Hawaii Day 2

Today we ventured to the east side of the island, to the Hilo side. Our day started early, being as we were all still on California time. It was 6am when we got out of bed. But really it was 9am to our bodies. We had a quick breakfast, discussed what we were going to do for the day, and loaded up. Our first stop was the Waipi'o Valley look out.
From there we drove to Akaka Falls...beautiful...
We made a couple other stops along the way. Rainbow Falls. Hilo's Farmer's Market. A ukulele shop. Lunch. The onward ho to the Mauna Loa Macadamia Nut factory. They had samples... Can I get an amen?!?
Then up the road, actually down the road, to the Akatsu Orchid farm. I've never seen so many different varieties and colors and shapes of orchids. Gorgeous! Mom actually bought a plant and brought it home. It started to bloom today.
A little further down the road we stopped at the most southern winery in the United States. Their wines are a little more on the sweet side. I got 2 bottles, their Volcano Red and Macadamia Nut Honey Wine. Here's to praying Paige get's extra credit for this stop.
Our 2nd to last destination of the day... the volcano. Might I add that this is an active volcano.
It was recommended that if we had proper attire and time to drive about an hour away to see the actual lava flowing. The night before there was quite a bit of activity. Heck, how often do you get to see hot magma? Onward ho! It was dark when we got there, flashlights were required, which luckily my aunt was smart and brought a bunch. We hiked about 1/2 mile to where you can see where the ocean and the lava meet. Stunning!
And our evening ended with a stop at Jack in the Crack for dinner in Hilo then driving back to Waimea...I slept in the van.

Hawaii Day 2 Album