Hilo, Island of Hawaii, Hawaii

Mauna Loa. It rumbled a bit and after we returned to Big America, as the mainland is sometimes called in Hawaii, and with us gone, the lava began flowing again. Did we mention the Japanese tsunami? It happened a few days after we were safely back in Estados Unitos -- is that Spanish for the United States?

Hawaii is easily the largest island in the Hawaiian Island chain and is the best place to see and study volcanoes. Visit on a good day or you could be breathing bad air or worse – the Kilauea caldera, active for the past 14 years, might blow sky high and that would be the end of you.

Monitors keeping an eye on Hawaii's volcanos. When these needles spiked indicating a rumble deep beneath us, a man accused his kid of whacking the case.

It is the largest island in size, but nowhere near the population size of Oahu, which has Honolulu. Honolulu at 350,000 people dwarfs the 110,000 people on the entire island of Hawaii.

Tours in Hawaii try to gin up excitement, but if you’re not into volcanoes, you may lose interest quickly. Volcanoes are stark, and volcanic islands are black, craggy and largely barren. Lava flows freely and regularly on this island and it periodically wipes out entire villages. You can, and should, walk the lava field from the early 1970s and view the odd circular holes in the black lava. Those were once trees and the hole is where the trunk of the tree grew.

A visit to Volcanic National Park is a must, as is a stop at the park information center where the exhibits are excellent. Seismographic monitors are on view, keeping an eye on all parts of the island and its volcanoes and, in fact, the afternoon we visited, the seismometer kicked up right in front of us. That was a volcanic eruption we were watching, albeit a small one.

The Thurston Lava Tube. Easily one of the most fascinating places in the world. Lava once flowed through here and once it cooled it left this passageway. Not to be missed.

There are other places on the island as well worth visiting. The Nani Mau Gardens where lunch was served is a small but rich tropical garden. The Akatsuka Orchid garden is nearly if you wish to purchase orchids. It struck us as a tad expensive ($40 for orchids) and commercial, but still it was informative and they have a lot of orchids, including some blossoms you can attach to yourself with a hairpin for free.

Rainbow Falls is here, as well. It is Hawaii’s largest waterfall in terms of volume and plunges 80-feet. It is charming enough amid a lush tropical setting, and worth a look, but it’s not Victoria Falls in Africa much less Niagara Falls in New York. If you’re driving by, pull in – if not, you might not want to make a special trip.

Rainbow Falls. Nice, but as with many things in Hawaii everything this place has somewhere else in the world has it in spades. Still, you have to congratulate the Hawaii chamber of commerce. Only Disney can gin up more enthusiasm over nice, but not great, stuff.

Hershey Chocolate is also here. The Mauna Loa Macadamia Nut Factory processes nuts from the adjacent trees and packages them in various varieties, including coating the macadamia nuts with chocolate. It’s not a great tour – no tour guides, just some windows that you peer into after climbing up to an outdoor second floor landing.

A farm near Hilo raising cocks for cock fighting.

Still if you’ve never seen a macadamia nut cracked it’s worth seeing. Cracking the nut takes fully 300 pounds of pressure so don’t get into any bar bets about hw you can crack on with your thumb and index finger.

Oddly, cockfighting – now almost universally outlawed in Big America (mainland United States) is alive and well here. A farm raising cocks to fight is easily seen on a highway. The tour guide explains that if you want to see a cockfight you’ll have to wait to the weekends and then they are done in secret. Want to get an invite? We passed.

A Macadaima tree forest owned by Hershey Chocolate. Go ahead. Walk around and pick up a nut or two. Crack them with your thumb and forefinger -- no problem if you can exert 300 pounds of pressure on the shell. It's easier to step next door and buy a whole can already cracked for you.

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