Cruise to Hawaii - Hilo, Hawaii!

Aloha Hilo!

We arrived in the Port of Hilo just before sunrise and had about 8 hours to spend on the island before we had to be back on the ship.

The day started off with pouring rain but cleared up after a few hours. 

We rented a car and headed to our first destination: Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park - Mt. Kilauea.

Did I notice they were covering up the sign?  Nope.

  

Sidebar: Because of the National Parks: Every Kid in a Park program this year, we were able to get in for FREE because Will is in 4th grade. Winning!

First stop: steam vents.

 

Then onto the Jaggar Museum.

Will, chillin' in front of an active volcano. No biggie.

Next up: lava tubes. 

(And I'd be lying if the thought of the "Lost" smoke monster didn't cross my mind as we walked through the jungle!)

 
 Very cool experience.

 And very wet!

We left the park and headed to Rainbow Falls.

Once again, I didn't notice they were covering up part of the sign!

No sun, thus no rainbow, but all the rain made for some impressive falls!

 

 

 

 
By lunch time we were searching for some local eats and came upon the Hawaiian Style Cafe in town.

The wait was long but the food was delicious and there was plenty of it.  

I had the Seoul Bowl poke with raw tuna, rice and Korean chicken. 

Then it was a quick trip to Walmart because all the locals told us the best place to buy real Kona coffee was Walmart. So technically, we were doing something very Hawaiian, right?

Our last stop was to Richardson Beach Park to enjoy the views and spy on some sea turtles.

 Little turtle head peaking up out of the water!

 
 

 

 
Cool action shot of EG jumping off the ledge.

On our way back to the ship we spied her from up on a hill:

Despite the rain we had a lovely day on the big island of Hawaii experiencing some once in a life time adventures.

Mahalo Hilo!