Hilo, on the big island

Today was a very busy day.  We rented a car and began our adventure on the big island.  First we went to see volcanos.

 This is at Volcano National Park.  The smoke coming up in the trees is actually steam from the lava heating up the ground.  It comes out through vents in the ground.

 That is the Halema'uma'u crater behind us.  You can see the Fumes and Ash coming up out of it.  Sadly there was no lava that we could walk up to and see.  It still was a really neat experiance to see an active volcano from so close.

 You can tell that Gentry obviously hates the camera.  She thinks she is a model or something.

 Last thing we explored at the volcano national park was a Lava tube.  It was like going caving.  We only went a little ways in, but it was crazy to see what lava was able to do.

 After the national park, we went to a black sand beach.  The sand is little pieces of crushed up lava rock.  The sand was hot, and the water didn't look very inviting, so we just had a picnic on the beach.

 The last thing we had time for today was a trip to the zoo on the big island.  It is the only natural rainforest zoo in the states.  Here are some of the animals that we saw.

 The tiger came right up to the fence for us.

Birds

 I don't know what this thing is, but he looks comfortable.

Gentry's favorite was the monkeys.  She liked them so much that she took one home with her.