Before heading back to Minnesota, Jean Pitman and I took a quick trip to the Big Island to experience life on another island. These pictures are randomly ordered. but it will give you a glimpse of what can be seen in two short days on the Big Island if you travel with someone whom is willing to just see everything and anything. Here are a few shots of a wondrous short stay...
Silly sign (I think its legit) in the middle of a lava field. We passed by on our walk to see the lava flow into the ocean. In the upper left corner you can see the steam venting down the volcano slope.
We stopped and walked along the black sand beaches, the sand is all volcanic.
When we first arrived in Hilo we found a sweet little 50's malt shoppe, with some original sign age. Pretty sweet! A total time capsule of a dinner.
We stayed one night at an amazing little privately run Hostel called the Holo Holo Inn located right in Volcanoes Village. A bed was $21 per night in the dormitory. Just one mile from Volcanoes National Park main entrance.
Some random fern budding. I just thought it was gorgeous and a little scary looking. The ferns were larger than a two story house.
This is a shot inside an old lava tube. You could literally drive a car through it at most points. Pretty amazing that this was a chamber for flowing lava.
Here are some steam vents. The trade winds were really low so the Vog (Volcanic smog) was at a dangerous level. They ended up closing the park later that afternoon.
A night shot of the actual lava flow as it poured into the ocean. It created this gigantic plume of glowing steam that just billowed and ungulated hundreds of feet into the air. It was really hypnotic to watch.
A random pug we met at a roadside coffee stand. He was happy to have company.
A shot inside one of the two main craters at the VNP. There are actually people walking along the basin of the crater. It stretches a few miles from end to end and the cupped edge along the base is 50 ft tall.
Jean resting during our walk along devastation trail. This huge section is just south of the crater and is a preserved wasteland.
Another two shots of devastation trail.
We stopped for gas somewhere along the southern coast of Hilo to fill up our Jeep. Gas was $3.96. At least it was full service.
Some wonderfully funky hybrid architecture in Hilo. This was now a Christian church.
We drove down along the southern coast of the Big Island after VNP was closed down. Jean noticed that there was a road called South Point, which led to the southern most point of the United States of America. So we went to check it out. It was a spectacular place to chill out for a few hours.
Here is a shot of Jean at South Point. The road had collapsed some time ago.
A few more images of the lava fields and black sand beach. People carry coconuts out into the lava fields and plan them along the path.
The final norae shanty night wound... I had a sub woofer fall from a shelf and split my head open. People were just rocking the shanty so hard that it started coming apart around me.
Tree canopy. Just pretty.
Tree molds. During a lava flow the lava came up through the tree stumps in a grove and burned them from the inside out, leaving these statued molds of the former trees. You can even see the hollowed out trucks when you look down into them.
More Lava field shots. Lovely texture everywhere. It still looks liquid and flowing. Its amazing to see nothing but this black bubbled char stretch for miles around you.
