On Monday it was off to Volcanoes National Park. This park is 333,000 acres and growing. The island of Hawaii is growing at an estimated rate of just under 17 acres a year due to the continuous volcanic eruption (since 1983).  After visiting the Visitors Center, we hiked the beautiful Kilauea Iki trail. It is a five mile trail down the side of the crater, across the crater bed and back up again. A great workout and well worth the effort with breathtaking – both figuratively and literally speaking – sights.

This is the view from the top of the trail.

One of the more level parts of the  the floor of the crater.

I find it amazing to find the delicate plants and trees taking root in the rock and thriving on the floor of the crater  

 and the incredible colors of the lava.   

more of the trail 

And up again

The guide book, Hawaii The Big Island Revealed, claims it as a must for hikers and we agree.

After lunch we took a short 2 mile hike down to and through the Thurston Lava Tube.

Another great day!

We quickly found that Chris and Guido – our friends from Belgium – were the perfect houseguests. They enjoyed all the same things we liked – hiking, sightseeing, eating, adventure – and so we quickly fell into a routine of a new adventure every day.

It was rainy and chilly on Saturday so we hit the farmers market to stock up on groceries and then just spent time checking out the town of Hilo.

Sunday Tom and I took Chris and Guido on the “Adventures Tour” in our house rental book. We went back to the Lava Tree State Park

and then on to Isaac Hale State Park again. This time the hot springs were not occupied so we got to spend some time relaxing in the warm water and beautiful surroundings

while 200 yards away the surf crashed against the shore. We drove further down the coast stopping to explore some of the numerous parks all along the coast. Every-so-often we saw signs indicating that there was a “scenic view” which I found pretty funny since everywhere you looked there were scenic views.

The book then guided us to a small church called The Painted Church. It is a very old church and has been literally picked up and moved twice over the years to keep it from being covered by the lava flows.

We ended our days adventure back at the Black Sands Park and then home for an authentic Belgium meal.

Today our friends from Antwerp, Belgium (the ones we met on the cruise) arrived to spend the week with us

and we have gone nonstop since they got here. The weather has not been good – lots of rain – but we have managed to have a great time despite the downpours.

We started by walking the Liliuokalani Garden park near the airport

– quiet, tranquil and lovely with its Japanese style bridges, pagodas, and design.

The weather cooperated and we took in the sights as we strolled and talked.

Later we went out to dinner at the Seaside Restaurant in Hilo. Dinner was delicious and the company was great. What a lovely way to spend a birthday.

Bob, the man we are renting our house from, puts together adventure tours for his renters. We have been checking them out and have some wonderful pictures as a result. I’ll take you on a guided tour if you like.

First on tour one was Lave Tree State Park – beautiful!

The lava trees were created when a lava flow inundated a forest centuries ago.

                    

The sign explains what happened.

They have turned it into a beautiful park with peaceful winding paths that belie the tumultuous creation of the lava trees. Note the fissure

– there are many slicing through the park. Some are large enough to fall into so be careful.

The next stop on the tour was at Isaac Hail State Park where we hiked through a jungle  and watched the pounding surf.  The diversity and power of nature is wondrous!

The last stop on our tour was to Black Sands National Park. For centuries this was a wonderful local treasure – a beautiful black sand beach with towering coconut palms where local families swam, surfed, picnicked and communed with nature. Then Mother Nature let loose and covered the area with a blanket of lava 60 feet deep and miles wide.

The people were devastated but are now beginning to reclaim what was theirs. Hundreds of coconut palms have been planted and families are returning to the area.