Hawaii Part 5

On our way to Volcano Village we drove to the Southern end of the Island which is the least developed part of the Big Island. We came across long stretches of lava fields followed by green pastures filled with cows and goats. We passed by villages that were completely washed away by past volcano eruptions. We drove down a pretty rough road to get to an area called South Point. This is the southernmost part of the island, and what I learned  actually the southernmost point in the United States, not Key West, FL which I always thought and was told. Driving down this road was like taking a trip back in time. A beautiful wind farm fills the pastures. South point is the first place that the Polynesians came ashore and settled when they discovered the Hawaiian Islands. This is a very historic area and you can see it and feel it all around. We spent so much time exploring every inch of this land and next thing we knew the sun was going down. We enjoyed the sunset and jumped back in the car and headed to Volcano mist.

 This side of the island is all open land. There is not a house or even a gas station in sight. It is now really really dark. The Big Island does not have many lights or any standard street lights. This keeps things very visible from the observatory. There are only a few dim orange colored lights along the road. We are climbing in elevation, and driving on the edge of a cliff. I have to have a lot of trust in my husband right now. I'm keeping my cool, but I would really really like to have control of the vehicle right now. We could smell the sulfur in the air, and by the mile markers on the side of the road we knew that we were approaching Volcano mist. We saw the sign for Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, and quickly realized we were officially on top of Kilauea. All we could see in the darkness was some smoke filling the air. Kilauea is currently flowing and Patrick could not wait to see the live lave flow. The street we turned down to get to Volcano mist was just passed the main entrance into the National Park. I could tell that Patrick was getting very nervous, as there was not a thing in sight other than the volcano. As we turned down the street we were suddenly in the rain forest. This was Amazing and Scary all at the same time. We could see a few lanterns of light in between the trees and the anticipation to see our cottage was building. We took another turn, drove down to the end of the road and all we saw was a place to park our car. I have to be honest, I had no idea what we were getting ourselves into, but it felt very adventurous. We got out of the car, really could have used a flashlight, and we found a pathway to walk down. We started walking and all of a sudden the most amazing cottage appeared in the middle of the rain forest settled on top of the Kilauea.