Hawaii Trip!
Realizing that Abigail was out of school and camp, Lee’s new job hadn’t started yet, Megan had recovered from her work-year, and Kilauea has been erupting lately, we went on an impromptu trip to Hawaii!
We ended up staying 8 days, seeing sights, swimming, having some resort-life, and… seeing a volcano erupt!
Here’s a few journal entries
Day One:
We woke up at 6:00 a.m. And took a 9:00 a.m. flight from San Francisco direct to Kona. Then we grabbed our rental car which was a free upgrade to a nice SUV and drove a nearby local farmers market. There. We explored many fruits and vegetables and bought a bunch of stuff. Then we drove north. Then we were hungry so we ate at a local Mexican restaurant and had chicken fajitas and a virgin frozen lava flow drink that had mango puree and strawberry puree and coconut ice cream all blended together and it was fantastic!
Back on the road. We looked for a grocery store. After passing some big name grocery stores like Walmart, we started looking for more local ones. We found two that were really just liquor stores with chips and a few small groceries which wasn’t good. So then we found a nice local grocery store and went shopping! We even bought spam and already cooked rice so we could make 
something delicious at home. We pulled off at the Magic Sands Beach so that we could put our toes in the sand and feel the beautiful ocean. We also saw a sea turtle swimming and the people were very nice and lots of kids were snorkeling and jumping in the waves. It was fun! Then we found the Black Sands Beach and had to pull off there too cuz it’s the Black Sands Beach. We saw two sea turtles up on the sand and they were having a turtle race. A very very slow race up the beach.
We had a long drive still ahead of us to get to our yurt in Volcano, Hawaii. So we didn’t really stop at the southernmost point of the United States. Although we noted the turn off for it. We also noted that there was a bakery which was the southernmost bakery in the whole United States but it was closed 3 minutes before we got there so we didn’t go.
Once we found the turn off for our Airbnb yurt, we started down a pitted unpaved road in the rain and darkness. We finally found our yurt and were happily surprised at how awesome it was. As we puttered around and made some scrambled eggs and sliced up a pineapple for snacks, we noted the very, very, very loud coqui frogs. Soon we were sleeping inside the yurt listening to the frogs and the incessant rain.
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Day 2
On Sunday, June 15th it was Father’s Day. We started the day with a delicious breakfast of scrambled eggs, cubed potatoes and sausages . Then we went to the Volcanoes National Park to see the volcano Kilauea that is currently active. We attended a talk by a park ranger and it was super interesting. We learned all about Pele’s Hair and ways that they anticipate or predict the next eruption such as the rise in the land and also how many earthquakes, like thousands or hundreds that happen right before and showed us some graphs. We also looked at some cool lava specimen rock specimens. That’s all. Lots of steam. Then we drove down the road a ways to see the steam vents and it was really neat and hot like a sauna. We also went to see the lava tube which was amazing. But what was more amazing was the plant life on the path leading up to and after the lava tube area. We saw all kinds of mosses and mushrooms and ferns and fiddleheads and flowers and all sorts of really cool things in the lush rainforest area. Then we walked a bit of the Devastation Trail and came across an astounding overlook of Kilauea Iki crater with its basin formed of lava that floated up and then back down again. Then we headed to the southernmost bakery in the United States per Abigail’s request. Along the way we stopped at a coffee plantation which was pretty disappointing, but we met some nice people there and we chatted for a very long time with them about their travels around the world and that was fun. Then we went to go see the southernmost point on the island and of the United States-sort-of-almost cuz the other parts are really restricted. But it’s the southernmost point that we’re allowed to go to and it was really cool and we were standing there and we were looking over the edge of the cliff and it was amazing and scary. And then two local boys showed up, kicked off their shoes and jumped in without hesitation as if they done it a hundred times before then. They went down there and swam around and had a lovely time. It was kind of cool. There’s lots of locals there too. Then we went to the bakery.
Then we went to the southernmost restaurant in the whole United States and it was quaint and surprisingly delicious. For Lee’s Father’s Day dinner we treated him to a pizza with lobster on it and shrimp and shrimp and pesto and cheese and it was delicious and Abigail had an amazing smashburger with local beef which was also amazing. Although none of us had a taste cuz she ate the whole thing so fast. Then we got a slice of macadamia pie and Abigail got a peanut butter s’more cookie and we drove home in the rain back to our yurt.
Before we went back to our yurt, we drove in the dark to the Volcano National Park again, went to the overlook and watched it steam a little bit in the dark. It was kind of hard to see but we also saw amazing billions of stars in the sky. Then we went home and fell asleep very quickly because we are all exhausted.
But before filing asleep, we went outside our yurt in the rain and extricated our friendly frog neighbor.