Grandma and Grandpa got up early, early in the morning, like 4:30am and headed back to the Museum to see more glow and the sunrise. Well worth the trip! We went back to the "House" and everyone was getting up..got dressed and we went to the cafeteria and had breakfast and packed up. We checked out and headed down the Chain of Craters road. It was amazing. It's a 36 mile round trip drive that decends 3700' to the coast and deadends at a lava flow across the road. You go by craters, through lava fields, by overlooks at the new land that has been created due to the lava flows and down to the surf crashing into the cliffs of lava. More outer-space atmosphere. Unfortunately, there were air quality warnings so we could not get out and investigate much, especially the boys. We headed back up and out of the park and up the Hilo side of the island. We took the Onomea Scenic drive and stopped for lunch at What's Shakin. GREAT lunch...papaya to die for and the smoothies were wonderful as were the sandwiches. We drove back the mile to the Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden. It's down a hillside to the ocean and is a magnificent collection of 2000 species of tropical plants amid streams and a beautiful waterfall. The boys were particularly taken with the macaws in the birdhouse. It was a wonderful two hours of wandering among gingers, orchids and heliconias. Truly a tropical paradise! Then on to the "house" in Waikoloa. It was an uneventful rest of the ride, but nice to get back to familiar ground. We arrived about dinner time and found there was Hawaiian music and free food at the pool so we all headed over there, listened to the music, enjoyed dinner and the boys swam for awhile. Then, back home, showers and bed. Another great day.
Grandma and Grandpa got up early, early in the morning, like 4:30am and headed back to the Museum to see more glow and the sunrise. Well worth the trip! We went back to the "House" and everyone was getting up..got dressed and we went to the cafeteria and had breakfast and packed up. We checked out and headed down the Chain of Craters road. It was amazing. It's a 36 mile round trip drive that decends 3700' to the coast and deadends at a lava flow across the road. You go by craters, through lava fields, by overlooks at the new land that has been created due to the lava flows and down to the surf crashing into the cliffs of lava. More outer-space atmosphere. Unfortunately, there were air quality warnings so we could not get out and investigate much, especially the boys. We headed back up and out of the park and up the Hilo side of the island. We took the Onomea Scenic drive and stopped for lunch at What's Shakin. GREAT lunch...papaya to die for and the smoothies were wonderful as were the sandwiches. We drove back the mile to the Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden. It's down a hillside to the ocean and is a magnificent collection of 2000 species of tropical plants amid streams and a beautiful waterfall. The boys were particularly taken with the macaws in the birdhouse. It was a wonderful two hours of wandering among gingers, orchids and heliconias. Truly a tropical paradise! Then on to the "house" in Waikoloa. It was an uneventful rest of the ride, but nice to get back to familiar ground. We arrived about dinner time and found there was Hawaiian music and free food at the pool so we all headed over there, listened to the music, enjoyed dinner and the boys swam for awhile. Then, back home, showers and bed. Another great day.
