Finally - The End

It's taken me a month to write about our trip to the Big Island. I sure hate to think that I'll be that far behind with the rest of my life, but we'll see. We LOVED our trip, and really appreciated the difference between the Big Island and O'ahu. Life is laid back, and much more the lifestyle you think I lead everyday. We only had 4 days there, but saw so much on only one corner of the Island. You could spend a very full week there and probably still not see everything you should. I am excited to check out the other islands. Here is a favorite from our trip, indicative of the laid back lifestyle.

Living Aloha? (click to read both upper signs)

Day 4 - Four Mile Scenic Drive

After we grabbed our bags and checked out, we bid farewell to Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park and headed back to Hilo. We had a few hours to kill before the car needed to be returned so we followed our trusty guidebook and took the "4 mile scenic" drive up the coast past Hilo. Check out the pictures - it was gorgeous, stunning, breathtaking and inspiring.

The boys really enjoyed this spider

Mauna Kea

'Akaka Falls - a 420' free fall

Walking to and from 'Akaka Falls was through the lushest jungle setting I've ever seen.

I swear I saw these in the newer version of King Kong, but they were alive and they ate people.

Our final view of Hawai'i - Mauna Loa (L) and Mauna Kea

Day 4 - Chain of Craters Road

Warning: Picture Heavy Entry

After Dave called me from the Jaggar Museum parking lot to tell me how freezing they were and asked me to pick them up (insert eye-roll here). We got the kids showered and fed and mostly packed our bags before we headed out on our last drive through the Park down Chain of Craters Road. I really wanted to go all the way to the end, and see some of the sights along the way. So, without further ado... I'll let the pictures do the talking:

As we drove down, we passed many spots where the lava was cut out to make way for the road

As we got closer to the coast, we lost quite a bit of altitude (4000 feet). You can see where the previous lava flows came over the hills on their way to the ocean.

We found this on the way to the Petroglyphs - AMAZING! (wink)

The Pu'u Loa Petroglyph Trail is home to an extensive collection of thousands of "writings" from ancient Hawaiians who actually lived on these lava fields (I can't even imagine that). This is the largest collection of Petroglyphs in the state.

At the end of the trail is a raised boardwalk that takes you through the field, although supposedly there are MANY more farther out - these are the ones they allow you to go out and see.

In each hole was placed the umbilical cord from their newborns for good luck.

B enjoyed this hike

The Lava road to the ocean - Chain of Craters Road used to go all the way around the bottom of the park and up the eastern part of the Island, but now 8 miles is closed because of lava flows since 1986 'til the present.

The end of the line - at least what we could drive too. The steam cloud in the distance is where the current flow reaches the sea.

A at the Holei Sea Arch - where the ocean has undercut the rock.

Almost a family picture

"KEEP AWAY - Unstable cliffs may collapse Frequent High Winds and Waves" - Yep, that's my baby out there.

Lava hills

Day 4 - Early morning hike

Early morning over the crater

Our last day on the Big Island started with Z and I sleeping in while Dave & the other 3 kids went on an early morning hike. Apparently, it was quite cold (at least to our very thin-blooded family) but they had a great time checking out the steam vents, eventually making it all the way down to the Jaggar Museum again. Here are a few pictures from their adventure:

Offerings to Pele

Day 3 - Christmas Day - kind of

There are no pictures to show from this day, even though it was Christmas. We were exhausted from our previous day's adventures so we enjoyed sleeping in a bit. We were excited for the Christmas Day brunch they advertised at KMC, but our hopes were soon dashed when we actually saw and tasted it... WAY too expensive, and WAY too gross. The kids' votes outnumbered mine, so we ended up just hanging out all day at the recreation center, playing arcade games and playing Empire Builder (way fun, if you have 3-4 hours to kill), and talking a bit with family. There was a tennis game in there somewhere too. I can't even remember what we ate for dinner, must have been at the bowling alley (sigh)! Obviously not MY favorite Christmas Day ever, but the kids loved it. All in all, a very relaxing day that the kids will remember for a long time, and I will hope to soon forget.

Day 2 - The Wrong Beach... and then... HOT LAVA!

Getting closer to the Lava flow

As the sun got lower on the horizon we hurried to the beach so we could see "hot lava", but ended up on the wrong beach. Before we realized our mistake, we explored the beach to "find the trail" that we were supposed to follow. This beach ended up being formed about 10 years ago from an earlier flow and some woman decided to plan for the future by planting hundreds of palm trees. Despite our mistake, we enjoyed this beach too. We eventually figured it out and made it to the right viewing area. We arrived just at dusk, and it was getting darker by the minute as we walked the bumpy pathway out to the beach over a previous lava flow. We kept our eyes on the giant billowing white cloud with anticipation. When we finally reached the viewing spot - with the other hundreds of people who were there - the sun just finished sinking below the horizon. It was uncanny how as soon as it set, the white cloud turned a bright glowing red. We were mesmerized by this scene for several minutes, trying to take photos - which proved almost impossible without a tripod. We could see the lava, which was still about a half mile away, spilling into the ocean. Within several minutes, the lava started "exploding" and shooting into the air, bright firework-like streaks of red and orange. We've seen some pretty amazing things in our lives, especially in the last few years, and this definitely makes the list. In some respects we were actually watching the formation of earth. New land is being laid. (On a side note, did anyone know that there is another Hawaiian island being formed right now called Loihi, and it's about 15 miles off the coast of the Big Island and 1 mile below the ocean surface. So, in another 30-40,000 years there will be a new spot to vacation.) We LOVED the Hot Lava, obviously a highlight our our trip... and our lives! Check out the last 'pic'... Dave was actually able to capture the exploding lava on video.

The Wrong Beach was an active flow over 10 years ago

New Growth

Sunset over newly planted coconut trees

Dan with a sprouting coconut

Z & Dave searching for the trail to lava

Realizing we were at the wrong beach, they started making their way back to the car. Notice the steaming fields in the background... we were close, very close.

Finally at the right location, we started our hike out to the viewing area

This is as good a picture as I could take with our camera... I was so wishing I had a tripod.

Hot Lava Viewing from Angela McIllece on Vimeo.

Day 2 - Driving to Lava

B & Little D at Lava Tree State Park

We ran out of time on Day 2 to see more down the Chain of Craters Road, so after our hair-raising visit to Devil's Throat, we headed back and out of the park down to the coast where the current active lava flow is spilling into the ocean. It was an hour and a half drive, but we allowed ourselves enough time to stop and see a few sights on the way.

Enjoying the impressive ginormous trees

Another fabulous find from the Hawaii Revealed book was this lava rock beach. Supposedly this gigantic boulder was thrown from the sea by the force of the waves up onto this beach. We walked around here for probably 30 minutes being impressed by the 'sheer awesomeness' (ahhh.... my eyes!) of the ocean.

Another shot for perspective on how huge this rock really was

Little D was taunting the ocean... "Is that the best you can do?"

Warming up for it's response to little D

Score one for the ocean! They all got soaked

Video of the winning wave

The Big Island Revealed book says this of Pahao (the town we drove through) and it's surrounding area: "Known as the Big Island's outlaw town, this is where guerrilla gardeners (pakalolo farmers), dreadlock enthusiasts, FBI fugitives and the never-bathe crowd coexist without stepping on each other's toes - usually."

We stopped at this beautiful black sand beach... a first for me