July 20 - Beautiful valleys, plants, waterfalls, and MALASADAS!

We did such a long hike yesterday that we decided to take a break and head along the north-east side and go to Waipi'o Valley. We had great weather again. Yay! The kids enjoyed it because they like rolling down the hill there. :)

After Waipi'o Valley, we stopped at Tex's Drivein for fresh, hot, malasadas (Portuguese doughnuts). Oh so good! Then we stopped at Laupahoehoe Point where the tsunami of 1946 killed a group of school children, teachers, and families. They have a little memorial shrine for the lost. It is a very beautiful place. Someone else did a great blog of the point. See it here.

Then we visited the Hawaii Botanical Gardens, or as Michael Jr said, the 'Mechanical Gardens.' Beautiful place. We didn't get there till 3:30pm, so we only had 1.5 hrs to look, but that was enough. We ate at Cafe' Pesto (the one in Hilo, not Kohala), then hurried to Rainbow Falls. We got there just as the sun was setting. It was still pretty!

Pictures here!

July 19 - Sun? REALLY???

Yes we see sunshine! Can't believe it!! We don't want to waste this beautiful day, so I think we're going to hike Kilauea Iki crater! Here is the official Hawaii Volcano Observatory info on Iki.

Today we all went, even Mom!, to hike Kilauea Iki crater! We had beautiful weather – finally! The hike was great! We took the back way into the crater, which we haven't done in awhile, but Mike was told that Byron's Ledge trail was easier to hike for someone with knee issues. The trail was easier than the regular Iki trail, but walking over the lava on that side of Iki was more difficult. Oh well. 6 of one, half dozen of another. Didn't matter. We all made it, took some great pictures, and had a great time!

That night we went to the movies – Mom, Jana, and Erica saw Ice Age 3, and the rest of us saw Harry Potter. After the movies we ate at Ken's Pancake House again. Great day!

Pictures here!

July 18 - More rain, so off to South Point!

Rained all night. Was still raining this morning. ugh. We've never had this much rain in Volcano!

We decided to head to South Point to hopefully get out of the rain! On the way, we saw about 6 nenes (pronounced nay-nay) along the road! Nenes are the protected Hawaiian state bird and they resemble a Canada goose. Mom and Jana were very excited to see them!

We stopped at the Punalu'u Beach, otherwise known as the new black sand beach. It was windy and overcast but not raining. Yay! We got to see a hawksbill turtle! It was lying in the sun and everyone was being respectful and keeping the required 15ft distance from the turtle...that is until the japanese tourists showed up. They NEVER pay attention to the posted rules and were bothering the turtle. Last time we were there the japanese tourists were hitting the turtle on the head, shell, legs, anything they could touch. Made us FURIOUS! Where are the authorities when you need them? The turtles are protected by law and any interaction with them is punishable. When we stopped at the Shaka Restaurant for lunch, we told the guy what we saw and he said he'd call the authorities and hopefully stop some of the trouble. Makes us sick. The turtles are beautiful, calm creatures. They do nothing, yet these people are so disrespectful. ARGH!

After that, we drove to the Punalu'u Sweet Bread factory. YUMMY bread! They make regular sweet bread plus taro and guava bread. The bread makes great french toast!

On to South Point, the southernmost point in the United States – yes, even further south than the keys! It was extremely windy, as usual. It is so windy that the trees grow sideways. It is no wonder they have wind farms here! We told mom and Jana that locals like to jump off the platforms into the sea, and they were actually able to watch a few kids do just that!

Pictures here!

July 17 - Rain, rain go away..

OMGoodness! If it doesn't stop raining we're going to go bonkers! We keep telling Aunt Jana that while it always drizzles in the morning here in Volcano, the Volcano NP doesn't usually have rain. It's been in the 50's-60's here, then mid 70's and rain/drizzle in the park. NASTY!

Mom's birthday today! Her knee is healing...but still not well enough to truly hike with us, so the rest of us went to hike Mauna Ulu and Pu'u Huluhulu (i.e. Hairy Hill). The skies were overcast and drizzling in Volcano, so we hoped the skies would be clear – and warmer! - on the hike! Well...not quite. It stayed pretty overcast then it started to spit little raindrops. Not a lot...at first. We made it to the top of Hairy Hill without incident and Mike decided he really wanted to hike over to Mauna Ulu so he and Michael Jr went ahead while Aunt Jana, Erica, and I stayed behind to photograph their ascent. It started to rain...and rain. Water was dripping from our elbows as we're trying to see the boys up on the cinder cone. It didn't help that it was freaking freezing too! The boys captured some good photos then we all hiked back.

That night for Mom's birthday we ate at Kilauea Lodge. We all had a good meal - Mom and Jana had Parker Ranch prime rib, I had seafood crepes, and the kids had soup and pasta - except for Mike. Unfortunately he's allergic to rosemary, and everything there basically had rosemary in it except the venison, so that's what he got. Not what he was hungry for...at all...but he ate it anyway. I felt bad because he didn't enjoy the gamey taste at all. :(

Pictures here!

July 16 -Blue Hawaiian lava show

Today we drove to Hilo to catch our helicopter ride over the lava flows -- the Ring of Fire tour. The rain has been almost non-stop - which has never happened to us here before! Aunt Jana is so funny -- she said she is so cold that this is her tropical vacation from hell. LOL! So with all this rain we worried that Blue Hawaiian would stop our flight. Nope. The rain slowed and away we went.

The new flow isn't as jaw-dropping dramatic as the last we viewed via the copter, but just as devastating. The amount that has flowed from the vents is unreal. Our pilot was telling us that houses have burned in the last few days, and in fact a house that was there yesterday burned down and was covered with lava this morning. Right now many forested areas are being burned and covered. It was surreal to see the way the lava just took over everything in its path. I know the pictures tell the story, but they can't convey the total and utter devastation that these flows are causing. Pele is very destructive!

After our flight we ate lunch at Ken's House of Pancakes. We love Ken's! LOL. It is very 'ONO' (good!). We then took a tour of the east side -- Puna, Kalapana, etc -- and drove to where the lava is flowing. We didn't go to the viewing site because it was only open 5-8pm, and we'd have to walk 1/4 mile across lava in the dark because we didn't have flashlights with us. Instead we drove to Kalapana and viewed it from a pull-off...miles away. Since it was still light outside all we could see were the white plumes of steam and volcanic gases from the lava entering the ocean. We drove along the coast and saw some *beautiful* coastline, the kind where you say "This is Hawaii!" We also made our regular stop at the eastern-most point of Hawaii where the air is supposed to be the cleanest on earth, and took a few breaths, a few photos, and then headed to another regular spot...Uncle Billy's.

We always have to eat at Uncle Billy's. It's a tradition now. We were a bit disappointed this time though because it seems like they updated the restaurant. The fun thing about UB was that the decor was so 70's polynesian cliche. Macrame lights with shells suspended from them, tiki hut-type light fixtures. You name it, they had it. It was great! Now much of that is gone and the light fixtures are modern, no macrame shell lights or mobiles, nothing. BooHoo. Anyway, the food was good and we even bribed the kids to go up on stage and hula! OMG, was it funny. The entertainer that night played and sang as Michael and Erica swayed on stage for their rendition of the hula. Too cute!

After dinner, we drove back to Kalapana to see if we could view any red along the coast. It was pitch black out there so we could see red plumes when the molten lava entered the ocean and caused an explosive event. It was mesmerizing. Unfortunately, we were too far away for our cameras to catch the red, dancing plumes. Plus whenever we tried to get a long shutter time, a stinking car would come down the road and ruin our exposure. :( I could have stayed and watched it all night. It's really something to know that you are witnessing the creation of new land. Totally cool.

I don't have pictures ready yet, but hopefully soon!

July 15 - Lava tubes and devastation

Today we went to the Thurston Lava Tube to take our biennial lava tube picture. It was a bit more difficult this year because our new camera, for some reason, didn't like the low light and wouldn't take the picture even when the setting was 'no flash'. ARGH! Took a while to finally get the stinking picture taken, and keep everyone still while the shutter stayed open. Not as good as other years, but it works! It has been extremely rainy here, so the tube was really dripping and was full of puddles. Always very cool to know lava was flowing through this huge tube!

After the lava tube, we decided to hike Devastation Trail. This was a trail we had never done, so we didn't know what to expect. It ended up being a great trail! This trail is a paved path through a forested area that was devastated by falling cinder from the lava fountains of the 1959 Kilauea Iki eruption. It was an easy hike and we found many iridescent pieces of lava, gold lava, and rainbow-colored lava. We also found lots of Pele's tears - small pieces of solidified lava drops formed when airborne particles of molten material fuse into tearlike drops of volcanic glass. Pele's tears are black in color. We also found delicate strands of Pele's hair -created when the lava is spun into the air and strung out to create thin fibers of glass. Very cool!

Next we went down Chain of Craters road and explored some of the previous lava flows until we reached the end of the road. Lava has covered 9 or so miles of the road, so we walked to where it ended. We could see the plumes from the current eruption, but it was miles away -- over 9 miles to be exact. We still want to see it entering the ocean, so we may try to go to it if the stupid rain and drizzle would ever stop!!

I posted pictures here.

July 14 - Volcanoes, Walmarts, flora and smoothies!!

Today we started out by driving to the caldera and visiting the Jaggar Museum. We have been following the new vent in the Halema'uma'u crater for over a year (since March 2008), and up until about 2 weeks ago, you could see lava within the vent from the Jaggar Musuem (see the quicktime movies from July 4th here). Well, of course the vent somewhat collapsed and now the lava cannot be seen. <> They still have Crater Rim Drive closed because of the toxic fumes being spewed from the crater, so that was a bummer too. Odd thing is that we didn't smell the sulfur fumes too much there...but the fumes were VERY strong in Kona when we landed, almost 2.5 hours away! I guess the VOG (volcanic smog) travels over to Kona and just hangs there. yuck.

It has been quite drizzly and cool here -- low 60's! -- and mom's knee is still recovering, so instead of continuing our exploration of the volcano, we decided to head to Hilo to get mom a walking stick at Walmart. Walmarts are the same, no matter time nor place, so not much to say about Wally World. Just think of a WW with tropical-type items and logo knick-knacks all over the place. :)

We ate lunch at Cafe' 100, and Aunt Jana had her first loco moco! Loco mocos are a meal of white rice covered with your choice of meat (like hamburgers, spam, or portuguese sausage), then topped with fried eggs and gravy. Jana had spam, a Hawaiian staple. So far both Mike and Jana have had the loco mocos. I have yet to order one, not because they don't look good, but because they are usually so big I couldn't finish them!

After lunch we visited Akaka Falls State Park to see the beautiful falls and surrounding flora. I am always amazed at the size of the plants growing here in Hawaii. Plants that are normally small, scraggly, houseplants in Ohio, are HUGE wild plants here in the tropical state. Like the pathos plant -- leaves the size of serving platters. Amazing!

To end our day we went to the What's Shakin' smoothie stand. Absolutely *THE BEST* smoothies..ever! We always make a point to stop here at least once on our trips. Everything is locally grown on their farm (except the strawberries and blueberries I think...). No added sugar or ice, just fresh fruit. The papaya smoothie is out of this world. This guy's review sums it up well. :) YUM!

I posted some pictures here.