24: Hilo Style David and Michelle came in 6pm Sunday and we dropped them off a little after 5pm Monday. I promise not to do an hour by hour schtick, but it was a quick visit. Sunday we just did dinner; Monday we did Volcano (Lava Tube, Halemaumau, Jagger Museum), Big Island Candy, Hilo Hattie's. Max got to play with them, dance and show off the Hawaiian stuff he's learning for the Luau on Monday; great fun.

I dusted off my old Minolta, finished off a 24-exposure roll (that I probably started before I got the first digital two years ago, and I have no idea what's on it) and a 36-exposure roll. They'll be developed by Saturday, I'm told.... man am I spoiled. Well, we'll see. And we've got DSL service now, so there's no reason I can't upload BIG pictures now! On with the show!

	Apparently, wearing a lot of hats all at once never gets tired. At least not for the single-digit set....
	Max's favorite place at the park is still Thurston Lava Tube. This time we all went a couple dozen yards into the unlit portion before the Dresners turned back (the Schlossbergs went on for a while, brave souls).
	After the Tube, we went out to the Halemaumau overlook. As you can see, it was a beautiful day, very unlike the cold, rainy Spring Break trip.
	We took a quick trip up to the Jagger museum, from which you have a fantastic overlook of Halemaumau. It's really humbling to realize how little of the crater you walked before turning back in exhaustion....
	The Jagger Museum is in the same building as the Volcano Observatory, and you can see some of the instruments they use to monitor volcanic activity.... I'm sure this was just a routine microquake. Nothing to be afraid of.
	So, we got out of the park as fast as we could and had lunch.

Max made out like a bandit at Hilo Hattie's, by the way. He got a half-off coupon for an oyster pull, and ended up with two pink pearls. We're getting them set (in silver, not at gold/platinum-only Hilo Hattie's) and we'll do pictures when they're done.  ¶ Thursday, June 01, 2006