Lotsa Lava

Grandma T. is here for a visit. Except we really aren't "here". We are now on vacation on The Big Island. We are staying in the Hawaii National Volcanoes Park in Kilauea Crater.

This morning after breakfast Grandma T. and I took the boys to a playground on the grounds where we are staying. Son1 went down the slide once and refused to again. He said it was too hot. It took us a minute to figure this strangeness out since the air temp was about 70 degrees. (Yeah, it's a lot cooler in the crater.) Anyway, the slide was well over 100 degrees because of the heat coming up through the ground. I sat on the perimeter of the playground and had toasty buns from the warm earth. It bothered Grandma, but not me.

Soon we got started on our day and started the drive around Kilauea Crater. I am standing at the edge of Halemau'uma'u Crater. This is a crater within a crater which is said to be the home of Madame Pele, the Hawaiian volcano goddess. This is all crusted over now, but for the most of the 19th century this was a boiling lava lake. Mark Twain visited here and said it was like viewing the fiery pits of hell. It is about 300 feet deep and about 3,ooo feet across.

Hubby and I had a few minutes for a date walk while Grandma sat with the kids in the car. It was a whole ten minutes. We are standing at the edge of Halema'uma'u Crater.
The majority of the Volcano Park looks very arid. However, there are areas where a rainforest has started to grow over the lava. We stopped at Thurston Lava Tube. On the way down to the lava tube we decended into a several layer rainforest.

This was a total contrast to what we had seen thus far. It got cooler and cooler as we zig zagged our way down to the Lava Tube. Son1 was able to hike all the way down.

And Son2 managed to get down, too. I wore my nursing cover over my bjorn so he could sneak in a nap. While in the park a cute little girl not older than 4 kept giving me funny looks. I heard her finally say to her mommy...look, she has a newborn baby under there! And her mom said...that's right, she has a newborn baby under there. But the little girl kept looking at me funny. She said to her mommy.....I THINK it's in her tummy with the feet sticking out! I laughed about that all day.

We made it down to the lava tube, and walked all the way through to the other side. Son1 was a little afraid of the dark, even though it was lit. Water was coming down through the lava tube overhead. Son1 is trying to give the Hawaiian Hang Loose sign, or the "shaka".

After we walked through the lava tube, Son1 showed Grandma how he walks across the beams at his gymnastics class.

Totally amazing. We took a detour from the rim of the crater to the Chain of Craters Road. This road is a 19 mile decent to the sea with many smaller craters.

From this road you have an amazing view to the Pacific Ocean. That long darkness in the center of the picture is hardened lava that flowed down into the ocean. It is so amazing to see the beauty of hardened lava.

There are different kinds of lava. They are classified by their physical characteristics.

Almost to the end of Chain of Craters Road is the Holei Sea Arch. Here the ocean has undercut the lava rock leaving an arch. It was so beautiful!

Hubby took this picture. If you face one way you can see the Holei Sea Arch. If you turn around in the same spot this is your view. From where we were standing we were experiencing the misting ocean spray. This is all hardened lava rock. At this point the road is closed. As a family we made the 1 mile round trip to where the lava crossed the road in 2004. Son1 walked this round trip, too!


Son1 is trying to get his fingers in place for a shaka sign. We are standing at the edge of the road. The lava crossed the road in 2004, and the road is totally covered. Here I am with a good picture of Son2 looking like he was in my tummy with his legs sticking out.

At this point the boys and I started walking back to the car. Grandma and Hubby walked all the way to the end of the trail near the water's edge. It was too slippery and too windy for the boys and me.

We took this picture right before we visited the steam vents. We are standing at the edge of the crater from the opposite side as we were this morning.

The formatting for this post has been difficult. YIKES.