While in the military, we lived on Oahu for three very short years, then our tour was up and had to go to the next station. Before we left, we did have a chance to visit the Big Island. We had heard that it got cold in Volcano and that the mountains would be snow capped in winter. We were intrigued so we went for a weekend and sure enough, Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa had snow on their peaks! In the morning there was frost on the windows. There are sixteen micro-climates in the world and fourteen are on the Big Island; is that not astounding? You can go from alpine to semi-arid in a matter of a few hours! We fell in love with the Big Island and secretly wished that someday we would return. We liked its slower pace of life. We go on holiday to get away from it all and we can do that here. When we look at the sweeping views of the coastline and the beautiful sunsets and the way the moon shimmers in the water; the schools of dolphins and pods of whales that swim by - all from the vantage point of our lanai, we know that we made the correct decision to buy a vacation rental here.