A Walk to the Post Office (Part II)

Continuing down Old Volcano Road we get to what would be down town if Volcano were that big....but it's not.

First we get to the "lower store."
This has Kiluea General store, supplying some food and supplies, beer & wine, the only movie rental in town, and a gas station.
Attached, is the Lava Rock Cafe. They have good home-style meals. They may not knock your socks off, but when you've been on vacation and want a real, unpretentious meal, they do the job.
Last I checked, there is also a take out pizza place.

Moving down the road is the "Village Center."
The hardware store has saved me from many trips to Kea'au (18 mi.) or Hilo (30 mi.).
They can be out of things you expect them to have (a spray bottle) but really come through with something you hope, but don't expect, to find (exceptional screw selection).
A gift shop upstairs provides t-shirts and other odds and ends visitors might want to bring home.
The laundry mat in the back is the only one in town and has saved Mark and I from many smelly day on past trips.

The key stone for us, however, is Thai Thai. Our absolute favorite Thai restaurant.
It's awesome. We are working on building up our reputation so they believe us when we say we want it "hot." We have had dishes there that had us weeping from the heat. Yum.
Thai Thai isn't open for lunch, so Bandit and I continue towards the Post Office.

The "upper store" is The Volcano Store. A good place to stop by when you run out of milk or beer.
Next to them is Kiawe Kitchen. It is the newest restaurant in town. We have not been yet.
According to its sign, it has wood fired pizza and other Italian dishes.

Just past this is our destination: The U.S. Post Office.
I make these frequent trips to the Post Office because there is no mail delivery in our area. We are on the long list of folks vying for a PO Box. Various accounts have the waiting period being anywhere from four months to over a year. We have heard from one unlucky fellow that if Patrick, the post master, doesn't see you for a while you can be removed from the list. My frequent trips will prevent that. I go so often they may give me a PO Box just to stop having to get my mail for me.

Oh, so the mail thing. Stuff gets sent "General Delivery." This is a totally foreign concept to almost everyone, so much so that sometimes people are unwilling to send stuff to us. I think its the simplicity of the system that throws people. Our mail shows up at the Post Office. They sort it by last name. I show up and ask for our mail. They go to the "C" and "S" cubbies and hand it over. It seems to work quite well.

Bandit waits patiently outside. I know some of you will be skeptical of this comment, but he's been quite good. I tie him to this tree and he just stands there until I come back out and take him on the rest of his walk.




Today's bounty includes the semi-monthly newsletter from Volcano Art Center, a junk mail loan offer forwarded from our Oakland address, and our latest Netflix movie.

Now that I have the mail, I head home...