Today was a disappointing day until about 3:30 this afternoon.

It started with our helicopter tour being pushed back to the afternoon. Which meant finding something to do for the morning. We drove around to find some waterfalls.

Soooo… no waterfall. Rainbow Falls is apparently pretty nice after it’s been raining, but no rain so no water and no fall. We head back.

In our first night in Volcano I had scraped the front bumper “a bit”… We had discussed getting it repainted in Hilo since letting the rental company deal with it is invariably a bad idea. I looked up a place, called them and set up a meeting to survey the damage. It’s more money, and we’re on vacation and it’s time and… bleh.

Back to the hotel, food and off to the airport. Seconds upon reaching the airport, the lady tells us that we won’t get the “preferred seats” we had paid for.

After some concern, it turns out that we might not get the seats, depending on weight, which is fair, but it worked out well.

No doors, no glass between us and the world. Awesome. I had my 100-300mm lens on. Which was terrible for taking “expansive” photography, but great for trying to get some closer ups.

The flight was simply amazing, done with Paradise Helicopters. Miranda, again, has some great photos.

We left and dropped the car off. If you’re ever in Hilo and need some auto body work done, this evening I can highly recommend Aftermath Painting. A really friendly guy, quoted me a decent price and adjusted to my vacation schedule. On top of that, he dropped us off at our hotel. I hope his work is as good!

Feeling a hell of a lot better about the day, we met up with a friend of Miranda’s who randomly happened to be in Hilo as well! A few drinks later and we’re back at the hotel.

Watching “Bar Rescue”. Good show. Tomorrow we pick up the car and head north to Waipio valley.

Night!