Memorial Day fun

We FINALLY got to go on a short trip over Memorial Day Weekend. We went with our friends Beth and James and really had a good time! I think we squeezed as much into the short time we were there! We left Oahu around 9:30 on Saturday morning and got to Hilo around 10:15. Once we picked up our rental cars, we were off on our road trip! Our first stop was the volcano!

James is checking out the steam vents where steam from the volcano seeps out of cracks in the Earth's surface. These obviously are man-made, but you can find them all around the park!

Family pic in front of the volcano. This eruption started about 2 or 3 months ago and caused a pretty big hole in the side of the crater. Pretty cool to get to see it!

Emerson and Macie posing in front of the crater at the observatory.

This is the Thurston Lava tube, where lava flowed during an eruption many many years ago. You can walk all the way through it.

This is inside the lava tube. No clue who the random stranger is in our picture or why he is looking back at us and "posing"!!

Because of the eruption currently happening, we weren't able to travel all around the national park. (too much dangerous air and sulfur dioxide to be safe). So, we ventured down route 130 where there is a lookout where you can see the lava hitting the ocean, and you can see where the lava damaged and took out an entire neighborhood back in 1983 or 1984. Pretty neat stuff!

Even though she doesn't look it, Emerson is thrilled to be standing on lava!

Here we all are (minus Eric, he's taking the picture) walking to the viewing area where you can see the lava.

And here is where the lava meets the ocean. Every once in a while you could see flashes of red as it hit the water, but mostly you just saw steam. Pretty darn cool, though!

If you look closely, you can see the steam coming up out of the earth as the lava flows from the site of the eruption, down the mountain and into the water. The lava is flowing underground and you can only see the steam escaping through the vents.

On our last day, we went to Akaka falls. Fans of Fantasy Island may remember these falls, as this is the one used in the opening scene (I believe). Pretty cool to see such a huge waterfall!
And Emerson and I stood next to a GIANT fern in the rainforest to have our picture taken! Can you believe how big this thing is?!?!?

We definitely enjoyed our trip to the big island. We hope to get back there sometime soon to do some more exploring!!