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Saturday on the Big Island

On Saturday we started the day with a rainbow. Looking out at the mountains view from our hotel room the first thing we saw when we got up was a rainbow.
It was raining on that side of the bay but never really rained on our side. 
After breakfast we headed over to the Hilo Farmers Market. Lots to see and buy there. We stopped at the shaved ice stand for some cold refreshment. There we learned that Greta only has spoons to go! The only thing lacking at the market were public restrooms. After asking around we headed over to the KTA Super Store, the local grocery store. There I saw one of many signs that could only be in Hawaii.
We saw many signs about earthquakes, tunamis and fires. With a big ol' volcano in the in the middle of the island I would figure those things were a given! Many of the building evacuation sighs I saw had little stick figures running from every door.
After the adventures at the Farmers Market we headed south toward the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.  We stopped at the Kīlauea Visitor Center for lunch and to learn a little about the volcanoes  of Hawaii. While there I saw that there was a Volcano Art Gallery. So we stopped by there to discover an artist was giving a demonstration on wood turning. The gallery had some beautiful works of art on display. 

After lunch and an arts and craft demonstration we headed over to the volcano. There is a path around the rim of the volcano that we walked around getting good views down into the volcano. Leslie and I then took the path down into the volcano itself. The path was steep and the growth of the forest was so lush that we could not see into the volcano till we got to the bottom. Once we got there it was much different. 
In the picture looking down into the volcano you can see a line on the left side of the crater. That is a line that has been worn by people walking across the cold lava. That large grey area was formed when Kīlauea last erupted in May of 2018. When we hiked down to the crater I could not see that track. The trail was marked by stacks of rocks. I did have to stack some rocks while down there to add to my collection. 

After we hiked back up I found some nene geese in the parking lot. The nene is the state bird of Hawaii and on many roads there are signs marking nene crossings. This was the only time I saw any. They seemed very tame and I was able to walk right up to two of them and take some pictures.

The lava flows and the volcano were very unworldly I can only imagine how it would be if the lava was hot and flowing. 
After descending into the volcano we drove further south down the trail of Craters road till we came to the sea. We had hoped to see the lava tubes but they were closed because of dangerous gases seeping up through the ground. 
For such a beautiful place there are sure a lot of things that can hurt you.

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