Hawaii pt. 2: Getting to Hilo and Volcanoes National Park

Hurricane Ana passed during the night.  Well, actually it was not a hurricane when it passed the Hawaiian islands.  It had been downgraded to a tropical storm, but it was a nasty one.  While we didn't see a bunch of downed palm trees, there was a lot of water.  Some parts of the island had flooding issues and some roads were closed.  And while the center of the storm didn't pass directly over any of the islands, it was close enough to bring lots and lots of rain.

Here is a satellite image of the storm.  You can see a couple of the islands (really small), including
(moving left to right) a dot that is Niihau next to Kauai, then Oahu, and you can sort of see where
Molokai starts, but then Lanai, Maui, and the Big Island are obscured.  I added the arrow so
 you could see where the Big Island is under the storm.

Most of the affected roads were on the southern side of the island, and we were driving from Kona to Hilo and ultimately Volcanoes National Park along the north side of the island, so we didn't run into any problems.  Just rain.  Lots of rain.  We were soaked just loading our things into the car.  The waves were kicking up along the beaches as we drove past and even though the weather wasn't great the view was still beautiful.

There were several things we could have done and places we could have seen along our way if the weather had been better, but I guess that gives us more of a reason to go back some time (as if we needed a reason).  We just did the best we could, and lucked into some of the most beautiful vistas and forests I've ever seen.  We were driving along when we found ourselves in the middle of a beautiful eucalyptus tree forest.  It was stunning.  We just had to pull off the road and wander around, even if it meant getting soaked.  We did have some umbrellas, which helped a little.  We wandered up a path for a ways and looked around.  It was so lush and green - I guess that's the benefit to so much rain.  Everything was so fresh and vibrant.  The colors were even more intense than normal. When we finished in the forest we continued the drive.  We came upon some fantastic foliage and picturesque waterfalls, and pretty views of the ocean.

Eucalyptus Forest

Eric trying to replicate the famous sasquatch photo.

When we finally arrived in Hilo we decided to first stop by the Mauna Loa macadamia nut farm.  I think at this point it was raining harder than it had all day.  We heard a huge thunder crack and knew it had been very close; we thought from the trees just beyond the visitor center/gift shop building. We ran up from the car about to go inside right when a couple employees came out and announced that they were closing.  Their store had just been struck by lighting!  So it wasn't from the trees beyond the store, it was the store!  Luckily no one was hurt, but they had to close for safety reasons. Bummer.

Look at all the rain! This was as we were heading into the farm.
We got drenched in this only a few minutes later.

We headed back into Hilo and did a little shopping (never a bad idea in my mind).  After a quick bite for dinner we headed up to Volcanoes National Park where we were staying.  There is one hotel in the park.  They have some rooms in their main building, but they also have cute little cabins you can stay in.  We opted to stay in one of the cabins, in no small part because they have bunk beds, which Emma just loves.  We briefly looked around the park, but since it was getting dark we just went to our cabin and played some games before going to sleep.

Our little cabin.  

Inside the cabin.  Very small, but also cozy.