Closed for renovations…. This is a panorama of what we could see plus the collapsed lava tube leading into the park.
We bypassed Volcano Park since we took the helicopter flight on Sunday. Not enough time to drive Chain of Craters Drive and do other things we want to do in the Hilo area…

Posted from my Droid X using WordPress for Android

The morning got off to a slow start…

We stopped at the Hertz office in the hotel because we were getting a burned oil smell through the air vents every time we stopped with the car running yesterday.  The man @ the hotel changed our car, upgraded actually, from a Ford Escape to a Buick Enclave. They also did not make us refuel or charge for the ¾’s tank of gas we used in the Escape.

But, we did not get out of the hotel until about 9:45am. By the time we got to the closest McDonald’s, it was 10:08. They stop serving breakfast @ 10am!!! Certainly didn’t feel like a hamburger for breakfast.

So, we hit the road headed for Hilo. I knew of a great bakery from the web we would pass by. I just didn’t realize it was a 80 minute drive from McD’s!! But, it was worth the wait. We picked up a half dozen of Malasadas (Hawaiian Sweetbread Donuts), 1 each of: plain sugared, guava flavored, strawberry filled, chocolate filled, papaya frosted and bismark style (custard filled & chocolate frosted). We had to get a second papaya one and saved the four unfrosted for later….

The place is called The Punalu’u Bake Shop, right on Route 11, about 3 miles west of the turn off for Punalu’u Black Sands Beach Park, on the mauka side of the road.

After eating, we had a few feathery friends join us for scraps. This was the only one I got a picture of. Then we hit the road towards Hilo once again.

Posted from my Droid X using WordPress for Android

Cloudy again, but we have become used to it on this trip…
What to do today??
I think a trip over to Hilo might be a good thought. I don’t think we will be stopping at Volcano Park, as anything we will see from the ground will be the same as 2007’s visit and a let down after the helicoter flight on Sunday.
However, there are things on the Hilo side we have not seen, so a nice drive for today around the island!!

Posted from my Droid X using WordPress for Android

A rain shower moving over Kailua-Kona and out to sea. You can see the ran hitting the water causing the surface to not reflect the sunlight…

Posted from my Droid X using WordPress for Android

The shear cliffs of the east Kohala coast and a view of Pololu Valley. The only access to the valley is a hike down a steep dirt path for about 1700 feet vertical elevation. It is about a 1½ mile to the bottom via the path. We stayed up at the vista point.

Our helicopter flight turned back south just short of the valley yesterday and flew up into a different one for waterfall pictures I have yet to post.

Posted from my Droid X using WordPress for Android