Kilauea Military Camp

...Continued from 4/27/2017:

 On Wednesday evening, April 19,  we arrived on Hawaii, The Big Island, at the Hilo Airport ,

​...from whence we two oldsters drove off in this snazzy Mustang (apparently they were all out of the economy subcompact style that  we'd ordered),

...to our lodgings about 40 minutes away  at Kilauea Military Camp,

​...an American Army post used for training purposes and also offering, like the Hale Koa in Honolulu,  recreational lodging to active duty and retired military personnel and their families.

  The camp, known locally as KMC, is named after Kilauea, the giant active volcano on the rim of which the camp is located  and the natural wonder we’d come to The Big Island to see.

     Upon arriving at KMC we headed for the Welcome Center, which indeed felt very welcoming,

…and was hung with photos of the camp from times gone by,

…including this shot of General Dwight D. Eisenhower, a cigarette dangling from his hand. ​

      After we'd registered and received the keys to our quarters we hurried to catch dinner at the Crater Rim Café, the camp dining facility,

…connected to the Lava Lounge.

     As with the rest of this area of Hawaii, at Kilauea Military Camp it’s all about volcanoes.

     The dinner fare at the Crater Rim Café,

​…with its friendly staff and eclectic décor,

…consisted of a couple of prix fixe menu choices, either the salad bar or the expanded salad/baked potato-and-or rice/ice-cream bar,

…to which could be added an entree item from the short-order grill.

      I had salad and a baked potato smothered in mushrooms (forgoing the butter, cheese, sour cream, bacon and other potato possibilities), while Tom had the same to which he added  a piece of fire-grilled salmon, which he pronounced delicious.
     After dinner we headed to our quarters, a small but more-than-adequate apartment consisting of:

…a living room,

...a bedroom,

​...and a bathroom.

     Our apartment was one of a row of apartments  in an updated pre-World War II building, likely a barracks at one time.

     The view from our door:

​     The morning after we arrived we took a little walk around the camp.

     The PX,

...the post office,

...the theater,

​...the recreation center,

..the one-pump gas station,

​...and the cottages -probably officers' quarters in the past -  that were also available for lodging,

...each one of which had pretty stained glass windows in the back with an Island motif.

     Then we headed back over to the Crater Rim Cafe for some breakfast,

...where we learned from the local newspaper that we had the good fortune to be on The Big Island for the week of the Merrie Monarch Festival, a celebration of Hawaiian culture throughout the Islands, but especially on The Big Island and in Hilo, where hula competitions are held nightly.

    I was thinking that it would be neat to drive back to Hilo some night during our stay to watch the hula competition but I was told by one of the local residents that people come from all over the world to watch the competitions, that tickets must be purchased well in advance, and that everybody watches the evening competitions on TV, which is what we ended up doing, too.
     Then after breakfast we climbed back into our Mustang and set out to the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park to see us some volcanoes.
     To be continued...