Hawaii--Rain & MUD

On Day 4, we finally spent some time with Grandma & Papu who were in Hawaii too for the week. They had rented a convertible which had to go back later that day so we decided to take advantage of it and do some exploring of the island. 

Our first adventure was a failed attempt to see the famously beautiful Waipio Valley. We drove across the island and hit a very stubbornly heavy rainfall on the northeastern side. This was a cool little stretch of road through the trees and mist:

So we headed back to the sunny side of the island and went north instead. Check out the view:

Grandma & Papu & the big boys enjoying the dry sunshine. (They kept having to stop and put the top up and down through that rain...)

We drove and drove until we came to the end of the road, which stopped here:

Being the crazy adventurers that we are, we hit the trail, and that had to be the world's muddiest trail. You'd think it couldn't get any worse and then it would.

At least all of us made it down and up again without a fall--we passed one older gentleman who was not so lucky...poor guy had mud all the way up his side to his head and was even bleeding from his head!

And Bub, as usual, felt the call of nature (and answered it.)

The view was worth the muddy hike though...amazing! (Supposedly Pololu rivals Waipio in beauty...we wouldn't know for sure though as we didn't get to see Waipio.)

At the bottom we found a rocky shore and wild waves...throwing rocks in water is irresistible to little boys:

Once again, Bub felt the call of nature, this time call #2.

An attempt at a family pic...so many things I hate about this picture (ME! and George's hair, or lack there-of), but we'll take what we can get I guess.

Grandma & Papu

There were 2 of these giant swings down there...really cool!

Coming out of Pololu on the way home we passed the big King Kamehameha statue. We left Pololu with perfect timing as it started to rain again on our way out.

Hawaii--Snorkels & Sand

On Day 3 we finally hit the beach. We drove south along the Kohala Coast to a cool little cove with some pretty fun snorkeling. I say that as a spectator vicariously enjoying the snorkeling through my family as I personally have no desire to snorkel--I panic when I put my face in the water and try to breathe through that thing. So here are a couple videos George captured while he snorkeled--the first with some pretty fish & the second hanging out with a sea turtle:

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We left that beach in search of somewhere to get something tasty (and affordable) for lunch. We found this cute little hot dog place with a pretty nice little lanai off the back to enjoy the beach view while dining on our dogs. The video isn't anything special--I just like hearing Benno go "CHEESE!!!!"

After lunch we checked out another beach which was better for boogie boarding. The waves were pretty intense so the boys didn't venture out too far. Sorry the pic is so bad--I only had my iPhone handy at the time:

And Benno happily dug in the sand until he was tired and fell right to sleep on my lap.

Fun day! Only drawback to the day was the sunburn I went home with...grr!

Hawaii--Black Sand, Bloody Nose & Place of Refuge

After we left Volcano National Park, we headed Northwest up the western side of the island--our ultimate destination being our condo at the Waikoloa resort where we would stay for the rest of the week. 

Along our way, we discovered a few fun things, notably the Punalu'u Black Sand Beach. 

I don't think this photo really does the place justice...it really was beautiful to behold.

The boys walked out on this rocky outcropping. The color of the water is just incredible.

We entertained ourselves as the waves crashed up against the rocks...the boys got a bit wet.

Christopher thought the day wasn't eventful enough so he had a good nosebleed to stir things up. The only thing I had handy to stem the bloody tide was a stack of diapers (just remember to keep the absorbent side against your nose--the other way makes for all kinds of messy fun!) 

Once Christopher's nosebleed was under control about 15 minutes later, we stopped here at the Place of Refuge (it has a Hawaiian name but it's impossible to remember!) Very cool spot though and gave a little glimpse into Hawaiian history & culture.

One of the lagoons where those seeking refuge would come... We saw sea turtles taking refuge there.

Love the tikis.

Beauty!

Here's a native Hawaiian game. We don't actually know how it's played. Looks like fun though.

After this we headed to Waikoloa & found our fabulous condo. Settled ourselves in, checked out the beach nearby and ate dinner at a terribly overpriced Macaroni Grill (kids' meals were $8.99! That adds up with 4 boys!)

Hawaii--Volcano National Park

Day 2 of our Hawaii Trip started with exploring Volcano National Park. The jet lag worked in our favor--we were all up bright & early and got a great start on the day.

This is the caldera of Kilauea Iki (which means "small" Kilauea)--the official Kilauea caldera was closed during our visit because of problems with the volcanic gases. The smoke in this photo is actually just steam rising from cracks where rainwater dripped down and comes back up as steam after hitting hotter layers below.

A stop along our drive on the Chain of Craters road.

Picking up chunks of lava to examine:

The landscape is rather barren and otherworldly:

Here we approach the end of the Chain of Craters road, and you can see the two giant plumes of steam/gases rising out in the distance. We saw those same plumes the night before from the other direction and were so sad we couldn't get closer.

At the end of the road, you can get out and hike, which we did.

Apparently this is why they closed the road, ha. The boys are supposed to be running for their lives...need to work on their acting skills.

It's so surreal to hike on this!

There is a surprising amount of color in the lava rock--from a distance it all looks black, but then you see this:

Really beautiful!

Every here and there we'd see a bit of the old road (and older lava flows...see that brownish flow?) Apparently this flow is pretty recent--the map below labels it from 2002-2004.

This is cool but it strikes fear in my heart every time I see it. I had no idea this deadly cliff edge was here beside us all along the hike and at one point George & Aaron walked out toward it...had I known there was a 50 foot drop off, there's no way I'd let my boys anywhere near it!!!

Here's the map that shows the lava flows. I think we made it a little past the point where the 2004-2007 flow crossed the 2002-2004 flow. The active flow was just too far away as badly as we wanted to see it!

Before leaving the park, we checked out the Thurston lava tube, which was cool but maybe we weren't quite as impressed since we have our own lava tube here at Mt St Helens.

So that's Volcano National Park (and that brings us up to lunchtime on day 2!)

Hawaii--Travels & Lava Trees

Ok, here comes a deluge of photos. I'm going to break it down by the day (or by event if necessary...) I'm tired of being behind on this! (And my poor daily photo blog...that's a beast of a problem which has not been helped by my Canon having died so I'm reliant on the big camera which is not easily carried with me, thus I don't take daily photos anymore. Aaaaaahhhhh!!!!)

Day one of our Hawaii trip... First the travels:

Our flight left way too early in the morning. The flight out of Portland left at 6:05am, and we barely made it to the airport on time to get our bags checked in and get through security and walk right onto the plane since boarding had already started. I hate not being early. But we made it.

We caught our connecting flight in San Francisco, where lucky for us they had this cool play area for kids right next to our gate. The boys got some wiggles out before it was time to board the flight bound for Kona, HI.

That flight was blessedly not full so we had space to spread out. 

Benno flew as a lap child so it was fabulous to be able to lay him down for a nap. (The flight home was not so lucky, grr.)

At the airport, the boys and I hung out with the luggage under some shady trees while George retrieved the rental minivan.

Aaron and the 'S' shaped seed pod.

Our first destination on the Big Island was the Volcano, where we were going to spend that first night so we drove across the island all the way to the other side...it took us 4+ hours with a couple stops. This is the Saddle Rd which cuts across the middle of the island between the 2 highest mountain peaks. It looked much different than I expected.

Finally we made it down near Volcano and after checking into our room there, we explored the Lava Trees State Park.

The setting was gorgeous. I wish photos captured sounds too because it was amazing the amount of wildlife sound here--birds and frogs were chirping and croaking like crazy.

The boys & I pose with one of the lava trees, which were a bit of a disappointment in themselves. The guidebook made it sound a lot more exciting than it really was. Still a nice little hike though.

George & the boys & another lava tree.

Aaron and a fallen log. Parts of this hike really felt like the Pacific Northwest in a lot of ways.

That night we drove all the way toward Kalapana, which is supposed to be the best place to view active lava flows from Kilauea, only we got within sight of the entrance only to be stopped and turned around because dangerous gases were hovering over the parking area so they closed it. Grrr!

We drove all the way back to our place at the Volcano Inn, all dreadfully tired and disappointed in missing the lava.

I like taking photos of the places we stay. So here's this Volcano Inn. It was horribly humid--so bad that you got into bed and the sheets felt wet, ick! But it was ok for the one night.

And thus ends Day One.