This is taking longer than I thought to get these entries all posted. Oh, well. At least I'm making progress with something these days.
So day 5 was a Friday and we decided to take an all day tour of the far corners of the island. We spent a couple of previous evenings deciding what all we wanted to see and locating them all on maps. Then, we packed up food and supplies and all and headed out early Friday morning.
We headed to the southern most point in the U.S. first, since it was a ways of the beaten path. Nothing too exciting in the way of a destination, but it's kind of a fun thing to check off your bucket list. Once we got off the freeway we headed out into grassy pastures filled with cows. It was pretty in a non-tropical way and very windy. We had a bit of a downside to our vacation here though.
The map we had showed the south pint right down by the beach, so we actually passed the marker for it and headed to the beach area. But once we were headed onto the beach drive, it didn't look right. We decided to turn back and as Adam was backing up he crunched the back corner of the van's fender into a wooden post he couldn't see. Yes, it was a rental; no, we didn't purchase their insurance plan. Grrrr!
The Volcanoes National Park was next and it was pouring rain by the time we got there. The one thing we forgot to bring, our rain gear. It was all snugly packed away in the suitcase in the condo. Whoops! After a brief visit to he visitor's center, we picked out three spots in the park we really wanted to see. We went to the crater, which was still cool despite the clouds and mistiness. The museum there was a hit with the kids. They had a spot where you could jump on the floor and create your own earthquake on a seismograph(sp?) Our family all together was able to get the needle really bouncing! The video of lava flowing impressed them too.
We took the short hike through the rain forest to a lava tube. The kids liked the hike, but not he lava tube, which is like a cave. It was lit up, but it still made the kids nervous. We only travelled half way through it and decided to turn around. Very cool!
We stopped at another scenic overlook to see a bunch of steam vents and such that had been created by lava and underground pressure, etc. Then it was on to some waterfalls. Both falls had short hikes to view them, which our kids loved. A chance to get out and stretch and climb!
We picked up some lunch from a Subway in Hilo. Our kids loved the meatball sub--never had it before--there were no leftovers! Then we took off to the highlight of the day: the zoo! It was about a third the size of Hogle zoo with almost as many animals. All of the animals there were from the rain forest and local area. The best part--it was free admission! The kids even got to feed the feral donkeys with some grass given them by a zookeeper! My favorite part--the rain stopped the whole time we were there!!!
Another waterfall and a quick stop at a local food joint for a pick-me-up treat. We chose some chicken katsu and Portuguese sausage. The katsu was described to me as chicken strips with rice and a side dish of macaroni salad. It was chicken strips, but of whole chicken with the fat and skin still on, breaded and deep fried that you dipped in this bbq-like sauce. The sauce was great, and the chicken was tasty, once you removed the skin and fat. The macaroni salad was just mac noodles mixed with pure mayo. EYEW! It's easy to see why the local people are on the hefty side! The sausage with rice and eggs was ok. The spices in the sausage were a bit strong for me, but everyone else liked it. That's how it goes when you take a food adventure!
Finally we headed up the volcano. We found out later that rental vehicles were not supposed to travel up this road, but we didn't have any problems with it. I guess we were lucky. We only made it to about 9,000 feet and the observatory there. There were points higher up that you could visit, but they strongly recommended that children under 6, those with respiratory problems, or pregnant women, should not go any higher. So we wandered their gift shop, saw part of a video about the area, and headed back down the mountain.
We took what the kids dubbed the roller coaster road back to the condo. Lava rock is almost impossible to drill through, so for the most part the roads are just paved over existing areas. This made for some interesting turns and ups and downs, a lot like a roller coaster. To add to the fun , we took it in the dark. There were very few houses along it and no street lights. We encountered a lot of blind turns and drop-offs.
It was not hard to get everyone into bed and asleep that night!
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