We arrived in Hilo around 8:15 pm HST, which is just after midnight Minnesota time for those of you keeping track. After picking up the Jeep from the rental car place, we were on our way out to Volcano Village where our little airbnb loft is located.

About 45 minutes from Hilo, Volcano is a town that is mostly obscured by the vegetation. We spent this morning starting to get oriented to the our new surroundings. Since we didn’t stop at a grocery store last night, the first order of business was breakfast. We went over to Vocanos National Park where there’s a lodge overlooking Kalua Pele crater (part of Kilauea). Breakfast was not terribly exciting, but Ryan had papaya with his and really enjoyed it. I stuck with somewhat less adventurous fare of yogurt and toast. I want to kind of ease into the local food scene.

The view was terrific when we got there at around 7:30 am. With the sun not very high overhead, the steam vents were visible everywhere. By the time we thought to take pictures of it though, the sun was higher and the steam vents were no longer visible. We’ll go back and take pictures another day.

Next stop was a grocery store. We drove about halfway back to Hilo and found a natural foods store with some bulk items etc., and then we went to a ‘regular’ grocery store that had everything else. There we picked up the requisite pineapple along with other staples we need for our stay.

Back to Volcano to put our food in the fridge and freezer (the ice cream was already melting and we were only about 20 minutes away), and then we headed over to a little bake and art sale. We were expecting something along the lines of a craft fair combined with a bake sale, but it turned out to be two ladies who set up a canopy every Saturday with some of their wares. One bakes and makes jellies, and also some sewn items, the other paints and does stained glass. It was really a treat chatting with them. After that we wandered over to Volcano Art Gallery and saw some truly amazing stuff. Paintings, photographs, wood sculptures, jewelry… well, you get the idea!

Now it is about 3:00 pm, and we’ve stopped for a bit. Having a snack and getting ready to peruse the brochures of all the activities available to us on the island. Our stargazing tour rescheduled for Monday night due to clouds, so we have a few more days to get adjusted to the time change. We’ve made reservations for dinner at 6:15 at the local “fancy place,” which is part of yet another lodge/resort/hotel/spa in the area.

Time for short nap, and then dinner…