Baby Update: Nothing happening yet. We were on the wait list to go into the hospital this morning for an induction, but there were no beds available. Its possible we could get a call to come in this afternoon or evening, or we could just have to wait some more. Its never fun to wait, but its also not a process we have any control over. Hopefully well have more exciting news soon.
In the meantime, Ill try and squeeze in an update, since Im sure youre all waiting on the edge of your seats to see the next chapter.
Hoping for baby news soon.
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Because we gave ourselves the least amount of time to explore the biggest island, we had more driving to do. With a strong onion smell on our breath, we piled into the rental car and left the park, driving down the mountain and 30 miles north to the town of Hilo. And then we drove another 13 miles or so, because the next destination was north of town:
Akaka Falls State Park (be careful how you pronounce that in Spanish-speaking communities).
This park is located on the northeast side of the island, which is the windward (rainy) side. The lush tropical forests are a big change from the barren volcanic landscapes to the south. But the common thread tying them together is the entry fee. In this case, it was $5 per car. A few cheapskates attempted to bypass the car fee by parking on the shoulder just outside the park entrance.
Ok, fine, that was us. But they also have a sneaky $1 fee per pedestrian, so we still ended up forking over $5 to get in.
Surely there is some gorgeous scenery in this park worthy of said entry fee? Of course there is. This is Hawaii. And stop calling me Shirley. In any case, we have our priorities, meant a bathroom stop before we could get out on the trail. And there we discovered that toilet paper is apparently a highly-prized treasure in these parts. I'm willing to bet Liesa understands this more than most.
That is too funny.
Theres a loop trail that starts right at the parking lot. If you go to the right, its about a half-mile hike through the rain forest and bamboo before you get to the main eventthe 442 Akaka Falls. If you go to the left, you can bypass most of the trail and head straight to the waterfall. Because we hadnt done enough walking yet, we went to the right.
Sure...making the pregnant hungry lady go the longer route again.
The trail was a nice walk. Theres a stream coursing through the bamboo forest, and you have the chance to see Hawaiian flowers and birds here and there. Theres also a 250 waterfall nearby that you kinda-sorta get a glimpse of, but not well enough to make it worth posting the photos. After seeing these minor sights, we descended some stairs and were greeted with this:
Its hard to convey the sheer size of this in a photo because you lose the sense of scale, but trust me when I say this massive. We tried getting some family shots in front of the falls, but it was tough fitting both the people and the falls into the frame.
Very nice.
I took this picture with my iPod, and it turned out to be my favorite one. Isnt this just beautiful?
And yes, the falls are pretty too.
Eh...the falls are okay; but there is nothing as beautiful as a pregnant woman. 
We finished taking pictures and shamelessly sucking up for brownie points and got back into the car, driving back to Hilo. It was about 4:30 p.m. or so, and the snacks had long since worn off, making us ready for our first real meal of the day.
Hilo is not a town that makes a good first impression. The buildings and storefronts along the main highway looked very run-down, and there was a general sense of depression about it. That might have been aided by the cloudy, rainy skies. However, in my research, Id found a place Id wanted to try out for dinner. Ill post the name here and leave you to puzzle out why it might have caught my eye:
BURGERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The
Hilo Burger Joint was highly recommended in the guide book. As you may have been able to guess, its a dive. Sorry, I guess I should have waited until you were sitting down to reveal that. They serve 100% fresh Big Island beef (never frozen) burgers with all sorts of interesting combinations of toppings. Instead of having crayons and coloring sheets for the kids to keep them occupied while your meal is being cooked, they had several board games on a shelf by the door.
Now I like that idea.
Julie ordered the Nacho Burger (nacho cheese, black beans, tortilla chips, sour cream, salsa) while I went with the Southern BBQ burger (bacon, cheddar, onion rings, BBQ sauce). This narrowly won out over Le Burger Cordon Bleu (brie cheese, Canadian bacon, Dijon mustard).
I know the picture doesnt look like much, but these were fantastic. I think it basically proved once again that fresh ingredients make the best meals, because the beef really tasted great. Just thinking about the meal has me getting hungry again. This was one of the best meals of the trip.
All I had for dinner tonight was soup...one because it warmed me up on this frigid day and two because Mark is getting sick and that's all he wanted.
Of course, having starved ourselves all day may have had something to do with it as well.
We had one more stop on the days agenda: Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. In a rarity for our road trips, we were completely doubling back on our driving route. The waterfall and burger joint had served not only as worthwhile stops on the tour, but also helped to kill time as we waited for that typical vacation cliché: sunset in Hawaii.
This was going to be a different sunset, however. We werent interested in watching the sky. And its a good thing, too, because cloud cover obscured the view to the west anyway.
We drove 30 miles up the mountain back to the park, entered the gates and made a beeline for the Jaggar Museum overlook at Kilauea Crater. If we couldnt see an actual live lava flow, then we were going to try and see the next best thing: natural light from a lava cauldron. Julie had lugged the tripod 6,000 miles from home just for this evening. We made our way from the parking lot and tried to find a spot on the wall. A few hundred other folks had apparently had the same idea. Fortunately, we beat enough of them there that we were able to have an unobstructed view. We put the kids in front of the tripod so as to try and use as little space as possible. Then we waited.
You might recall the day we drove to the top of Haleakala mountain on Maui. Like any good vacation planner, Id read about the severe changes in temperature as you ascend, and made sure we packed jeans and sweatshirts to stay warm. I gave myself a nice pat on the back for being such a brilliant guy.
Unfortunately, Id failed to make the mental connection between mountains and realize that Kilauea is also about 4,500 feet above sea level, give or take, and may get cool in the evenings as well. We looked around and saw hundreds of people whod come prepared with long sleeves and jackets. And five idiots standing around in their shorts and t-shirts. The cloudy skies and light drizzle combined with a light breeze didnt help, either.
In spite of our discomfort, we stuck it out, because this wasnt something you get to see every day. Eventually it started to get dark. So Ill just shut up now and post pictures.
Thank you for shutting up...those are great pictures.
Was it worth it? Some of you might think its just a glowing light, so its not worth getting too excited about. I can only report on our experience, and we found it mesmerizing. The longer we waited, the brighter it got. Knowing there was an open pit of lava just a few hundred feet away, and thinking of the natural forces going on beneath our feet made for an eerie mood at the overlook. It was as close as we could get to witnessing the creation of new earth. All of us were grateful to have spent the evening there. Your mileage may vary.
The mileage that didnt vary? The long, long, looooong drive back to Kona that night. 2.5 hours, 100 miles, mostly on a winding 2-lane road. We didnt get back to the condo until after 10:00 p.m. We climbed out of the car, piled into the elevator, staggered down the hall, opened the room, and collaps-----ZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
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Coming Up Next: We need coffee. Lots and lots of coffee. With a little Hawaiian history thrown in. And then were off to another island!
I can see the similarity.
