Big Island, Hawaii day 6

I'm so ready to explore Volcanoes National Park today . . . we have been staying here two days and not really gotten off the main road.  Thankfully, we are still waking super early so hopefully we beat the crowds!  As we start of drive on the Chain of Craters Road, we notice we are the only people out.  Great news!  Our first stop is at the Thurston Lava Tube . . .

. . . was pretty cool to walk inside the hardened lava best part was we were the only people on the trail.  We saw another family just as we were leaving!  Colin took a ton of photos of himself . . .

The bad news is that it is raining but today is our only day to explore the park so exploring we will go!  It was fun to just stop and enjoy all the views at various overlooks.  No crowds so no worries finding a parking spot; in fact we saw maybe three cars on the entire drive to the end of the Chain of Craters Road!  We made it to the end of the road and walked the rest of the way.  You must walk due to a hardened lava flow over the road  . . .

I loved seeing bright green plants growing among the black lava . . .

Since we arrived in Hawaii, we have been looking for the state bird, Nene, and finally found some!

Just as we were half way back to our car . . .

. . . oh yes it did.  It poured big time!  Even having the umbrellas did very little good.  We took cover under a roofed area.  After it let up we ventured to see the Holei Sea Arch . . .

We loaded back into the car and headed back to Quarters 97 for lunch and a nap.  It was nice to relax and hang out a bit.  The rain stopped, the crowds arrived, and we headed back out to explore more.  It was so nice; we walked the Steam Vents trail . . .

. . . and sometimes a boy just has to let all that energy out and explore on his own!

Since we had seen the glow at night we headed back to the Kilauea Caldera overlook to visit the Jaggar Museum.

A certain kid was not happy about having to do work but he did . . .

If only you could see the look of unhappiness on his face!  I am certain I had to promise something to get a decent photo with him . . .

We have seen all we wanted to see . . . never have the time to see it all but we will leave knowing we accomplished a lot.  Back to the house to relax before a final dinner at Volcano House.  Our dinner was yummy too bad it was so foggy and cloudy that you could see nothing!  We were very thankful we went a few nights ago to see the glowing caldera because nothing was visible tonight.  We dropped my dad and Colin at the house, and my mom and I set out to do laundry!  Nothing like laundry on vacation!