What a fantastic day! We got up early and headed out for the 100 mile trek to the park. It may not seem like far but when you are leisurely cruising at a average speed of 40 - 45 mph, it takes a little timie to get there. We stopped at Punalu'u and played on the black sand beach. It was a beautiful beach with the most interesting black sand, was real grainy.
later found out it is because volcanic glass explodes on contact with the water as the lava flows out of the tubes up the coast. Needless to say, we had a blast. We also saw a sea turtle swimming and eating among the rocks. That was cool. I tried to photograph it but it was too elusive. Alex and I strolled along a couple of tide pools and saw a avariety of sealife. He thought it rocked...
But not nearly as hard as the Volcano. Wow, what a force of nature. There was not lava flowing from anywhere we could see, it looks like Kilauea has changed her path. Its flowing into land that is inaccessable and outside the park now. The lava has even stopped flwoing into the ocean now. We were bummed about that but had a blast none the less. We circled the entire rim, took a couple of hikes including devastation trail, ate lunch overlooking the caldera. Hiked along the sw Rift and ust enjoyed the entire experience. Alex's favorite part was tke Thurston Lava tube. You are hiking through a rain forest when it looms ahead like a gaping mouth. You can hike most of its length, there is about 380m that are not developed for tourists that you can go at alone, but it was enough. The kids wanted to do it again. I think to them it felt a bit like a tropical thrill ride.
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