Wow...a two-day blog hiatus!  Let me get you caught up.

On Monday, the five of us went with Hawaii Forest and Trail to visit Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park near Hilo, Hawaii.  We had to be up and out the door by 6:20 a.m. (which explains why we again forgot to put out the trash).  We met our tour guide, Matt, at the HF&T office and were on our way to pick up two other adventurers by 7:00 a.m.

HF&T takes you over the saddle road.  We ate at a park near the top of the saddle road (yummy breakfast cakes, coffee, and fruit) while being eyed by some local wild pigs.  Then we were on our way to the park with Matt filling us in on how the islands were formed, how the islands got their vegetation and how the weather impacts the different micro-climates on the island.

During this portion of the trip, many people...I won't name names...napped.

When we arrived at the park, he gave us a choice of activities since there isn't any active lava flow into the ocean right now.  (Locals love this because the "vog"--volcanic smog--is gone and the island skies are clear for the first time in 25 years.)  We all voted to walk through a small crater, Kilauea Iki Crater.  We hiked a bit over 4 miles total at a moderate pace, enjoying the experience of seeing the huge mounds of lava that, from the overlook, looked pretty smooth.

We did the obligatory stop at the Thurston Lava Tube, then it was on to hunt down Pele's Tears and reticulite and Pele's Hair.  We found the tears and the reticulite, but not much hair.

After a quick stop at the Jaggar Museum, we were on our way back home via a scenic drive through Hilo and up the north side of the island.  We stopped part way for some delicious (and well-deserved) malasadas.  We learned during our return trip that the earthquake last fall took out one of the popular waterfall tours that HF&T had put together.  Dad and Sally will be pleased to know that they have expanded what we affectionately call "The Hike of Death" as a result.  Something to look forward to next visit.

It stormed all night Monday night, and Tuesday (yesterday) we just hung out here and enjoyed a sometimes sunny, sometimes stormy day.  I had dinner with our incredible builder (Jerry Akers) and his wonderful wife, (Karen Akers) at the ever delicious Kenichi restaurant.  Dean and Donna enjoyed take out Mexican food from Habaneros while the "kids" went to Hard Rock Cafe.

Jerry and Karen told me a hurricane is headed to the Big Island on my departure date (Friday) so I was a bit worried...but today it's been downgraded to a (weak) tropical storm that likely won't hit the island until Saturday.  That's a relief!  I don't want to take off in a tropical storm, that's for sure.

Today, we're hoping for a bright enough day to hit a sandy beach...then it's going to be hard to avoid thinking about chores like packing and laundry before we head back to the mainland.

No...can't think about that yet!

 

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