Little did I know that a week in Hawai’i would produce so much blog fodder! Yippee!
Thursday we made the trek to the volcano. It’s apparent that Hawai’i is built on lava rock – it’s almost everywhere. In the Kona district where the coffee grows, it’s not as apparent due to the jungle everywhere. But in other places it’s obviousl We drove south and the scenery changed even more. We went from rainforest to grassy, rolling hills driving through quaint small towns and me snapping pics at every spot marked “Scenic Point” along the road. And at many that weren’t.
At the volcano we toured the caldera, saw vents where steam escaped the earth, marveled over the fact that lava had covered the land (and some subdivisions) where we stood just a few decades ago. We didn’t get to see the current live lava flow – it’s inaccessible except by helicopter. But it does still ooze and overflow it’s channels.
We drove down the Chain of Craters road, down the side of the volcano, to see where the lava had closed the road around the island. The oceans were magnificent, roaring and mighty. Makes the writer in me want to compose odes. OK, maybe not.
On the way back to the Bungalow, we decided to detour to South Point, which had been reserved for another day. But since we were driving past the turnoff…
Down a long 12 miles of road and track later, we came to the southern most point of the US. As the guidebooks put it, most people think that’s Key West, which is really only the southern most point of the Contiguous US. Don’t believe me? Go head, Google Earth it or something. I’ll wait. :lol:
South Point was both windy and absolutely beautiful. It was my favorite part of the trip. Except for maybe the beach. And the warm breezes. And the sunshine. And the fruity drinks.
