According to geologists, this is the newest of all the islands and is still mostly volcanic rock.
Hilo is one of teh wettest places on earth with rain with rain nearly 2/3 of the time.
We did not luck out with a dry day - it rained all day, poured part of the day.
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| We pulled in early and it was raining |
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| Our first stop was at a candy store! |
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| We were able to see the workers actually making the candy! |
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| In addition, they had some very nice displays |
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| We next went to Volcanoes National Park and the Jagger "Museum" |
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| We had limited visibility which deteriorated later to zero |
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| But at least we could see into the crater |
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| In the museum, they had a video of the crater made on a clear day |
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| along with scientific explanations of the way Hawaii was formed |
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| As well as the legends - this is Pele, Goddess of fire |
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| When the lava cools, it hardens and becomes brittle. These lava fields are not crushed, this is just the way they become |
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| These gulleys were made by rain erosion |
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| A few hardy plants take root |
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| This tubular formation is from where a tree was encapsulated by lava. Now the tree is completely gone and all that remains is the tube that was once the tree trunk |
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| This photo doesn't even come close to capturing the downpour conditions when we stopped at the lava tube |
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| The path is a few hundred yards all downhill - but the other end is just a couple dozen steps back up, or so we thought |
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| The path ends at a gully and a modern footbridge takes visitors into the lava tube |
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| These large tubes formed "conduits" for the hot lava as it flowed to the ocean, gradually expanding the island |
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| All was well until we got about 50 yards from the exit (that's the glow in the distance) and we encountered a puddle about 4" deep. There were a couple of stones in the puddle but Theresa talked Bob into NOT trying to step across on the stones! |
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| So, back we went, the way we came! (this explained why all those other people were going "backwards" on the trail!) |
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| The opportunity to see the trail from this end allowed us to notice many new things . . . |
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| like the rain pouring down the steps we had to walk up! |
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| The next stop was indoors! Yay, no rain (for a while!) We stopped by an orchid grower |
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| The variety of orchids was amazing - we probably saw 250 different orchids (don't panic - we aren't going to show 250 flower photos!) This one grows on the side of a tree! |
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| The prettiest flower of all (with her husband) |
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| The next stop was a Muana Loa nut house |
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| They were happy to sell you some macadamia nut chocolates! |
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| But the best part was the outdoor gardens |
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| Ginger roots |
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| The last stop was at the Rainbow Falls. Clearly, you need sun to have rainbows, so we did not see a rainbow. |
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| The evening concluded with a comedian on board the ship . . . |
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| and of course a towel animal! |
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