Yes, folks that clock reads 2:22 AM!! That is the time that Briana, Brandon and I arose one early morning in February in order to catch our plane to Kona, HI at 5:30 AM. It was a very early Saturday morning, but boy was it worth it.
We were on our way bright and early and all very excited. We were going to visit the Latter-Day Saint Temple that is on the Big Island, but I had decided that we would also make a day of it and go and see some other sites, as well.
The temple was beautiful and it sits just up on a rise so that you can see a beautiful view of the ocean. We went all the way to the Big Island because the temple here on Oahu is closed for renovations.
Brandon was being a little Ham out front with his sister Briana after we had gone inside.
Briana is looking very contemplative like she is pondering the secrets of the Universe, or, in reality, who that cute boy across the parking lot is.
Our next stop was the black sand beaches that the Big Island is famous for. I really wanted to see one before we left Hawaii and so off on our adventure we went. I had rented a GPS with our rental car or we would have been sunk. Briana slept for most of the drive, but Brandon and I were in awe of all of the lava and how this island is really being formed still. We stopped at an antique shop on our way and I bought some Delft china from Holland to remind me of my Dad. He served a Mission for our church in Holland, Belgium in the early 70's. We saw a lot of horses, some llamas, and even a zebra on our drive.
Beautiful black beaches to squeeze between our toes.
Our next stop was the volcano. It is still blowing out gases daily. The day that we went there were some roads closed because the gases were so toxic that it was unsafe for people. The moment that we were in the National Park where the volcano is you could smell the gas and it made me sick to my stomach. We didn't stay too long because we all started to get headaches and that is a danger sign that you are not doing well. Wow it was amazing to see God's majesty and creations.
This is my two kiddos in front of a steam vent from the volcano. All of the purple things on the ground are Lei's that were set there for the Goddess Pele. The Hawaiian people believe that Pele is the goddess of fire and that she is the one who created the islands in fits of anger. You don't want to make Pele mad because then the volcano will erupt.
Here they are standing in front of a lava tube. This tube was created a long time ago when a river of lava went through here and when it receded it left this tube, or tunnel. We were able to walk through the first 300 meters or so. That part is lighted with a clear path. Beyond that there is no light and you need your own flashlight. One of the pictures below shows the kids at the beginning, but they didn't go very far, as it became very, very black.
We tried to go and see the lava flow, but when we got there we were told that it had stopped flowing a few weeks earlier and that they didn't know when it would start again. Brandon just grabbed onto some hardened lava and tried to see if he could move it at all, but it is definitely solid. Briana picked up some rocks to bring home with her, but finally heeded all of the warnings by the park rangers. They told her that it wasn't against the law to take the rocks, but that it was rumored to bring very bad luck. They told her that they even had many people who sent back the rock just to have their bad luck go away. I guess they believe it makes Pele mad when you take her rocks away.
That night we caught our plane back to Oahu at around 8:30pm. We were exhausted. We had flown into Kona and we flew out of Hilo. We had traversed the entire side of the island and were able to see many things that we will always remember.
