The Volcano House Hotel sits on the edge of the Kilauea Caldera at 3980 ft. (1213m). The hotel has been around since the mid-1800s, where even Mark Twain stayed a night while in Hawaii. The view that the Volcano House is truly amazing. To the right, you will see the Akanikolea (Steaming Bluff), further down along the rim is the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory and Jagger Museum. Straight below is the Halema'um'u Crater (3412ft/ 1040m) which looks more like a rock quarry than a crater. Looking straight and left is mostly barren land, it's colored by the numerous lava flows it has had over the years. There are several trails that go along side the Kilauea Caldera as well as go in it and throughout; but we didn't have time for that, so we drove around instead.

From the Volcano House Hotel, we went back to our cars at the visitor center and began our drive on Crater Rim Drive. We eventually made it to our next stop at the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (closed to the public) and the Jaggar Museum. The museum had more historic information about Kilauea and had several weather and earthquake measurements to watch. The view from the museum is equally amazing as the one at the Volcano House; this time, however, you get a closer look at the Halema'um'u Crater and you can see the Volcano House to the left. After a brief tour and walk around of the area, we jumped back into our cars and continued to drive on Crater Rim Drive

You start to go down into the Caldera from that point on. Along the way, you see signs that will either read Rift line (similar to a fault line) or a date of the lava flow we were currently on top of. We eventually made it to the small parking area for the Halema'uma'u Crater, where you are instantly greeted with lovely signs like "Watch your Step", "Stay on the Trail", and "Danger, Hazardous Volcanic Fumes." Throwing caution to the wind, we walked over to the edge of the Halema'uma'u Crater to see all its splendor.

Though it would have been better if the Crater was active, it was still very cool. Steam was coming out all around the area, knowing what is just below is a constant reminder here. At the overlook spot, there was some offerings, I was told that many Hawaiians still do a lot of the traditional customs. Thus, this was to please Pele-'ai-honua (Pele, who eats the land), who lives in Kilauea; she is both creator and destroyer.

Because of the less-than-active volcano we saw today, our tour guide gave us an extra bonus. We went to visit the Thurston Lava Tube (Nahuku), which was only two to three miles away from the Crater. What freaked me out was the fact you quickly leave a desert and enter a rain forest (the area was called the Tree Fern and Ohi'a Forest). As natural explorers, we hoped out of our cars and went down into the Lava Tube.

A Lava Tube is similar to a cave, expect it was made by moving lava. When all the lava has left, in some cases, it leaves a hollow tube in the rock. The tube wasn't very long; nonetheless, it had to be done since we were explorers.

Finally, after our visit to the Thurston Lava Tube, we finished our drive around on Crater Rim Drive (total of 11 miles), and began our exit out of the park. By this point, Hilo was only a good 30 miles (48km) away from the Vistor Center, we should be there before dark.