From the Archives: Agent C's Secret Hawaiian Mission Part 6 - The Finale
To: Spy Team Leader
CC: Mission Commander
From: Agent C
RE: Mission Update
Well, this update is going to be pretty short because we
didn’t do anything I can show you today!
Your parents spent the morning packing and then the afternoon shopping
for presents for you and your siblings.
When they finished shopping, they called you and then went for a walk
along the water. It was about sunset and
the sky was beautiful with the cliffs and water.
Then, when they got back to the house, Dad spent a few
minutes taking pictures of the night sky.
The stars here are so amazing!
Just a few more days and we’ll be home!
-Agent C
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
To: Spy Team Leader
CC: Mission Commander
From: Agent C
RE: Final Mission
Update
I can’t believe my
mission is coming to an end. I am
pleased to tell you that I have been successful in protecting your parents and
keeping them from harm’s way despite nearly insurmountable odds. The last two days were probably the most
difficult for me because your father could not keep himself from doing
dangerous things the whole time. I am
sending a double update today both because I have been so busy and because I
knew you were at a sleepover and would not get it until today anyways.
On Friday, we left the beautiful island of Kauai and flew to
the big island of Hawaii. Pretty much
everywhere in Hawaii, they refer to this as the “Big Island” but it’s name is
actually Hawaii. Maybe that’s to avoid
confusion between whether you’re talking about the island or the state. It was kind of sad leaving Kauai. It was a beautiful morning and everything
around us was lush and warm and green.
You’d really like it there, I hope you get to go sometime.
I checked the planes for safety and paid close attention to every instruction given by the flight crew.
The Big Island has a different sort of beauty. It is far more populated and developed than
Kauai. You can see in this picture the
big city of Hilo right along the water front.
There are no pretty sand beaches – at least that we saw on this side of
the island. I hear that there are more
things like this on the other side of the island.
Here’s mom resting from our travels on their comfy bed at
the Palms Cliffhouse Inn Bed and Breakfast.
She didn’t rest long though, because they headed out right
away to the Hawaii Volcanos National Park to check out what there was to see
and do. I consulted with the Park Ranger
to determine the best course of action when we arrived and he advised us to
visit a few special places that evening before we left.
First we went to the Kiauea Iki Overlook to see the Kilauea
Crater. This was the sight of the 1959
eruption, and can you believe it, it was still steaming more than 60 years
later!
From this overlook
you could also see the Sulfur Dioxide gas cloud coming out of the current
eruption in the distance.
Next, we visited the
Thurston lava tube. When we got to this
site, the path led down into an amazing rainforest. Mom and Dad recorded the bird sounds, remind
them to let you hear them when we return because it was pretty amazing! It was almost like the rainforest exhibit in
a zoo, but all the plants and wildlife were real! When we got to the lava tube, it was this
amazing cave-like tunnel that used to actually be filled with lava! Now, it was actually dripping inside with
rainwater that had leaked through from the top, as well as tree roots dangling
from the ceiling and ferns growing on the walls:
Mom and Dad wanted a
picture together in the rainforest so I helped them out:
This is the vehicle Mom and Dad rented on this island. They were pretty surprised to find out that it was brand new! There were only 24 miles on it when they started it up and as soon as Dad opened the back they could smell that new car smell.
The next stop was the steam vents, where rain water dripping
down into the vents encounters super-heated rocks and turns instantly to clouds
of steam. The steam wafted over the
railing and covered the path. Mom and
Dad were pretty amazed when their glasses fogged up so much they couldn’t see
and they had a little trouble with the cameras too!
Last, they headed up to the Jagger Museum to see the magma
inside the volcano reflected in the clouds as the sun went down. This is where they were when they called home
and talked to your siblings, but you were at the sleepover:
The next morning, Mom was up with the sun as usual, and as usual Dad slept in late J. Mom showered and took her Bible down to the lanai where they had coffee waiting. Before she had her coffee though, we walked around a took a few pictures of the beautiful morning.
And here’s where we ate breakfast:
Then Dad came out and took pictures of Mom after breakfast
We found some pretty cool, sneaky little lizards here too
Our first stop in the Hawaii Volcanos National Park today
was the Sulfur Banks. Here the Sulfur is
so intense that it has crystalized in the vent holes and colored the
landscape. Mom and Dad had to hold their
breath often here because the fumes were so bad.
After stopping to
have a bite of lunch, Mom and Dad joined a Park Ranger on a hike through the
Mauna Ulu eruption area.
In 1969, fissures (deep cracks in the earth) opened up and huge fountains of lava spewed out up to 1,700 feet in the air! They sprayed for about 15 hours and then stopped in that time, they managed to create a ridge called a splatter rampart before they flowed back into the fissure.
They thought that was the end, but then a little later it
started up again and sprayed fountains for weeks followed by a big vent opening
up with lava flowing out. This lava
flowed for FIVE YEARS!!!!! In that time
it created a new mountain, Mauna Ulu (Hawaiian for growing mountain). Parts of this lava flow took out forests and
sometimes when the lava came up to a tree, it solidified quickly and then as
the lava continued to flow in a river around it, parts of the hardened lava
washed away, but much of it stayed.
These are now “lava trees” although the trees inside got burned up.
This is what it looks like inside
We hiked for hours across lava flows. It’s a good thing we had a guide, because I
sure had a hard time figuring out where the trail was!
I couldn’t believe it when we finally reached the top! The hole in the middle went down more than
400 feet.
Our guide was great and I told him so myself before we left
When we hopped back in the car, we drove down the mountain
to the ocean.
At the bottom was a cool sea arch that had been formed by
lava and water
Finally, we headed back to town for one last Hawaiian fish
dinner. It was delicious! Then we went back to the room, packed up, and
I wrote my update. I’m about to crash
now and when we wake up in the morning, we’re coming home to see you!
-Agent C
Comments
Post a Comment