Hawaii adventure – three

Our third adventure took us across the island to the rainy side. We again passed through the area of the Parker ranch, with rolling grasslands that reminded us much of northern California. We drove on the Saddle Road which went between Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea, which were former active volcanoes. It was amazing how much lava and desert-like landscape we passed through that day before reaching the rainy side of the island. As we got closer to the rainy side we saw more plants trying to exist in the lava. We snapped a picture to capture the wide open space as well as our rental car, a Ford Focus that served us well. On the wet side we found many waterfalls and lush rain forest jungle type growth. You can see Rainbow Falls in the distance, but we were not able to capture a rainbow in the mist that it is known for. There were numerous streams rushing to the ocean because of the abundant rains in the area. The plants and flowers of the area were magnificent and we tried to capture the beauty, but somehow a camera does not seem to do it justice. We found the coastline very rugged with the surf working to break it down but it has a long way to go; not many sandy beaches on this side of the island near Hilo.