22nd Day - day 22 (for English scroll down)

Volcano Drive through - I am so American compatible! Where you can drive, we drive 😊

We got up at around 9am and the sun was shining!! Could it be one of the 5 days when the sun shines here? No, it was not - it was just a brief cloud breakthrough.

50 shades of Black. Hawaii Volcanoes National Park is the realm of the fire goddess Pele. The centerpiece of the park is Kilauea, an active shield volcano. In May 2018, there was a major eruption that buried houses, roads, fields, and entire coastlines. There used to be a road that circled the entire caldera, but it was also partially destroyed in 2018 and is now only partially drivable or hikeable. We first drove along the Crater Rim Drive. The first stop was the Steam Vents, where groundwater vaporizes on hot volcanic rock. Then we continued with several stops at beautiful viewpoints. That's what I really like about Americans. You drive until you can't go any further, get out, take a few steps, admire an incredible view, hop back in the car, and continue. Perfect for someone like me who doesn't like hiking. But you can also hike everything on remote hiking trails - it's supposed to be very beautiful 😉. Then we drove on the Chain of Crater Road towards the south. This road has about 10 stops where you can stop and observe these incredible lava fields. Among other things, we saw the Thurston Lava Tube, a 150m long and up to 6m high lava tube that we could walk through. The entire road is incredibly impressive and makes the extent of the devastation clear. It looked a bit like huge snow avalanches - just in black. The winding road felt like the Bernina Pass with high black walls instead of white ones. But you could already see delicate new mosses and ferns sprouting. At the end of the road - down by the seashore - we were able to admire the Holei Sea Arch. A natural rock arch 28m high. It is uncertain how long it will still be there as the sea is pounding hard on it. The panoramic view of the coast is fantastic, black lava rock contrasting with small green vegetation islands and the deep blue ocean. Happily, we returned to our "Inn" and waited for it to get dark so that we could drive back to the crater and admire the lava in the dark. It is a good opportunity to tune in to the TV and see what the Americans watch. And suddenly, you can't see the forest for the trees! We haven't heard any news since we left, so we checked out what was going on. Except that Putin is still acting crazy, there wasn't much going on, so we kept changing channels. True Crimes. Yes - perfect. The astonishing thing is that there are so many murders that you can fill a whole TV channel with them. Madness. After the first 4 murders and investigations (some of the culprits were really ridiculously stupid), we set off. It was pitch dark (no streetlights or anything), drizzling, and cold - a really eerie feeling. Maybe True Crimes wasn't the right kind of preparation for our nightly venture. Zoe already wet herself at the thought of having to go outside. But she has to go through it, poor thing 😉 Buried under many foul words and the scenario of "there's probably a volcano freak out there who will jump out of the bushes and throw you (why only me??) into the volcano to see what it looks like", we still set off. "We're probably the only crazy ones who do something like this," she added. We weren't. To be precise, there was almost a little migration of people going there. But that didn't diminish the experience. It was an incredibly beautiful spectacle to see the earth bubbling in orange/yellow, and where it wasn't bubbling, it shimmered red beneath the black covering. Really, really good.

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Volcano Drive through - I am so American compatible! Where it's possible to drive, we drive 😊

We got up around 9am and the sun was shining! Could it be one of the 5 days when the sun is shining here? No, it wasn't - it was just a brief cloud break through.

50 shades of black.. Hawaii Volcanoes National Park is the empire of the fire goddess Pele. The centerpiece of the park is Kilauea - an active shield volcano. In May 2018, there was a big eruption burying houses, streets, fields, and entire coastlines underneath it. In earlier days, there was a road circulating around the whole Caldera, but it was also partially destroyed in 2018 and now it is only partially drivable/hikeable. First, we drove along the Crater Rim Drive. The first stop was the steam vents where groundwater vaporizes on the hot volcano stones. Then we proceeded with multiple stops at amazing lookouts. That's what I love about Americans. You keep driving until you can't go any further, get out of the car, take a few steps, admire an incredible view, and get back into the car and continue. That is perfect for someone like me who doesn't like hiking. However, you can also hike everything on remote hiking trails if you wish to do so - it's apparently very nice 😉. Then we proceeded to the Chain of Crater Road in the south direction. The road has about 10 lookouts where you can stop and watch the incredible lava fields. Among them, we saw the Thurston Lava Tube, a 150m long and up to 6m high lava tube that we could walk through. The road is incredibly impressive and makes you realize the extent of the devastation. It looked a bit like huge snow avalanches - but in black. The winding road felt like the Bernina Pass with high black walls instead of white ones. However, you could already see delicate new lichens and ferns sprouting. At the end of the road - at the seashore - we could admire the Holei Sea Arch. A natural rock arch 28m high. It is uncertain how long it will still be there as the sea is really pounding hard on it. The panoramic view of the coast is fantastic, black lava stone, contrasting with small green vegetation islands and the deep blue ocean. Happy, we returned to our "Inn" and waited for it to get dark so that we could admire the lava in the dark. It's a good opportunity to tune in the television and see what the Americans are watching. And suddenly, you can't see the forest for the trees - so many channels! We haven't heard anything about the news since we left, so we wanted to see what's going on. Except that Putin is still acting crazy, there wasn't much going on, so we kept zapping. True Crimes. Yeah - perfect. It's astonishing that there are so many murders that you can fill an entire TV channel with it! Madness. After the first 4 murders and explanations (some perpetrators were really stupid), we set off. It was pitch dark (no streetlights or anything), drizzling, and cold - a real uhuuu feeling. Probably True Crimes were not the right mood for our nightly undertaking. Zoe was already wetting her pants just thinking about having to go out. But she has to go through it, poor thing 😉 Overflowed with many bad swear words and the scenario: "there will definitely be a volcano freak out there who will jump out of the bushes and throw you (why just me??) into the volcano chasm to see what it looks like," we still went on our way. "We're probably the only crazy ones who do something like this," she added. We weren't. To be precise, there was almost a little migration of people going there. But that didn't diminish the experience. It was an amazingly beautiful spectacle to see the earth bubbling in orange/yellow and where it wasn't bubbling, it shimmered red under the black blanket. Really, really good.