Rainy Evening

What does one do on a rainy evening? We play games. Several rounds of Rummikub and Gin Rummy.

Plus hot beverages. A drastic change in weather from last week on the beach!

Kīlauea Iki Crater

Despite the rain, we did a bit of exploring. This is the small crater adjacent to the main Kilauea crater. It was foggy, but you get the idea.

There is a hiking trail through the bottom. We are hoping to do that another day.

Thurston Lava Tube

Despite the rain, we went exploring in volcano national park. We did the visitor center and then decided to check out the lava tube. The theory was it would be less wet because it’s underground. While the tube itself is huge in diameter, the section that is open to the public is short, and we were a little underwhelmed. We were hoping for a more cavelike experience and less of a short wander through a tunnel. 

We are definitely in the rainforest!

Here we go…

The tube is from an early lava flow and is lit. 

That’s light, not lava!

Kalij Pheasant

These beautiful birds are everywhere in Volcano. Like pretty much everything, they are an invasive species. We kind of like them.

Pana’ewa Zoo

A nice little zoo just outside of Hilo. They have an interesting assortment of animals including a lot of birds. Everything that lives here has to be able to cope with the hot humid weather so there are a lot of things from Central and South America.

Some sort of exotic lizard.

Poison dart frog.

The peacocks roam free.

We liked all the cute sculpted benches.

The tigers were the stars of the show. There are two, one white and one orange (named Tzatziki and Siracha). We thought this one looked like Hobbes of Calvin and Hobbes.

Pe’epe’e Falls and the Boiling Pots

The falls were nice but there is not enough water for the pots to boil. They don’t really boil but look as thought they do when the water is rough.

They don’t always trim the vegetation so some things are hard to see.

Another Banyan Tree

We wandered into the dark fairy tale woods above Rainbow Falls and found another amazing tree. The one tree in the center is incredible, but add the others along the edge of the clearing and their intertwined upper branches and it makes for the most amazing place!

The dark fairytale woods.

The center tree.

And, climb they must!

Rainbow Falls

We woke to a rainy morning in Hilo. That did not deter us from our plan to visit Rainbow Falls. The two part falls is iconic and in the early morning (when it is done raining) there are often rainbows. Hence the name!