Well, I am going to hijack the blog while Amy is in the shower. I don't know if anyone has seen it, but I feel like the guy in the Sonic commercial who tells his wife he is going to talk about the strawberry-banana shake he is enjoying in his blog.
We have had another great day. Once we finally got to Hilo, we had a little bit of trouble finding a good place to eat. We tracked down two places one of our books had recommended and they were both closed on Sundays. We were both famished and the area we were in wasn't all that great, so we finally buckled to the pressure of Taco Bell (how embarrassing)! After that, we were off towards the Volcano.
We stopped in to check into our room for the night. Amy booked us at a Lodge which is very cozy and rustic - I am guessing it has been around since at least the 40's. It gets into the 50's at night here (near the volcano) so we are planning to make good use of the fireplace in our room tonight. Amy had made us reservations at the Lodge restaurant which is supposed to be really good. We stopped by to check out the menu and we were trying to decide whether to stick with our reservation or venture out for something else when we noticed the menu included a congratulatory note on our new union. We decided it would be just plain rude not to show up after that. Once we got to our room, there was another congratulatory note that offered us a free champagne toast at dinner tonight. They don't have an iron here (that whole rustic thing) so I am quite a bit embarrassed to have to go to dinner in my wrinkled shirt knowing that we are the special guests of honor!
We made it out to the Volcano and needless to say it was a far cry from the scenery on the Garden Island of Kauai. It was sparse, desolate, alien, eerie and surprisingly beautiful. On the way there it got really hazy and we later realized that this was due to sulphur gases that are released from the volcano. Unlike most volcanoes that have a steep peak, this volcano is relatively flat and has many craters that remain from past eruptions. The whole area is surrounded by steam vents where ground water that has seeped into the earth is released in constant flows of steam. We also got a chance to hike through a dormant lava tube and see where lava had scorched the earth on the "devastation trail". On the trail you could see a clear demarcation where the forest was annihilated by flowing lava over 30 years ago, and how the forest is working to recover the area.
Apparently, the ability to actually see flowing lava changes on a week-to-week, day-to-day basis. I was a little disappointed when we found out we wouldn't get to see lava flowing, but I was so overwhelmed by the awesomeness of everything else that I ended up not minding about the lava. It was truly amazing to see the awesome power of nature through the steam vents and the cycles of destruction/creation caused by the volcano. The most surprising part of the volcano was how lush and fertile the land on/around the volcano was… It is truly amazing to see such an obvious reminder of God's unyielding power.
Our best to everyone on the mainland - we will post volcano pictures soon!
A special shout out (thanks) to Karen and Kristi for checking our mail while we are away - you're the best.
1 comment:
wow - that sounds truly amazing....can't wait to see photos!
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