Hawai’i Field of Flowers (click to enlarge)

We were on a family vacation to the island of Maui when my brother and I flew to the Big Island to visit one of his old commanding officers.  After lunch we drove up to the  Pohakulua Training Area, a small base that sits in the saddle between Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea.  The base is affectionately (or not) known as “PTA”, usually said with a grimace.  We both spent some time there back in the day and wanted to see how much it has changed.

While driving up Saddle Road we came upon this field of flowers.  Neither of us had ever seen so much color in the area and were quite astounded.  One thing I really like is that we are almost even with the clouds shrouding Mauna Kea in the background.

The base itself has not changed in the least.  We both had lots of stories to tell about PTA, and laughed all the way back to Kona for our flight back to Maui.  The best part is that upon our return to Maui we discovered that there was a tsunami alert and they were evacuating the coast line.  Our hotel was in a safe zone so we did not have to head for the hills (literally), like many other tourists.  That night the tsunami arrived and washed out the road in our area.  “I Survived the Tsunami” t-shirts appeared that very day.

Location: N19 52 42.78  W 155 39 46.77