Hawai’i – Hilo

    Our second port of call was Hilo on the Big Island. This is the rainy side of the island and it is very lush and green. It was a bit dark in the morning, and it seemed to sprinkle a little bit… but no real rain to speak of while we were there. This was Laura’s birthday – Thursday, October 29, 2009.

    We took a helicopter tour over the Volcanoes National Park (www.nps.gov/havo/) with the Blue Hawaii outfit. This was the first helicopter flight for both of us and we sat in the front seats next to the pilot. It was amazing to see the volcanoes cones up close and also where the lava tubes meet the sea. The lava tubes form naturally and carry the molten rock through underground avenues. We purchased a DVD of our actual flight (the helicopter had 4 cameras mounted in various places) to preserve the memories along with the photos and video we took. There were a number of small gardens and beautiful flowers around the Hilo International Airport – so naturally, David took a lot of photos.

    After our flight, we took a taxi downtown – Laura wanted Mexican food for her birthday lunch. So we wound up at Reuben in the town center on Kamehameha Avenue next to an open air market. After lunch we took a self-guided walking tour around that part of town. We found a bus stop and police station across the street… Then venturing further away we found the Lyman House (an old missionary house) and it’s museum. On our way back we stopped in the Ben Franklin’s store. We saw many interesting buildings and shops and took photos of a number of flowers and birds.