After church, we had a little lunch and headed off for Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. We didn't realize that it was almost 100 miles away! The drive was varied and beautiful, from tropical rainforest, to oceanfront beaches, to barren expanses of volcanic rock. Along the way we passed Pu'uhonua O Honaunau (Place of Refuge) National Park, Ka Lae (the most Southern point of the United States) and Punalu'u Black Sand Beach (I bet you can guess what that one was named for!). When we arrived to the visitor's center we watched the video on Kilauea Volcano. It was fun to watch the lava fold, splatter and spew, and it was especially fun to
listen to the lava as it popped and cracked. The lava had been flowing into the ocean only two days before, but the park rangers said that it had since stopped. Air quality was poor as there were toxic levels of sulfer dioxide being emitted from the volcano. We were advised to stay in our car along certain parts of Crater Rim Drive (an 11 mile road that encircles the summit caldera). We visited the steam vents and walked over to the edge of the crater .
After church, we had a little lunch and headed off for Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. We didn't realize that it was almost 100 miles away! The drive was varied and beautiful, from tropical rainforest, to oceanfront beaches, to barren expanses of volcanic rock. Along the way we passed Pu'uhonua O Honaunau (Place of Refuge) National Park, Ka Lae (the most Southern point of the United States) and Punalu'u Black Sand Beach (I bet you can guess what that one was named for!). When we arrived to the visitor's center we watched the video on Kilauea Volcano. It was fun to watch the lava fold, splatter and spew, and it was especially fun to listen to the lava as it popped and cracked. The lava had been flowing into the ocean only two days before, but the park rangers said that it had since stopped. Air quality was poor as there were toxic levels of sulfer dioxide being emitted from the volcano. We were advised to stay in our car along certain parts of Crater Rim Drive (an 11 mile road that encircles the summit caldera). We visited the steam vents and walked over to the edge of the crater . 
1 comment:
To bad you missed the lava flows. We were there last February and were able to watch the lave flow into the ocean. What an amazing experience it was to watch new land being created before our very eyes!
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