Hawaii Part 2

Day 3:
We got an early start on day 3, we headed down south to the Black Sands Beach and volcanos.  On our way down we found the most beautiful lookout.  The big Island is amazing because you can be driving through the most lush green area and then all of the sudden come across a lava trail, the landscapes are so different.  Our first stop was Punalu'u Beach.  This black sands beach was so incredible, the sand was so soft, behind the beach was the most beautiful lilly pond surrounded by palm trees.  Sarah brought her hammock and we hung out there for a while.  Then we were off to Volcano national park.  Sadly, we didn't see any flowing lava.  Apparently the week after we were there the lava activity was insane.  We hiked through some lava tubes, it was so incredible and felt a little like we were in an Indiana Jones movie.  One of my favorite parts of traveling is driving around and seeing new places and scenery.  We clocked about 5 hours of driving that day but it honestly didn't feel that long because we had so much fun exploring.

Day 4:
Day four we felt a bit more  adventurous and rented some kayaks to find some caves.  Kayaking in the ocean is no joke, it was rough but so fun to be out on the water.  We found the caves we were looking for but the surf was too high so we weren't able to get close.  We did a little bit of snorkeling while we were out but weren't able to see much.  After, we headed to Aimee's Burgers for lunch, their meat is all fresh from the island and aside from Salt City of course, it was one of the better burgers I have ever had.  We then hiked to Captain Cook's monument.  It is a downhill hike to a bay with some of the most amazing snorkeling.  I could have been in the water for hours, it was so fun to see all the different brightly colored fish.  Isaac kept on saying I had the excitement of a little kid, and I guess it did feel that way.  The hike back up was tough but it was so worth the snorkeling we got to do.  That night we went to one of Grandma Gayle's favorites, Big Island Grill.  Everyone knows her there and here and my grandpa would frequent there together.  They had the most amazing soup (sort of like pho) and they are famous for their mud pie which is NO joke.  It is huge and tasted so incredible.