Arnott’s Lodge offered several tours for it’s lodgers. We’re pretty picky when it comes to guided tours because we don’t like doing the cheesy tour thing. But Arnott’s was a cool hostel so we figured the tour would be as well. And it was! Our guide took us to some great spots and knew a lot about the area. She even lived off grid like us so we had a great conversation with her about that.

First up was Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.

The plants were so lush and green:

I could have spent days exploring. We have to come back and camp!

Some plants were huge.

Even the dead plants were pretty.

Here’s what it looked like when I looked up:

Here’s a pic of Thebes taking a pic of me:

This is the path leading into a lava tube. I was so excited I could barely stand still for this pic.

Once inside the tube I turned around and took a pic looking out.

Inside a lava tube. I loved it! This picture was taken with my flash so the lighting isn’t accurate.

Thebes took the rest of these lava tube pics. He used his tripod so didn’t need to use flash. These pics reflect what the tube looked like.

I wish I could have spent the night.

It felt like being in the womb of the Goddess.

The next pic is smoke coming out of an active volcano! This is the part where I just want to type everything in caps and put five exclamation points after each sentence. I’ve wanted to go to Hawaii for years to see the volcanos and lava so this day was very exciting.

This is the Halema’uma’u crater on Kīlauea. To be this close to the volcano was unbelievable. I’m getting excited all over again just writing this post. Wheeeee!

Inside the Jaggar Museum there’s lots of cool stuff. Here’s a room where instruments measure the volcano’s activity:

There were lots of lava rock specimens to touch. I had no idea there were so many varieties. See the photo behind me where the lava is eating the stop sign?

I swooned when I saw Pele’s hair. The description says “Pele’s hairs are thin, fragile strands of volcanic glass. They form when molten lava is ejected into the air during an eruption.” If only you could spin it!

It’s not all fun and games. The area is dangerous as this sign indicates:

Another shot of the crater:

This tour was awesome. More pics to come.