This was an epic day in Hawaii. I am not sure this day could be any more Hawaiian.
We had a very early start, with lots on our agenda for the day. The big item on our agenda was a visit to Volcanoes National Park. Who would have thought we would have experienced so much more along the way.
The drive from Kailua-Kona to Volcanoes is far. It is a very diverse drive - lush forests to barren volcanic fields. We knew that we wanted to be flexible, in order to find the unexpected.
The first stop on our drive was the Na'alehu Market. They had food, coffee, hand-made crafts, and so much more. And, lovely locals. A great place to get out of the car, stretch your legs, and experience small town Hawaii.
Our second stop was at Punalu'u Beach. This is a beautiful black sand beach, with loads of green sea turtles, basking in the sun.
Now to the star of the day - Volcanoes National Park. This is a massive park, with tons of sites and places to explore. The first stop of course was the enormous crater.
There was steam emanating from seemingly everywhere. You had to walk through small clouds of steam.
One cool hike we read about was a walk through lush vegetation to get to an ancient lava tube through which you could walk. The landscape was so incredible. To the right looked like massive dry lake beds of lava, and to the left was lush, rainforest. It felt like a hike in New Zealand.
We hiked down to the entrance to the lava tube, and it was other-worldly. It was a short, but very dark and wet walk through the lava tube. Just imagine this tube filled with red-hot lava, making its way down to the sea.
We continued to drive through the park, stopping along the way for some short hikes and amazing sights.
We decided to drive all the way down to the sea, to see where volcano meets ocean. There is a beautiful short hike along the coast, where you can see cliffs and even an arch.
On several hikes in the park, there are signs advising not to feed the native Nene - Hawaii's state bird. We saw a shy Nene very briefly during one hike. And, when we returned to our car, there was a Nene enthralled with its reflection that it could see on the front of our rental car.
A short drive from Volcanoes National Park is the Kipuka Puaulu Natural Area, which had some absolutely amazing hiking. Lush, verdant grounds with massive trees and lots of birdlife.
On our drive back towards Kona, we stopped again in Na'alehu for a treat. The famous Punalu'u Bake Shop is located in town. We grabbed a Kona coffee and a Malasada for the drive home.
Once back to our Condo, we decided that after a very long day, we didn't want to cook dinner. We had read that Kona had a lot of Food Trucks, and on Fridays, a local parking lot was transformed into Food Truck Friday. We grabbed some takeaway, drove back, and made it to our front row seats in time for the sunset.
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