Volcanos NP and Mauna Kea (8/22-8/23/14)

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 Hawaii Island - One of our favorite places in the World!

8/22-8/23/14 We went to the Big Island to meet with a client.  We scheduled for a Friday so we could extend the weekend and go to Volcanos National Park.  We wanted to test out Nikon and Canon hybrid cameras for our upcoming cross country trip.  We have multiple lenses for our DSLR but when you have a fast paced trip planned, we needed a backup for the DSLR for quick shot situations.  We took turns with each camera trying out different settings.  The Canon SX50 won hands down.  Sorry Nikon fans.
Ryan had to do this one on his own...I was on the phone with a client for a couple hours.
 
  This little guy joined me while I was working on the lanai.  He was a great specimen for close up details. 


The lava is about 50ft below the surface. Can only see smoke during day and red glow at night. Down a bit since last visit in 2011.

   The sulphur vents



 
Playing with some B&W settings on the Nikon.  This is the only area the Nik won.
 

It is awesome catching an artist at work!



 
 
If there one thing above all that I really like about Hawaii - Rainbows! They seem to be close enough to reach out and touch them, or taste them like below.



My pot of gold!

Taste the Rainbow



This is one of the neatest parts..where the lava meets the road.

The end of the pavement - Chain of Craters Road


Road Closed sign in the middle of the lava...Really???

The glow after sunset from the volcano

Same trees...first was heading out and second coming back from end of the road.
The final picture taken with our 1st SX50...a huge gust of wind smashed her to the ground.
We went to Mauna Kea, the tallest mountain in the US.  with the goal of hitch hiking to the top since we did not have a 4 wheel drive vehicle.  These are shots from the observatory station - as far as our car could go.  We met the 2nd to last 4x4 that was heading up - two locals from Puna.  Their ol' Jeep Wrangler would be our chariot.





 OK, so the poor gal overheated multiple times...I'm not sure how great the sunset looked from the peak but I was elated with my spectacular views mid way.
Sure was grateful to these guys for taking us up the mountain
spite the problems we had with overheating. They offered to
let us hitch with someone else, but we opted to hang with them.





Look close...the observatory.  Yes, we made it but well after dark!

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