Hawaii: Episode 8 - Volcanos and Lava Tubes

To start the day off, we got to walk through a 42 mile long lava tube. Okay, we didn't walk nearly that far but that's how long the tube is. What happens is lava is flowing along and the lava on the outside cools from the air and the lava inside keeps flowing thus creating a lava tube. Later when all the lava inside has drained out it becomes giant caves. It was pitch black inside so we could take very few pictures but here's a few. The cave wasn't scary . . . unless you're climbing up a 16' ladder while a wolf spider crawls toward you. Yup, other than that it was cool.

The Volcano National Park: cool - literally. We waited for hours to see the glow of the lava. It was cold, but honestly worth it.

We also took the time to drive down to Green Sand Beach. The sand is actually green! There's olivine deposits in the rock and the water has worn them down and included them in the sand. Even cooler was the wicked ride down to it. It was a MAZE of 4 wheel driving. You drive in and you see 3+ trails you can take worn so deep into the sand that the walls would go up to the roof of the car. Each trail can split and sometimes you'll have to back up out of the trail because there's a deep ditch worn from previous cars at the end. It was super fun. When you finally get to the beach, you basically have to climb down a cliff to get to it. It's small, green, and steep. Great fun and worth the drive.