Paradise Found Part 2 The Big Island / Volcano & Black Sand Beach

Next stop: Volcano!
We flew from Kauai to Hilo and stayed in a little cabin right in the rainforest in Volcano Village.
We decided to drive to the national park to get some maps and information to then be able to explore the area over the next two days. The ranger was informing us that the National Park will be only open until 10 pm that night and then close until further notice, as they are expecting a rather large explosive eruption to take place within the next few days.
What? An exciting time to be here but also a shame that we had little time to explore.
We checked out the Museum which was fantastic and saw the crater with all its fumes and smoke. Really amazing. We then tried to keep Faye awake in the cold rain trying to see some of "the glow" which is the lava illuminating the Volcano in the dark. The weather was too bad and although we were very patient we didn't get to see it. Bummer. The glow has not returned since then. With the eruptions the whole crater has collapsed since then, so I guess we were pretty lucky to still get to go at all.
We did feel a light earthquake, which was exciting!

The next day most of the roads were closed and we decided to drive down to a black sand beach, instead of hiking the national park. We were all rugged up for a chilly hike and ended up at a beach at 36 degrees. Oh dear. I am glad we decided to go.
It was quite something. Extremely fine, powdery black sand and we saw an abundance of sea turtles swimming in the rocks. Quite something.

This was the most challenging day of all, we had all spend a long time together by now and I think people started to get on each other's nerves. Emotions were bubbling. Just like that volcano, we were all very close to an eruption.

That's when Dave and I decided to take the car and have a long lunch by ourselves. Faye fell asleep in the stroller and we had a wonderful peaceful moment. After this delicious Acai Bowl, we cooled off nicely and had a very harmonious rest of our holiday. They help us grow, they push our buttons, they motivate me to do things differently but also sometimes still inspire me in unexpected ways.
Family, you guys. Family.