Volcanoes!
Well Taylor decided that since I had somehow planned for us to get up before 7am for 4 days of 
our vacation (diving x2, kayaking, and whale watching) that we were going to relax on the days we didn’t have to get up so darn early. So for our second full day in Hawaii and our first day in the villa/condo, we decided to have a relaxing morning. We got up, had breakfast on the patio, and slowly prepared for our trip to the Volcanoes National Park. We were told to devote a whole day to the park, so we packed up our sunscreen, cameras and windbreakers and fired up the iPhone to see how long it would take to get there. We were shocked to find out that it was 2.5 hours away!
Since it was already 10am I decided that we had enough relaxing for the day and it was time to move it! ;) We jumped into the car and made our way to the park. 
The drive there was LONG and really, really, winding. We wound up the side of the mountains, through coffee plantation after coffee plantation. About halfway there (as we rounded the Southern tip of the island) it flattened out and we were driving over huge lava fields. Around that time we also stumbled upon the “Southernmost Bakery in the US.” Intrigued, I made us stop for a break and baked goods!
We chose a passion fruit malasada: a hole-less donut that is a specialty of the island, some caramel bread pudding, and a loaf of cinnamon/raisin/macadamia nut bread for later. The malasada was great, and the warm bread pudding covered in hot caramel sauce was just what we needed to keep us going for the rest of the d
rive! Renewed, we set off in the direction of the world’s 2nd most active volcano.
We arrived at the park and were surprised to find the road lined with giant trees and Jurassic Park-type ferns that towered over the car. It was breezy and kept sprinkling on-and-off, but we decided to drive the “Chain of Craters” road that led from the main active crater, past a few previous eruption sites, and down to where the lava flows into the ocean. Upon speaking with the
park rangers, we were informed that part of our route was closed due to extremely high levels of volcanic sulphur dioxide gas in the air, so we had to take the short cuts.
We explored old craters, hiked over some old lava flows, and eventually made it the 10 miles to the ocean. It was a cool drive and it was fun to see where these huge, black trails of lava had cut through the green forests, making their way to the sea. When standing 
by the shore and looking inland, you could see the green or brown landscape interrupted by massive black winding fingers of lava that had crushed and burned everything in its path.
Sadly, there was no lava flowing into the ocean while we were 
there, so after hiking to the beach to see the “famous” lava sea arch, we went to find dinner and wait for nightfall.
Being Californians, we sought out the only vineyard on the island: The Volcano Winery! More of a novelty than a serious vineyard, we had fun tasting their tropical fruit wines, and their dessert wine made entirely out of honey and yeast…that’s it….just honey and yeast. It was not as sweet or thick as we expected, but it was ok for a dessert wine. We grabbed a bottle of the “Volcano Blush” for later and went to find dinner. We found a little Thai place in the town of Volcano and had dinner.
Once it 
was beginning to get dark, we headed back to the park to go see the main crater. We were told it was the only place in the park where you might be able to see the glow from fresh lava, so we were psyched to investigate. We passed through a field of “steam vents,” places where water seeped into the rocks and was heated by the volcano underground, then returned to the surface as plumes of steam! After a quick volcano "sauna" treatment, we found the main crater, the Kiluea crater. It was spewing huge clouds of 
volcanic gas, and we hung around while it got dark. We were surprised by the weather though – we thought it was going to be hot and dry, but it was about 50 degrees, super-windy, and raining/misting….I was FREEZING! We hung out inside the museum near the crater until it was really dark, and braved the rain in our shorts and sandals for a few minutes to try to get some pictures of the lava glowing.
of lava, and you can see the glow reflected in the giant plume of gas it emits! I attempted to get pictures with my new, fancy camera…but it was raining, my fingers were numb, and I had almost no idea what I was doing! I managed to get a few shots before I thought hypothermia might be setting in (ok, ok, 
I’m exaggerating a little, but I was cold!) and we jogged to the car to start the long drive home.We finally made it back to the villa, took super hot showers, and packed up for the next day (kayaking and snorkeling!). It was really cool to see the awesome power of the huge volcanoes, and we got to at least see the orangey glow of the lava! Good day!
See all the pictures here: http://kristynspictures.shutterfly.com/
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