After Waipi'o Valley we drove towards Hilo on the northern side of the island and paralleled the coast on highway 19. Our next stop was Laupahoehoe Point. After the highway turn off, we descended down 1 mile of cliffs. To many Laupahoehoe is associated with tragedy. During the April Fool's Day tsunami of 1946, 21 children and three adults were swept to their deaths. The views from the road down to the rugged point sported dramatic views of the sea cliffs. Once at the bottom, the surf pounded to against pointed lava rocks and was spectacular to watch.

After Laupahoehoe we drove to Akaka Falls. This waterfall has a 420 foot free fall and was really cool. There were actually two really big water falls, but one was hard to see from the view point.

After seeing the falls and it's lush rain forest surroundings, we drove through Hilo and made the trek into what felt like another planet, Volcano National Park. Our stop here was well worth the $10 per car admission. We ate right outside of the park at a really good brick oven pizza restaurant. Nothing beats a Margareta pizza with fresh mozzarella, tomato's, and artichokes! Simply delicious. Once in Volcano park, you can drive around the rim of the Kilauea crater, and the Halema'uma'u Crater which was like seeing a crater inside a crater. Our first stop around the rim was at the steam vents. The vent were simply holes in the ground with hot gaseous steam pouring out of them. Look at the picture. That's not fire in the background!

Unfortunately there wasn't any active lava flow visible at this time, but we decided to drive down chain of craters road anyway down to the ocean, and we're glad we did. The drive down to the bottom was really cool. It was as if we were driving on the edge of the earth or on some other planet. Once at the bottom, the view of the lava cliffs and the ocean crashing into the coast was simply amazing.