Arriving super early at Hilo (before 6am), we pick-up our rental car (PT Cruiser). I will never buy a PT Cruiser in my life, that thing had quite the control. Since we didn’t have much to do so early in the morning, we decided to try and check-in at the hotel. Luckily, they had a room for us and we were able to drop off our baggage and washed up. We hit the Walmart to pick up some snacks and ate breakfast at McDonalds.
At about 9am, we had a helicopter tour booked, but half way through the safety training, they said it was too cloudy and the trip was cancelled. We got a free upgrade and re-scheduled for the next day.
Due to the cancellation of our heli tour, we had to switch our itinerary around. Instead of hitting the waterfalls after the heli tour, we were forced to go down to the Volcano national park.
The national park was a giant loop of about 11 miles. There were many points of interest, but after about half way, everything started to look the same. It was definitely neat to see the crater of the volcano. There was still steam coming out of the craters with a strong sulfur smell. Some of the steam was yellow in color.
There was a road that leads down to the ocean (Chain of Craters Road), but since we were quite exhausted, we decided to pass on it.
After our tour of the Volcano national park, we decided to hit up the black sand beaches. The sand was definitely black and a tad coarse compared to that of the North Shore. Nonetheless, it was a nice to experience black sand, too bad we were afraid to bring some back.
Arriving back in Hilo, we washed up and got ready to go out for a new Year’s eve dinner. We went to the SeasSide Restaurant. It was a good 5mile drive and felt like it was in the middle of nowhere since there seemed to be only street lights and the odd refinery. The service was definitely very slow and the food was good. Fresh fish always taste better than frozen as Amy could tell you.
On our way back home, we heard many fireworks go off. Some of the people playing with them were dangerous enough to throw them at passing cars. I guess when people get to into the festivities, they don’t think before they act.
Back at the hotel, we watched a marathon of a “shot at love” with tila tequila. After a few episodes, I was totally knocked out. Mind you this was New Year’s Eve and the second year I couldn’t stay awake till midnight. Darn time zone differences and waking up at 4am. I even missed the winner of a “shot at love”.