Adventures of the Big Island

Well, the trip that I have been waiting for since I got out here happened last Wednesday, the trip to the Big Island and Volcanoes National Park!!! Erin and I flew out from Honolulu International at 6am and landed at Hilo on the Big Island at 6:25am. We ate breakfast at a local pancake house and then it was off to Volcanoes. The first crater we came to was breathtaking and active!! It was smoking and every now and then you cold hear crackling and popping noises from it. Then we went to the ranger station where I bought almost everything in the gift shop (it's not everyday one visits a site with active volcanoes). We saw a live camera shot down into Pu'u O'O Crater and I spotted active lava around the edges!! We knew we were going to do the hike across the lava fields to try and see it but we had to stop at the lava tube first. It was amazing that lava can harden on the outside while the inner part keeps flowing and the end result is this huge tube fifteen feet tall by ten feet wide that you can walk through for about 100feet. The hike across the lava fields made me think about Sam and Frodo. Erin and I had a lot of fun making Lord of the Rings references on that hike. We weren't able to see lava but we found out later that about an hour after we left the park Pu'u O'O erupted with flowing lava....Erin and I comforted ourselves by hoping that it flowed down the side that wasn't available for viewing. The last stop at Volcanoes was the 2003 lava flow that crossed a main road through the park and went into the ocean. That was one of the coolest parts to just see how destructive and powerful mother nature can be. Then we saw a sea arch that was made by a lava flow that ran into the ocean. Then we left Volcanoes and headed for a black sand beach. It was really amazing to see and walk around on, and as an added bonus there were a number of wild green sea turtles sun bathing!!! Our final destination on our adventure was Rainbow Falls, a beautiful waterfall that required no hiking!! We also found a huge old tree next to Rainbow Falls during our exploring and a small path that actually took you right up to the edge and back pools of the falls. Then we flew out of Hilo for Honolulu, the plane ride was pretty smooth but I swear our pilot made the plane bounce across the runway on the landing...my neck still hurts from the whiplash ;) It was an awesome trip to say the least and well worth the pure exhaustion Erin and I felt the next day at work. As always pictures and video from the trip are below.

Entrance to the Lava Tube

Ahh I Love Irony!!

Yay Turtles!!