Just got back from Hawaii! My high school friend, her sister and I went to Hawaii to celebrate our turning 40 this year. We had so much fun and I took a million pictures. I'll probably make a couple posts about it so I don't load down one post with all those pictures.
We stayed at the
Bali House near Hilo on the Big Island. totally off the grid, 7 out of 10 houses there run off of generators or solar and use rainwater for their water. Hilo is the rainiest city in the US and it is lush jungle and rain forest. Oddly enough, Kona on the other side of the island is desert and never gets any rain. The big Volcano in the middle of the island blocks the clouds from making it to the other side of the island.
On the first day, we walked the beaches across from our cottage and at night we hired a guide to walk to the active lava flow where it hits the ocean. we walked for 2 or 3 miles across lava flow that had occurred just in the last year. Was not an easy walk. it was very jagged and full of cracks, but the view was totally worth it. We watched the lava flow for over an hour well into the night and then hiked back the 2 or 3 miles in the dark. It was even harder hiking all that in the dark! We were in a group of about 8 people and we walked single file putting our feet right where the person in front of us took a step. What an adventure and what an amazing site to watch. It's the only place in the world to see active lava reaching the ocean.
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| This is lava that we walked and walked and walked across. this part was pretty tame, but the setting sun made it blinding to walk on. |
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| our first view of the lava |
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| just a little scary. At one point we walked on some pretty warm ground near the lava flow. |
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| just beautiful at night! |
