At Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, we were lucky that there were surface lava flows going on, but they required a long hike across the lava field, which was tiring due to the uneven surface. We were amazed that people had already built houses on top of recent lava flows, I guess to claim the new land that had been created, but they looked quite bizarre sitting on top of such a barren landscape. Eventually we found the surface flows and enjoyed watching the slow oozing from a safe distance away. Some other viewers had brought sticks to see what would happen if they put the wood in the hot lava and the stucks caught fire immediately. The lava maked an unexpectedly metallic sound as it cooled, something like a tin can getting hit by pebbles.
We drove all over the island and Miranda was had diarrhea from her recent trip and kept drinking Ginger Ale thinking it would calm her stomach, but I think we decisively dispelled that myth because each time the Ginger Ale caused immediate diarrhea rather than calming anything.
We visited a beach on the leeward side of the island that a coworker of mine had been to recently and had encountered a playful dolphin at. This was the first time that Miranda and I had gone to a beach together, so it was the first time she had seen my "swimming costume", as they say in Britain. To avoid getting sunburned or having to slather lots of sun block, I always wear a head to toe skintight outfit, including a swimming cap and bandana to cover my neck. It looks quite odd, but Miranda didn't raise an eyebrow for too long. Once we got to the water, I asked Miranda to help me pull a palm frond underneath the back of my shirt because I wanted to swim out to where my coworked had played with the dolphin and have the palm frond to play with once I got there. She helped me and then I swam off. I'm sure between my swimming costume and the palm frond it was quite a bizarre scene for the other people at the beach. After I went off into the water, a woman came up to Miranda and asked why she had "stuffed a palm frond up his ass". When Miranda replied "Because he wants to play with dolphins", the woman looked at her at Miranda were speaking Russian. I never did find the dolphin and after I swam out, I realized that the palm frond had slipped out at some point and was nowhere to be seen. Oh well.
We went snorkeling at Captain Cook, which is where Captain James Cook was killed after relations with the native Hawaiians broke down. The snorkeling is some of the best on the island and we saw many different types of fish as well as some turtles. Getting to the snorkeling spot required a muddy hike of several miles and Miranda twister her ankle on the way back, but was able to slowly limp out.