But today, the goddess smiled!

Today, our last full day on the Big Island, we took the trek to the other side of the island. We started out in Hilo at the Farmer's Market, where, if nothing else we found many fantastic photo opportunities!

Next, we headed to Volcano National Park and took a self-guided, or rather, DOUG-GUIDED tour of the steam vents, and the crater.

The steam vents and caldera/crater area was something I was really looking forward to, as I haven't been to the volcano for a very long time. One thing I remember very vividly was the smell of the sulfur. Perhaps due to wind or the threatening rain, I did not sense that as strongly this year - though time often exaggerates our memories as well...

Pele, the Goddess of Fire, must have been happy with us today, though, because the weather we expected - 70's (barely) and rain - never showed up, and the day was basically perfect. There were many such comments on the way through the hotel that indicated many people expected to get rained out today, whatever their plans, so I'm glad it turned out so well for everyone! Not to jinx us but... it's been raining a lot on Kauai... so I hope our good fortune follows us there as well!

On our (long) drive back to the Kohala Coast, we found a black sand beach! "Maggie" (Becky and Doug's GPS pretty much knows where everything is, which is very useful on long drives through the rolling countryside, like the one we took today :)

Maggie also found us a Kona Coffee Plantation and processing site. There was even a lava tunnel there, which we had the opportunity to walk through. I took a video of that event, but there's no saying if I'll convince Blogger it wants to let me upload that... I'll try though! :)

Later...

Tomorrow we'll have the morning before our flight, and it should be a busy one. I'd still like to go to the lagoon (not crossing my fingers there...) and the petroglyphs (there may be a chance) and we still haven't visited my grandmother's "memorial"... more on that later!

Aloha ahiahi ia oukou.

Good night!