It’s a road trip trip

Tuesday, January 7, 2025

After a delightful SPAM and eggs breakfast, we set out for Volcanos National Park. The map said it was 2 hours away and we would want to stay 4-6 hours. Sounded like a good day out.

We had our audio guide man, Ray, telling us about stuff as we went. The topography around here is sort of other worldly, like Iceland. It is beautiful in its own way.

We went by a green volcano that insisted on hiding behind trees and bushes. Julie and I both tried to get a picture. This is my favorite.

We were high up as we traveled the south coast. Gary and Julie are not fans of heights (I am not alone!) and they were more nervous than I am. I loved it. There were no sheer cliffs, so I was totally comfortable. Yay me.

We kept going by places that said Last Gas! or Last Restaurant! and that seemed weird. Why last? Last until when? I know this road goes in a circle around the island and eventually we are going to get where we were yesterday and we ate yesterday, so I don’t think last is a thing. The signs nervous-ed us out and we decided to stop for gas and some snacks. There was a sketchy bathroom on the outside of the building. Gary and Julie used it first and were a bit creeped out. Keith and I came out and laughed, because compared to a squat toilet with cockroaches in Kuala Lumpur, it was a palace. We all laughed, but I don’t think if I call and say, “Wanna go to Malaysia?” they are going to be very interested.

I suggested we eat at the L&L Hawaiian BBQ because it was there. If this was the last food until the National Park, I thought we should actually eat something. None of them were very hungry, but agreed (because LAST food). We decided as we walked in that each couple would share a meal. Keith and I ordered a meal and an order of fries. I ate the fries, and a couple bites of the meal. Gary and Julie didn’t agree on the meal and ordered one each. They almost finished. I thought it was funny that I didn’t eat much (it was a pretty big order of fries) after making them eat.

At that point we had been on the road for longer than expected. I thought we were feet away from the entrance. No luck. It said we were two hours away. I was verrrry confused. We skipped going to the southern most point of the USA, along with a green sand beach. It was a little disappointing, but we agreed we would go next time we are on Hawaii.

We drove on. And on. I was starting to wonder if it would be dark when we got there. We skipped another side trip from the audio guide but then couldn’t resist going to a black sand beach that offered the possibility of turtles. Julie was so excited to finally get to get her feet in the ocean. The turtles that were there were small, but still exciting. The pictures don’t look nearly as cool as the black sand was. I loved the texture, too. I wanted to take some and make a craft with it, but I didn’t have anything to put it in. We could easily have spent hours there, if we’d brought swim attire, and weren’t on our way to volcanoes.

The next side trip was to Ka’u Coffee. After sugar cane stopped being profitable and completely ended in 1996, some families started raising coffee up on the mountains (volcanoes? Everything is a volcano around here) and now Ka’u Coffee is around the world. Gary is the only coffee drinker, but when in Hawaii, I think you have to go see coffee growing. Julie kept trying coffees and hating them and giving the rest to Gary. He finally had to surrender – too full and too hot!

Finally, we were almost to volcanoes! There were definitely volcanoes off to the side of us.

We took a quick spin off the road to see tree molds. What is that, you say? Excellent question. Imagine you are a tree, full of water from the last rain and feeling good. The volcano suddenly spits out 2200 degree lava and it comes rushing at you. You hold your ground with your water-cooled self for long enough for the lava to form a crust around the base of your trunk. Then WOOF! You dry out and explode into flames, leaving behind a hole surrounded by lava crust. These tree molds indicated how deep the lava was and where the forest had been.

Finally, at 4pm, after six hours on the road, we got to the visitor’s center. We had no time to enjoy the displays and movie, but went asap on the Kilauea crater rim drive.

First stop – steam vents. What does that mean? We played in the steam rushing out of the Earth. Great fun.

Next stop was at the end of caldera, where the recent eruption had happened. Nothing was going on today. It was a tiny bit disappointing to have missed it by such a short time. There was a LOT of steam coming from everywhere and hard to get a good picture, but it was fun to look at.

We backtracked and went to the other side of the rim, then over to the Kilauea Ita – a smaller volcano caldera nearby. You can see the steam in the background from Kilauea.

Next stop – a walk through a big lava tube. Somehow, we have managed to have private times at a lot of these places. Win for us.

We drove through the dark dark to Hilo to go to Kosmic Cone, the ice cream place that was closed yesterday. The boys had a burger and Julie and I had a cone, followed by a small cone. Gary pointed out that we were paying exorbitant prices and ordering second cones in Hawaii and we are from the DAIRY state. All true.

We drove the Daniel K. Inouye highway again. I summoned the vog (volcanic fog) by mentioning that we weren’t having much today. Within a minute Keith had to hit the brakes hard because we had zero visibility beyond the hood. I stopped invoking things, and it disappeared in two minutes. I am obviously powerful.