Adventures of Erin, Aren, Tanner & Leila too!: Tanner's Birthday Trip to the Volcano

Ever since we decided to move here, I promised Tanner that we'd take him to see a real volcano for his birthday. At first he didn't know if this was a good idea or not because the lava might get him but once we assured him that Kilauea is a gentle volcano and the scientists are very good at keeping track of exactly where the lave is flowing, he decided we could go after all.

Friday afternoon we flew into Hilo, got our rental car, some groceries, and headed off to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. We rented a cabin for the weekend in one of the campgrounds which was great because we haven't been camping for ages. It was rustic style with a bunk bed and a double bed and that was it. More of a shelter than a cabin. Tanner was excited because he finally got to sleep in the top bunk! It was nice to be camping but difficult in that many of the things we would have liked to have had with us had to be left behind because we flew there. We made due though after all, it was only two nights.

Saturday morning we got up early, ate some breakfast, and hit the park. Tanner was a little too underwhelmed for his dad's liking but I think that had more to do with the weather. It was quite dreary and drizzled on and off for the entire day. He did manage to perk up quite a bit for Thurston Lava Tube though. He was all smiles walking through the dripping cave. Not sure that he quite got the geology behind it but the fact he got to walk through a cave was VERY cool.

By evening, it was time to drive out to the end of Chain of Craters road and begin our hike out for the evening lava viewing. It's really the only time you can see the lava itself without going on a super long hike (2-3 miles, 5+ hours, one-way) across the lava flows, something we weren't too interested in trying with a five year old. The main viewing area still gets you out of your car and across a bit of lava though and after the sun goes down, it's quite easy to see the flows coming over the pali (cliff\hillside) and dripping into the ocean in the distance. That is if you're not in a torrential downpour.

Yep, unfortunately, our weather for the main event was abysmal. We had thought that once we descended a bit in elevation (the majority of the park is at the top of the mountain at approx 4000ft) and got down to sea level, the weather would clear a bit. Boy were we wrong. It got much, much worse. We had our rain gear though and were pretty layered up so we decided to go for it. In between squalls we did see lava and once we got all the way out to the viewing area we could see several flows entering the ocean. Unfortunately I have no pictures of that for fear of getting my camera drenched. After 30 minutes or so of hoping things would let up enough to stay a little longer and get a better view, we finally threw in the towel. Yooper was the most disappointed. He had been watching eruption reports for weeks and was really jazzed about the recent activity because it was so much closer than our trip last year. I had to remind him that we DO live here now and we can and will be back again.

Sunday was fairly disappointing too when we awoke to cloud free blue skies. Oh well, better luck next time. We loaded up our sopping wet cloths, took one last run through Thurston lava tube (Tanner's favorite part of the trip) and headed to the airport. Better luck next time I guess.