We only had one day on the Big Island before our next adventure so we decided to pack as much in one day as possible. We continued our quest to see more waterfalls and succeeded when we saw Rainbow Falls. These were beautiful and exceptionally accessible! No hiking in the dark required! I was a little bummed we didn't see a rainbow because I'm pretty sure every single picture I've seen about Hawaii involves some sort of a rainbow. But alas, maybe it was too early but there were no rainbows. But it was beautiful nonetheless. 
Our next thing on the agenda was to go to Mauna Kea, which is nearly 14,000 feet tall. If you measure it from its base underwater, it's the tallest mountain in the world. We drove up to the visitor's center at about 9000 feet and boy, my ears were popping! We decided to skip driving all the way to the top due to time constraints and my fear of getting altitude sickness and not being able to continue with the rest of our day. We had an awesome view of the island and it was a really cool drive. 
After finding some lunch at a restaurant in downtown Hilo, we headed to see yet some more waterfalls. I apologized to Brian for dominating our overall schedule with waterfalls but they were really cool and he didn't seem to mind at all. This time we went to see Akaka Falls which are 442 feet tall. There was a little 20-minute pathway that took us by some other falls but seeing Akaka Falls was the highlight. Those are some major waterfalls and definitely one of the highlights of God's creation!
Our next stop on our adventure was the main reason we chose to go to the Big Island... Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. Brian loves national parks and it's his goal to cross as many off his list as possible. I like that goal and have vowed to help him in that quest. Plus he wanted to see a volcano erupting. Also a good goal but we quickly learned once we got there that in order to see that, we'd have to do a 6+ hour hike and it wasn't accessible by road. So we drove through the park on the Chain of Craters Road and stopped at several overlooks to explore a bit. When we stopped at the first overlook, Brian said, "Wow, that's a really big hole in the ground!" It was where the volcano erupted back in 1954 and Brian was correct. It was a massive hole!
We kept driving through the park and stopped and looked at the hardened lava from lava flows in the past. It was just miles and miles of desolation and black lava. I had never seen anything like it!
We drove all the way down to where the road ended because it was cut off by a lava flow in 1995. It was super cool to climb all over the hardened lava and again, it was such a unique sight! I almost had to pinch myself to remind me that we were still in America!!
Brian had found that he qualified to be able to stay in a military post inside the National Park that was on the rim of the volcano. Which was great!! We were exhausted by this point and still had stuff on our agenda and being right there was key!! So we checked into our cabin and after dinner, we drove over to the site of an active volcano. It was the Kilauea Caldera, which was about a mile from our cabin. When we got there, it was incredibly foggy and misty and not the best volcano-viewing weather. We could see an orange glow coming from the ground but that was about it. But then the most amazing thing happened! All the clouds and fog disappeared within minutes and we could see it clearly! The camera doesn't do it near enough justice but it was so cool to see the magma bubbling up at the earth's surface!! Again, something I had never seen before!
We went back to the cabin and were completely exhausted after our fun-filled day! I am pretty sure I was asleep by 9pm!!
Brian had done his research and knew that we should be able to see the oil still leaking from the vessel below. It was really cool to see that.
I had seen pictures and heard all about it but seeing it with my own eyes was a memorable experience.
After we finished seeing the USS Arizona, we saw a submarine in the harbor. Upon closer investigation, we realized that it was a museum dedicated to submarines in WWII. We realized that Brian's great-uncle, who had died on a submarine in WWII, was listed on one of the memorials. Then we figured out that the submarine in the harbor, the USS Bowfin, was only a couple of numbers off from the submarine that his grandpa's brother had perished on. So we took a tour of the submarine to get an idea of what it was like for his great-uncle. It was such an educational thing and took on even more meaning with that family connection.
I wouldn't consider myself a pure history buff but I do enjoy learning and seeing Pearl Harbor was such a wonderful experience.
It was a beautiful ending to a wonderful day!!
The reason I haven't blogged recently is that I've been out of town for yet another work trip. This time, back to Hawaii!!!! Let's just say that I was pleasantly surprised that I got assigned to this trip since it's really not my turn in the rotation among my fellow producers. But I didn't ask questions- I just complied and went with it!!
We got here on Thursday evening but POTUS didn't get here until Friday night. And since he's been here, I've been working non-stop. On Saturday, I spent all day with FLOTUS at an organic farm run by student interns. As far as organic farms go (which by the way, I know nothing about) it seemed like a great place that was more than just a farm. I really did sense a family atmosphere there.
Today, I'm travel pool all day. Today is a somewhat down day for POTUS. He spoke to a fundraiser earlier today and now he's on the golf course. Currently I'm sitting on a patio of a restaurant on a scenic bay where the water is as pretty as anywhere I've ever seen. Too bad I'm actually working and can't enjoy it!!
Another random moment... in one of our pool holds of the day, look who I met...
I'm actually taking a few days after POTUS leaves and heads to Australia to enjoy Hawaii even more. We're going to the Big Island and Kauai and I'm excited to have the opportunity to take in even more of God's awesomeness!! 
Here is my picture from my blackberry of POTUS and his friend TOTUS. 
It was a pretty crazy afternoon with a bunch of events back to back. I had to split my duties up with a co-worker so we could be in two places at one time. It was rock and roll all afternoon. Late in the afternoon, I found myself being the pool producer in the Oval Office during the official meeting with the Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg from Norway. He and the PM of Norway talked about Libya and Gadhafi and then about how important we are to each other. The whole event took about ten minutes and before you knew it, we were being ushered out of there quickly. I was standing just out of the view of this angle. I was to the right of the man standing on the absolute right hand side of this picture. Those hands next to him may have been mine or they could have been the Norwegian girl standing next to me.
It's only the third or fourth time I've been in the Oval Office for work and I had no time to appreciate where I was actually standing. I was too busy taking notes. For the last 12 seconds before we walked out the door, I paused to think I had just been in the most powerful office in the world. And I still haven't had time to measure for curtains just in case I end up there one day as POTUS! :)
Anyway, the highlight of that first stop was not POTUS (we see him all the time of course!) but the food. We had a restaurant providing food that was perhaps the best food I've ever eaten. Luckily, I had passed up the first two breakfasts offered on the plane and so I was fully ready to eat when we got there. And I'm so glad I waited. The food by 
The highlight of this stop was that I got to see some of my dear friends, John and Jenny. I have known them since I was about 12 and I was their kids' babysitter when I was in high school. They are dear, wonderful, awesome people who have a contagious joy. They moved to NC a few years ago but they are the kind of people that whenever I see them, I leave my time with them with a joyful, optimistic spirit. We got to hang out for about 45 minutes because we stayed behind POTUS to file stories. While we were waiting for the other networks to finish up their work, we got to have a quick bite to eat and chat and catch up. Jenny prayed for me and my colleagues and I'm telling you, it was like a mini-revival!! I just love them!!! 
After that, we got back on the bus and headed to Greensboro, NC to spend the night. This ride wasn't all that great because it was dark and seemed to go on forever but eventually we got there and had a good night's sleep.
Except this time we had to load up the buses as he was shaking hands. So we hopped on the bus yet again and quickly took off for Emporia, Virginia. We were trying to avoid being in traffic that was stopped due to his motorcade so there was a lot of hurrying.
We repeated the rigmarole and boarded the buses yet again and rode through the darkness of rural Virginia towards Hampton, Virginia. We woke up to Day Three which was more of the same except I could see the light at the end of the tunnel. I really don't mean to complain but the novelty of a bus tour was completely gone by this point.
At this point, he could have been talking about aliens taking over the earth. It was taking every ounce of me to keep focused on work. I was just looking forward to going home. I'll be honest. I was a little bus sick. Not motion sick. Just sick of the bus. Luckily, I don't think it will take long for me to recover and hopefully the next time there's a bus trip, I'll revert back to my attitude from Day One of the trip. Especially if there are sweet potato pancakes involved!