Hawai'i for Dummies

Armed with our personal travel guide (see above), my cousin and I spent the first part of Fall Break in Big Island and Maui...

Our first stop was Big Island, also known as Hawai'i. It is the largest island in the Hawaiian island chain and the newest, in terms of its formation. The Hawaiian islands were formed by underground volcanos that eventually cooled down. Since Big Island is relatively new, it was the ugliest. The beaches did not have powdery white sand from erosion but were mostly rocky. There's even a Black Sand Beach and a Green Sand Beach.

Here we are at the black and rocky South Point, the southern-most point in the United States, in terms of latitude. It was very windy. Of course, someone was selling cheap souvenirs.

Since Big Island is still so new, most of the active volcanos are on Big Island. Each year, volcanic activity adds more and more land to the Big Island, too. We got to see Kilauea in action. Kilauea lies in the Halema'uma'u crater, and is actually a crater within a crater. Kilauea has been erupting since January 3, 1983 and has not stopped since. In March there was a huge explosion that released a large amount of sulfur dioxide. Tradewinds blew these gases over to neighboring islands, such as O'ahu, creating a thin layer of vog.

At night, you can hear rumbling coming from Kilauea; it is said to be the goddess Pele groaning and warning us. Legend has it that the goddess of fire, Pele, formed the Big Island as a place for her and her lover (a young chief on Kaua'i). Below is a photo of Kilauea's white plume, a lava vent (which looks like a cave), and a traditional portrait of Pele.

Maui was more scenic and populated. We got a sweet silver Subaru to drive around the island on. We loaded up on some candy at this blast from the past candy store. Our first stop was Lavender Farms, a nice garden on the side of a mountain. There was a nice view from the mountain top and there were some friendly cows grazing. Then we went to see Akaka Falls, a massive massive beast. At sunset, we headed over to Haleakala, which is a 10,023 ft mountain. It was super cold to be above the clouds, which made me glad I brought my SLC windbreaker!