Hilo (on the Big Island) was relentlessly rainy. It is apparently the rainiest city in the US. Lucky for us, the Big Island is not all rain, and we spent most of our time driving to the more desert-y places. The first day, however, was mostly rain. On our first morning, Dave flew over Rainbow falls in Hilo.
We then decamped to Volcanos National Park, thinking it would be less rainy. It was, unfortunately, not. It was also quite cold, so we stopped into a local store and picked up sandwiches and a Hawaii Tie Dye sweatshirt for me. That's it in the photo below. It ended up leaking green dye all over me when it got wet. I will always cherish it.
And we forged ahead into the park, thinking that the lava tubes would be a good destination in the rain. The lava tubes were great. We got there before the tour buses, so it was just us and a German family (Germans are everywhere!) wandering through the leaky tubes.
After a lighted section, we walked into a second section of tubes that had no lights. Luckily, we brought a flashlight, and invited the Germans to follow us. We don't have a photo of the Germans, but this is me in the tube, where before the camera flashed I was standing in absolute darkness.
Dave at the mouth of the tube:
We then took a rainy hike over lava that had crossed a road.
We saw a guy piling stones (like mom and dad's but bigger!):
And then hiked around the steam vents at a massive volcano crater, Halemaumau. This crater is the goddess Pele's house.
This place looked a lot like what I imagine Mars looks like.
After this last hike, we were cold. So we decided to drive to a warmer locale. First stop, black sand beach. The name is no lie:
Then to South Point, which is the southern-most point in the United States, contrary to what people in Key West say.
It was quite windy there.
And there were these creepy dead windmills that look like something out of Lost:
Or Star Wars:
Finally we drove home to Hilo, enjoyed some mai tais and mahi-mahi burgers, and watched the rain fall.
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