Back from Hawaii

We had a lovely trip. It's amazing how many different landscapes you can enjoy in one relatively small island, and, food and gas prices being what they are, how many attractions you can visit without paying a fee or only a very small fee. $10 to get two of us into the Volcanoes National Park for our entire stay? Bargain!Top attractions included:The many National and State Parks and Historic Sites, including Volcano National ParkA gigantic steam cloud erupting from Kilauea. You can see Kilauea eruption updates here: Kilauea UpdateLava flowing into the ocean (especially cool after sundown)Waterfalls and parks in and around HiloHawaii Tropical Botanical GardensMauna Kea and Mauna Loa (Ok, so we only drove up to 9,200 feet on the former and mostly stayed beneath the latter)Most useful things I packed:Wide brimmed hat with a chin strap to stay on in the windCollapseable walking stickCameraSturdy, lightweight trail shoes (also waterproof though we lucked out and didn't have to slog through the wet in the colder areas)Large belt bag with two water bottlesFlashlightI'll try to write more later, as I did keep a journal the whole time, but I may not get around to it. I took over 200 pictures. The short version of the trip: WOW! Go to the big island of Hawaii if you ever get the chance, especially if you like hiking and lots of different landscapes. Don't go just for palm trees and sand. You can see those lots of places, but where else can you see moon-like lava landscapes and rocks younger than you?The other good news is that Athena did very well while we were gone, and E. got her down to a quarter pill a day of the appetite stimulant. I took her to the Vet today for a test and she has no more infection! Yay! She's glad to see us and her usual cranky, lovable, diva self.The bad news is that I'm behind on my writing and critiquing. I did a teeny bit in Hawaii, but didn't make much progress. For the next few days it's going to really be nose to the grindstone.