Adventures

Ashley and I decided to take a trip to the Big Island of Hawai'i. This was a beautiful flight. When we were flying in, their was snow on top of the Mauna Kea, which is Hawaii's tallest volcano. After we landed we picked up our rental car and went straight to the Volcano (the active one). I HAVE NEVER SEEN SO MUCH LAVA IN ALL MY LIFE!!! We would drive for miles and miles and not see anything but lava rock. It was everywhere. It was amazing that is what these islands once were. This picture is kind of fuzzy but it was the best picture that I had of the lava tube we walked through. It was so cool. It was like a cave. It was a little chilly and damp in there. After we walked through it we wanted to go see where the actual lava is still flowing.
From there we drove about 20 or so miles through seas of Lava rock. It just had wiped out everything. As you can see in this picture, this was once a road that is now covered in lava. This eruption happened back in 2003. We were able to walk out and see the steam from where the lava was actually flowing. The rangers told us that you could not actually see the red/orange flow unless you hiked out after dark. Since it was mid morning we decided against that but...We saw a great display of how it works. It was really cool that God can take something so ugly like black, brownie looking, lava rock and turn it into paradise, but that is how He works.
It is exactly what He does with our lives. He takes everything ugly and sinful and makes them beautiful, all for His Glory! Like it says in 2 Corinthians 5:17 "Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come." He always shows us lessons with His creation. From the volcano, we started driving around the island. IT IS A BIG ISLAND. I guess hints the name "Big Island" We drove for what schemed like forever.
Along our drive we stopped to see the black sand beach. This was one of the coolest things about our trip. It feels just like regular sand but it is black. I just had to take my shoes off and run through the sand. We also saw some turtles sunbathing on the beach there.
We were really blessed to be able to spend the night with some of Bethany and Jakes friends that night. After making our way around the island we crashed at a family's house named, the Glenns. They were really sweet and we were thankful for a bed to sleep in after the long days journey.
As we traveled around the island we passed many really neat things. The "Parker Ranch" which is the largest land owner in the United States, was on our way through. Many beautiful waterfalls that I may insert into some later blogs. This picture is actually not too far from a waterfall. I thought this picture was better, with the palm trees by the ocean. This is how I pictured Hawaii before I came to live here and now I know it is just how it is pictured. I love living here and am going to miss it when I leave! I hope everyone has a great day! Love you all!!!