Islands, a chain of volcanic islands in the North Pacific Ocean. With an area of 4,028 square miles, it has 63% of the Hawaiian archipelago's combined landmass. However, it has only 13% of the archipelago's population. The island of Hawaii is the third largest island in Polynesia, behind the north and south islands of New Zealand.

The island is often referred to as the Island of Hawaii or Hawaii Island, or the Big Island to distinguish it from the state of Hawaii. To distinguish it without relying on English, it is sometimes called "Moku o Keawe".

The county seat and largest town is Hilo. There are no incorporated cities in Hawaii County.

Sharon Melander, Jeannie Lewandowski, Karen Rasmussen
and a few other military friends took a military NO-thrills prop-plane trip from Maui to the big island of Hawaii.

Sharon, Jeanne and Karen rented a car while on the big island of Hawaii.

Below: Steam vents on the big island of Hawaii

Below: Karen Rasmussen on Devastation Trail - a trail in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, the site of 1959 eruption of Kīlauea Iki crater. Before that, the area was covered by a dense rain forest. This was an easy one-mile trail, but there were sections with grades greater than eight-percent.

Below: Military friends, Jeannie Lewandowski and Cheryl Mix on the trail down towards the volcano.

Below: Deeper in the volcano and a view of the heart of the volcano

Below: Time on Black Sands Beach. Sharon and Karen went in the ocean wearing their street clothes. The waves were MUCH bigger than they expected and much bigger than what shows in the photos. Sharon claimed she almost drowned. Yet they both look happy as they wrung out their wet clothes.