Day 4: lighthouse and more lava...
So, let's see. We started out in Hilo again. Checked email. Got chocolate macnut (the locals say "macnut", not "macadamia nut") ice cream cones at Tropical Dreams Ice Cream. Then set out to explore the Puna District -- the southeast corner of the island. First stop, Lava Tree park (First 2 photos), where we saw a strange creature that looked just like Susan's cat, Luna. Hey, Suz! Did Luna go on vacation last week? After the park, we wanted to find a nice beach for swimming, but were frustrated at every turn. Either our guide book was really out of date or the author hadn't actually been to this island. Anyway, we drove out in the rain to a very ordinary mechanical lighthouse at the end of a quite impressive lava flow. (Next 4 photos) I got a red hotdog and a manapua (Hawaiian name for char siu bao -- Chinese pork bun) from a snack truck at Isaac Hale Beach Park, where we did not swim because the water was rough and there was no sand!
At the end of the day, we drove down Chain of Craters Road to see the live lava flowing down from Kilauea. With flashlights, we followed a trail of yellow markers over mountains of hardened lava in the dark. A few miles of hiking and we stood 2 feet away from bubbling hot lava oozing up from the earth. (Remaining photos. The ones that are purple were taken without the flash. Don't know why they turned out that color.) Scary and exciting. Afterwards, we rushed back over the rough terrain a little too fast. Michael's foot slipped into a crevice. You'll see the results of that misstep on the next page.
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