The plan for Wednesday was to drive through Hilo and go to Volcano National Park. First, we stopped in Hilo to go to the farmer's market. While there, the kids were able to see and taste new fruits and foods. First, they cracked some macadamia nuts.
Lauren and Gavin (well, and all the kids eventually) tried coconut water out of the coconut. Lauren was not a fan.
They also tried mango (mmmmm-ey), papaya (insufficiently ripe), and dragonfruit (sort of a cross between kiwi and guava).
And, then we drove to Volcano National Park. And learned why Hilo is the wettest city in the United States (with an average of 10 feet of rain a year including areas that get up to 200 inches). It was a very blustery day.
We were able to see the caldera (hard to see in this picture).
Learning about seismic activity at the museum.
We decided that the weather was due to a fight between Kama Pua'a (Pele's lover and opposite). They, apparently, fight a lot. So, we had many discussions about why Pele and Kama Pua'a might be fighting and who might win in the fight - lava or rain.
After leaving the Jaggar Museum, we drove to visit one of the lava tubes. It was a beautiful example of a rainforest. We only wished that the kids would have been more psyched about indulging us with picture-taking.
Prior to our trip to Hawaii, Sarah had been talking about the importance of giving Pele the gift of gin. But, we ended up not giving Pele gin. Which is probably why she and Kama Pua'a were having such a fight. If she had gin, she would have been nicer to her lover and he wouldn't be storming. So, I blame Sarah. But, we drove by a place that had offerings to Pele.
I suspect the liquid in the bottles might be dirty, old gin.
And, that pretty much concluded the day. We drove home in the near pitch black darkness with a stop in Waimea for dinner at Pakini Grill (best bang for our buck on the entire trip).
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