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| Picture Gallery Monday, July 17 |
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I11: Bamboo Grove |
J02: Twisted Pahoehoe |
J09: End of the Road |
We went to breakfast at 8:00 at the main Carsons Volcano Cottage house where there was a very nice breakfast buffet laid out for us. Two cats were at breakfast, and we saw someone with a Delaware sweatshirt (his daughter just graduated from there)! From there we returned to out cottage for a little bit before heading to Hilo.
It continued to rain, and we began to worry about our flight, especially since the 9:00 and 10:00 tours were canceled - sure enough, our flight was canceled as well. We rescheduled for the next day at 10:00; hopefully the weather will be more cooperative then. So instead, we stopped at Border's, Walmart, and Discount Fabric Store to get more than any of us knew we needed. Being in Hilo, we went to two nearby falls: Rainbow Falls (at which we had rain, but no rainbow), and the 450' towering Akaka Falls (which was almost completely shrouded in mist and fog).
This still left us plenty of time to try a night volcano visit as planned. We dropped Donna off at the visitor's center at 4:15 pm so she could research our evening, while the rest of us went to the Volcano Winery (the only winery on the island) to sample and eventually buy their wine.
We started on our volcano expedition at 5:00 and proceeded down the Chain of Craters road where the eruption was continuing into the sea. We stopped at fascinating vistas along the way before arriving at the end of the road (because it was under an old lava flow), 4 miles away from where the lava is entering the ocean. We waited for sundown in the drizzle to try to see the glow of the lava. Just as we had given up, we caught a glimpse of the splashes of orange on the distant horizon! That made the damp trek across the old, craggy lava flows worth it.
We were all very grateful to find a restaurant in Volcano still seating after 9:00: Surt's. A lovely meal there ended our busy day.
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