Circling the Big Island

To really see the Big Island, we drove the entire coastline; it is more than 200 miles and took us about ten hours (with lunch, dinner and Hilo Homemade Ice Cream stops). Using our handy dandy guide books and GPS we found the beautiful Waipio Valley and Akaka Falls. The book said we could choose between a five minute trail and a twenty minute trail to the waterfall; of course, the five minutes trail was closed for repairs, but we did manage to do the longer, 323 steps each way through the amazing jungle. The lack of enthusiasm from our two younger members was overwhelming and once they saw all the steps they decided to stay in the van! How do the oldest ones keep doing all the exercising??? After Hilo, we headed to Volcanoes National Park where the group shot was taken in front of Kilauea Volcano. It has been active since 1983 and part of the circle drive around the top is closed right now because of the poisonous gases. Impressive sight. We also walked through the Thurston Lava Tube and mustered a bit more excitement from the tweenagers. In contrast to all the lava is the amazing forest surrounding the lava tube; it looks like a scene from Avatar with giant ferns and vines all around you. Steam spewing out of vents along the side of the road made us question the sanity of driving along the top of an active volcano. As we reached the bottom of the island we happened upon the fabulous Punalu’u Black Sand Beach before heading back north to Kona. Great Day--thanks to our driver, Micheal. MA