How I Spent My Summer Vacation, Part II, Volcanoes

So after stopping by the park to get maps, we checked into our bed and breakfast. Basically, we were in a cabin in the in rain forest. It was chilly. We actually had to close windows to stay warm, whereas at home, they’re all open all the time. Now don’t think “log cabin.” It looked like any other house, but was the size of a two bedroom apartment. So the owners of this B&B had basically created a little subdivision, where every guest gets their own place. Very cool--solar panels, catchment water, that kind of stuff. While there, we had cable tv, something we don’t have at home. We discovered that on the local channel they show--get this--Soap and Charlie’s Angels! I was so happy. I miss Soap. Who wants to buy me a The Complete Series of Soap on DVD? You know you want to.


So day one we drove around Crater Rim Drive.


We stopped at the Sulphur Banks, which were stinky and so cool! And the Steam vents, which were hot and so cool! You can burn yourself on the steam!


We also stopped at all of the overlooks, and looked at craters and lava flows. It is so insane to be standing on a volcano. Really. It's beautiful and can kill you in many, many ways.


The drive was a good way to get a view of what it's like. The lava really looks different from each eruption, and you can tell how old a lava flow is based on the plant life that has managed to grow back and the look and feel of the lava. Most of the spots we stopped at were along the Kilauea Caldera. Then we joined an easy guided hike from the Kilauea Iki Overlook to the Thurston Lava Tube.


Kilauea Iki is a small crater that erupted in 1959. It took 30 years to cool. Anyway, the hike was kinda slow and kinda boring. We knew pretty much everything the guide said before hand, but once we got to the lava tube, he took us into the dark side of the tube. Part of it it lighted for easy access, and the other part is off the main trail, but open to the public with flashlights. The only reason we did this tour was for the lava tube, and if we had realized that the dark side was open we would have gone by ourselves, but oh well. It was still cool, if slow and crowded.

After the tube, we drove down Chain of Craters Road and stopped at all of the overlooks! Really cool. It's hard to write about your vacation because really, it's a bunch of rocks. And it's hard to explain why it's so cool. It really is a "you have to be there" experience. Even beautiful slide shows are kind of boring. Anyway, it's cool. I wish you could see it for yourself because I cannot do it justice (particulary since my adjective of choice today is cool).


We drove down to the end of the road, you know the part where lava has covered the road (!), and walked out as far as the trail went. we didn't go farther because you could die if you did. Or so the signs said. Awesome.




Then we went back, so very tired, to the cabin. At some point, I started talking about chillaxing, because it's such a stupid word it's just too fun not to use. You have to laugh when someone tells you to chillax. And Husband and I started describing a race of aliens called Chillaxians who travel space spreading their chill vibes and telling people to chillax. Hee, hee.


The second day, we hiked across the Kilauea Iki Crater--down the rain forest, across the crater, up and around the rain forest to get back to the car. I thought it would be hot on the crater, but it wasn't. The wind was quite nice. Have I mentioned that volcanoes are so cool? Oh, and there were stairs on the way back up. Needless to say, we got a little snappy after climbing stairs at the end of a hike. But, Husband was right that the longer rain forest hike at the end was a good way to cool down. (See, I can say it.)


We also visited a winery. They make volcano wine ,which was pretty good (no lava in it, but local berries and such). Husband was disgusted by the guava wine. It was a little gross. I thought the red was yucky, but husband likes it. I like dessert wine. They make a wine totally from mac nut blossoms. I think we'll have that after dinner tonight. Yum.

And then, we went back to the cabin and slept, only to arise the next morning and board a plane to Kauai.

Oh, on the first day, I walked a hole into the thigh of my pants. You read that right. My pants got a hole in them. I patched them, but didn't wear them again after all. See, you're supposed to wear pants and garden gloves when hiking over lava because the terrain is rocky and lava is 50% silica, you know like glass. So falling on lava is going to hurt and you will bleed. Neither of us fell, even though we wore shorts day two. Yay!

NEXT: Kauai

(I'll try to post the next one sooner than this one. Since we got back I've been trying to work a full-time schedule, and well, I've had enough time off that it's a bit tiring.)