We went to Hawaii (Big Island) for the first time in August of 2016. I planned the trip to be on the first day of classes for the Fall semester at the college where we both on the faculty. When we returned home I created a slideshow of the photos I took there and titled it “First Day of Classes Fall Semester 2016,” which tells you how ready we were to retire! It completed our goal of going to all 50 states. I had planned to take a photo of the sun setting into the Pacific, but hadn’t gotten around to it until our last night in the hotel on the west coast. I asked the people at the front desk where I could get a good sunset photo and they said they didn’t know. Puzzling to say the least. I left the lobby, walked about 50 yards toward the ocean, and found this scene on the hotel grounds. Being a resort hotel, you can imagine how crowded spots like this can be, spoiling the photo you had in your mind. The sun was half way below the horizon when miraculously people were out of the frame (except the three people on the far right of the photo). I got this shot just seconds before a group of teenagers ran and jumped into the hammock. The lesson I learned was to be in the perfect position, have every setting for the camera ready to take the photo, and don’t hesitate for a second to take the only shot you’ll get. I didn’t edit out the people because they were enjoying the beauty of God’s gift, just like me.
