Day 18 . Kilauea (and more exploring)

We drove south to Kilauea and on the way we stopped for donuts at the southern most bakery in the US. Since we decided to do EVERYTHING on this island, we are logging some extremely long days and a two hour car ride to get where we are going now is a drop in the bucket. But we try to work in donuts and treats along the way. :)

 Oh, and Jer picked up some real estate magazines so we can start dreaming about retiring here someday.

 And once we scarfed our donuts we ran into a couple of kittens, realizing Evie's dream of a "perfect morning".

Kilauea is breathtaking and gorgeous. It was hard to comprehend before we got there how amazing it is, but to stand on top of an active volcano, with lava still flowing from it, steam everywhere and active vents wherever you look - unbelievable.

 After a couple of museums and some walking around, we headed to the Volcano Lodge for some lunch. And we scored a table outside looking straight at the steaming volcano. Unreal.

 After lunch we took off for some more hiking, checking out the sights.

 There were crazy steam vents everywhere.

 They were so cool! 

 We also checked out the Thurston Lava tube while we were here, but the kids didn't think it was that cool after we explored another couple of caves for hours with headlamps. They were way more rustic. Which apparently translates to "cool".

 

 

 After spending the entire day on the volcano, we drove as fast as we could to get to the Kopoho Tide pools before sunset. These are natural tide pools that are incredible to snorkle in.

 This is what they look like:

And we made it! Just in time :)