The Big Island - Chain of Craters Road

On our way to Volcanoes National Park, we ordered breakfast sandwiches and sandwiches for lunch to go at Cafe Ohia. It's a good idea to bring lunch if you're planning on spending the day in the park because there aren't many food options.

Our destination today was driving down the Chain of Craters Road.

For the first half of the 18 mile road, the black earth fell away into quarry-esque craters on both sides of the car.

My favorite was aptly named Devil's Throat. Black, sharp rocks all the way down.

At one of the pull-offs, the landscape looked like another planet. The earth was neither brown nor black. Strange, stumpy formations jutted out from nowhere. The one on the left was shaped like an ice cream cone.

The lava looked like giant skulls lined up next to each other.

Up close they looked like melted wax.

Pieces of rock have an oily rainbow reflection.

The only signs of life were Nene, the native geese of Hawaii.

They gravitated towards the only greenery making their low, guttural noises.

We ate lunch looking out over the ocean, but we stayed in the car because it was incredibly windy and spitting rain. Those are the things I've learned about the Big Island, It's very windy most of the time and likes rain just hard enough to be inconvenient, but not enough to ruin the day.

We hiked the Pu'u Loa petroglyph trail and it was so cool.

Carvings in the lava where it had poured down the side of the hill.

It was interesting to wonder why, of all the places on the island, this was the spot chosen for these carvings.

Maybe because of the beauty of the surrounding hills.

Or the ocean.

Appropriately, the Chain of Craters Road ends where the volcano says it ends, which is where lava flow overran and covered it up. At this point, there's a gorgeous seawall. There's an arch that will one day fall away. Video here.

Hawaii gives you a unique perspective, everything that once was will no longer be. At the same time, the island continues to expand with every second that passes. The volcanoes create a constant state of simultaneous destruction and construction. It's an interesting paradox to stand on.

We listened to the waves crash into the cliffs. The immense impact sounded like thunder. Video here.

On the way back down the road, we saw a number of rainbows. One was the thickest I've ever seen.

Didn't take photos but had a great dinner from the Tuk Tuk Thai Truck. Everything was delicious, and we would've eaten there again if their operating hours would've worked out for us. We drank tea and chilled your fireplace in our beautiful cottage for the evening.