Hawaii

I had a fantastic couple of days in Hawaii! We stopped in Hilo on the big island first, and I was lucky enough to get on a guest tour to the active volcano Mount Kilauea (I'm sure I spelled that wrong). The huge crater is visible from a combination museum and observation point, and smoke and steam rises from it in a constant plume. What an incredible sight. A few more volcanic sights were in store for us as we went on a short hike through the rainforest to the Thurston lava tube - basically a massive tunnel caused by the hardening of an outer layer of molten lava as it flowed across the landscape. It was really huge - much bigger and longer than I expected. Then we got to have a view of Kilauea Iki, a smaller, inactive crater that you can actually hike across (I was jealous! I would love to do that hike someday!). There was one last delicious stop on our tour - the Mauna Loa Macadamia Nut Factory. Fantastic! I bought a few goodies and took advantage of the free samples. The tour finished in the early afternoon, so I stayed out and walked to a Goodwill store, where I picked up an old suitcase to pack full of stuff to send home.
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