Saturday we checked out of Aulani and took a short flight over to the Big Island to meet up with Eric and Ana. We were surprised by how small the airport was in Kona where we landed. We got our rental van and went on to Costco to stock up for the week and to grab a quick lunch. Then, we were off on a two hour drive to Volcano where our house rental was, stopping once at the Southern Most Point in the United States. We made dinner at the house and the kids enjoyed the hot tub. The grill wasn't working well so we pivoted and cooked the steak and fish in the house. We enjoyed watching the Olympics on TV and hanging out together.
The next morning we got ready quickly and headed off to the National Park for the day. We started with a breakfast buffet at The Volcano House that had some nice views of the large crater. A quick stop at the Visitor's Center when they opened helped us get a feel for the order of hikes we'd do and we grabbed the kids' Junior Ranger books. We had a bit of trouble getting parking at the trailhead, but when we finally did we started with the Thurston Lava Tube. This was a short walk to get to it and it was a short walk through the lava tube, which was neat to see. We then opted to do a long hike down to the crater and back up. It was misting rain on and off throughout the day and it was a tough hike at times, scrambling on volcanic rocks. The views were cool though, but it wore us out!
We enjoyed a break in the car driving to the next thing on our to-do list: petroglyphs and the sea wall. At this point it was the heat of the day and even the breeze blowing strongly from the ocean was hot air. None of us were very impressed with either of these two stops, but we persevered. We decided that was enough for the day and we went back to the Visitor's Center for the boys to get their badges. We cooked Mexican food back at the house for dinner and enjoyed soaking in the hot tub. We had to pack since we were checking out in the morning and I'm pretty sure we all slept well that night, even if a wild pig woke Scott and I up outside our bedroom window!
In the morning we packed up the two cars, at breakfast at the house, and headed out to start the 2 hour drive to the other side of the island to stay in Kona for the remaining four nights. We stopped a few times along the way to check out a beach and to see Akaka Falls, which was beautiful! There were so many pretty flowers and we even saw a gecko! Just shortly after the falls we drove by a "free goat therapy" farm and had to stop! It was so cute! Lunch was just down the road too at a Mexican restaurant.
We finally made it to Kona and the house was amazing! The views, the pool, the sound of the waves while we slept! Just perfection. We all showered and got ready for our photo session on the beach that I booked with a local photographer. It went well and we had dinner reservations at The Fish Hopper afterwards. It was a nice night!
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