On our first full day on the eastern side of the island we did some exploring of the area. We began by driving the Jeep topless down a long bumpy lava road. Apparently this strange moonscape area used to be the lazy beach town of Kapoho before 1960, when the volcano decided to go that way.

Next we visited the Hilo farmer's market. It was fun to see all of the strange fruits and vegetables local to the island. For example, they have this thing called the dragon fruit that looks like a cross between a pomegranate and a cactus. They also sold these huge avocados that stayed green when they were ripe. One thing we had trouble finding was raspberries, which is a staple of Marion's diet. One guy at the farmer's market was selling only raspberries. He said that he started growing them because he couldn't live without his berries. He and Marion must be kindred spirits. When he found out that the berries were for Marion, he gave us an extra pack for free. 

Finally we drove further north and hiked around a short trail through rain forest to see a couple of large waterfalls–Kahuna Falls and Akaka Falls. We gots some good pictures of Akaka Falls.

Marion enjoys the bumpy ride through the 1960 lava flow moonscape

Marion and Jesse under a hugh banyan near the Hilo farmer's market

Marion and Jesse hike through the (paved) rain forest trail to the waterfalls

Jesse points to Akaka Falls

Jackie's happy to be at the Falls

serene view from the Akaka Falls parking lot

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