#Blessed in Hawaii - Hawaiian Adventures, Part 2

Earth date:  February 28 - 29, 2020

Did you know that in rain forests it frequently rains?  Yes, of course you did.

In lovely Hawaii, a brief, light spritz of rain is called a blessing, or so we learned from a quite informative Lyft driver, who also awarded correct answers to Hawaiian culture quiz questions with ginger chew candies.  Naturally, my achiever kicked in.

We also learned that lots of blessings falling at the same time is a deluge.  And in Hilo, Hawaii offers a plethora of blessings.  While we skirted blessings on Friday, we were drenched in blessings hiking in Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park on Saturday.  #weareblessed

On Friday, we were lucky.  We snuck in and out of blessings as we toured up the coast on Hawaii Belt Road from Hilo to Honomu and on to Waipi'o Valley lookout.  And you know what comes with most blessings?  RAINBOWS!  Lots of rainbows.  Partial and full and double.  Hawaii is not stingy with the rainbows.

View from our hotel patio overlooking Hilo's bay

Mahalo, indeed.

We saw wondrous sites, starting with views from the Onomea Bay Trail...

We were cruising the Pepeeko Maikai scenic route in Papaiko and happened upon a trail down to a crazy beautiful beach.

The sky was blue and billowy, the foliage verdant and the ocean mighty.

Just beautiful.

At Akaka Falls, there's a short trail to the tall waterfall (442 feet).



















Surf pounds the black basalt shore in marvelous sprays at Laupāhoehoe Beach Park.  This beach is not one to bring a beach chair and catch the rays.  It's more of a sit serenely while appreciating the power of mother earth and realize you're a blip on the Almighty's creation timeline.

Waipi'o Valley Overlook offered views of the lush valley, taro fields and black sand beach accessible via four-wheel drive, horse or foot.  Not today thanks, and the Chevy Equinox is not up to four-wheeling either.  Besides, malasadas at Tex Drive-in are calling our name.  They are calling yours, too.  If you're real quiet you can hear them.

Waipi'o Valley Overlook

Malasadas are doughnuts with tasty fillings.  Tex Drive-in is located in Honoka'a, which used to be a sugar plantation, like much of the area.  Instead of pure sugar, they now grow malasadas.  Wait... did you hear that?  I can hear them.... calling for you.










Saturday is officially Volcano Day.  Because after you eat a malasada you have to hike.  5 miles per malasada.  Check.

We started our trek at Devastation Trailhead.  Excellent name for a trailhead, don't you think?  I'm either eager to see devastation or warned that it will be experienced.  Inspiring, indeed.  Off we go, headed towards Kīlauea Iki crater.

Friends, to make this trek an easy one, we are following the blue bouncing ball.  Did you spot it?

Through scraggly bush growing gamely on black rock, up through verdant rainforest on Byron Ridge overlooking the Kīlauea summit caldera (an active VOLCANO) and down the cooled "bathtub ring" of lava into the basin of Kīlauea Iki crater.  Kīlauea Iki was a molten lava lake in 1959 that has cooled over a period of 30ish years.

Steam pockets were still venting, and in fact we warmed our chilled hands over one.  Handy.  Which helped a great deal until we got drenched with cold, fat droplets just before reaching our car on the way back.  Karma for something, I'm sure.

Last stop on this hike was Thurston Lava Tube - yes an actual natural 400' tube created by cooled lava.  Mind. Blown.

It's like the rainforest paradise beckons into a vast black hole with a cheery trail, leading you right into it.  Of course we will head straight in despite warnings of falling rock and the big red sign that warns "enter at your own risk."  I mean the lady in front of us was on her phone the whole time - totally watching out for falling rocks.  Who has time for magma viewing with tik tok anyways?

Anyways, the lava tube was created 550 years ago by "vigorous streams of lava"(oh really?  is there another kind of lava?) that left a long tunnel behind when the molten magma drained away.  All kidding aside, it was pretty cool to walk through a tube of LAVA with stalactites of pointy magma above your head.




Then we made our way back, catching awesome views of the crater (LAVA LAKE) valley.

Still following the bouncing blue ball along the rim of the valley overlooking a cooled lake of MAGMA

Final stop of the day was almost at the foot of the windy Chain of Craters road, which is really just what it sounds like - road that passes a chain of volcanic craters, one after the other.  We passed lava flows from various years - 1969, 1971, 1974 - and I felt a sort of calmness about it all.  I attribute chaos and destruction with anything related to volcanoes, like the decimation of Pompeii.  But I felt an eerie calmness at Hawai'i Volcano National Park, as each magma flow was tidily labeled as in a science project.  We later ventured out to see the 2018 flow that wiped out a neighborhood.  It was amazing - not in a "that's so cool amazing way," but in a "OMG it's amazing that this suburb is now covered in a tall wall of black rock" way.

We stop to check out petroglyphs.  We're walking over rocky terrain, the wind fierce and sharp in the eyes.  We stop at an info board that describes how tribes used to live on this land and scrape together enough top soil to grow sweet potatoes.  I couldn't help but wonder why they wouldn't make their way nonchalant-like over to the lovely beaches on the western shore of the island.  Why live in a barren, craggy, windswept plain where lava flows every few years?  I admit, I am curious, but I haven't done any homework other than wonder.  I should keep my opinions to my chubby, western self and simply admire the tenacity of such a people.

They indeed had a reverence for the land, as the Pu'u Loa Petroglyphs demonstrated.  They chiseled signs into the craggy rock - circles and people shapes.  Circles, lots of circles and circles within circles and bitty holes.  It's a site that makes you think, and is still considered a holy place to local tribes.

And then... we're tired.  And it's time for dinner.

In the next adventure, Friends, we explore yet more lovely sites and decide it's time to snorkel.  Yes, we snorkel and there's video!