Good morning

We caught a shuttle from our hotel to the airport at 3:30 a.m., then were whisked away to the Big Island for a tour. This is the sun rising on the Big Island.

The tour, which took about 17 hours from pickup to dropoff at our hotel, included a black sand beach*, lunch in a restaurant with a view of the Kilauea volcano's smoking caldera*, a rainforest, a lava tube* and a waterfall*. Mauna Kea* is the last extra. It's got snow on it and you can just make out the observatories. Yes, it snows in Hawaii. That mountain is 13,802 feet (4,207 m) tall, and it is winter.

This was a wonderful tour even though it was tiring.

*In extra photos