Blogs from Volcano, Hawaii, United States, North America

Day 6 We were up early (for us) to check out and get to a tour of the local brewery where we had gone out to dinner a few nights before. Seeing how they make the beer followed by a tasting of a flight of 4 of their brews, including the banana beer Kym had the other day.. breakfast beer!! Leaving Kona behind we set on our roadtrip. It was not even 2 and a half hours to where we were staying and we made a couple of stops to check out the scenery along the way. Hawai'i has such vast changing landscapes within a 20 minute drive. We saw coastal towns, black lava rocks making up lots of the landscape to looking up at lava mountains followed by lush green fields and rainforests. One of ... read more

It’s important to remember that the Volcano National Park and Volcano Village area are around 4500-5000 feet above sea-level and often COLD!!!! One time, we stayed in a cabin there (which had no heat…or walls…well, there were walls, but they didn’t quite reach the roof (the cabin was still a work in progress)…and the roof had a hole in it for the tree to grow through…loved the cabin! BUT it was COLD! It was so cold, I actually wore all the clothes I had in my suitcase, all at once, to bed. It didn’t snow, but it could have. So, bring a sweater. And, a raincoat. (The first time we were there, the rain was so cold a... read more

Geo: 19.4308, -155.238I spent two full days in the shadow of Pele. I have to say I loved Volcanoes National Park. There is so much to see and so many hikes to take. You definitely need one full day, but two would be great if you want to add on some of the longer hikes along the crater floor and spend more time just looking at things. Expect rain since the park is in a rainforest and don't let it ruin your time there. My room at Chalet Kilauea was wonderful. The Africa Room is the least expensive, and smallest, room at the Chalet. It states that right on their website. The room was perfect for me as a single traveler. There was a double bed, flat screen TV, closet with storage space, large bathroom and ... read more

Geo: 19.4308, -155.238Long flights are not something I would call fun, but they are even less fun when there are delays, missed connections and wayward baggage! My flight from Chicago to Honolulu was delayed by almost 2 hours due to the incoming flight being delayed. And then flights to Honolulu and Tokyo were boarding at the same time from neighboring gates, which was apparently too confusing for the Tokyo passengers as they kept coming through our boarding lines and had to be redirected. The nice lady who was announcing the boarding groups repeatedly said "Honolulu is now boarding group 1. Tokyo is gate 16, not 17" but some failed to listen so that also slowed down our departure. Once on board, I had a nice aisle seat in the row that backs up to the bathroom. ... read more