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Well we are
back after two great weeks on the Big Island. We had a
tremendous trip that needs to be logged. We started
the trip by staying the first night at Uncle Billy's Kona
Coast Hotel in Kailua-Kona . It was just easier to get
a room there for the first night as after the long plane
trips of about 12 combined hours and getting the rent car, I
was not ready for a long car trip across the island.
They put us on the fourth floor which was fine for the view,
but put us as far away from the elevator as was possible.
It took about a 1 block walk to get to the elevator.
We touched base with our friend Marty and arranged to meet
for breakfast the next morning. Being dead tired by
this time we retired for the evening, falling asleep with
the Olympics on the TV.
The next morning we called Marty to tell her we were on the
way to find out she could not go to breakfast due to
illness. Plans change. We took our time getting
out of the hotel and decided we would do our shopping for
the next week while in Kailua. It was nice to visit
the Safeway we had shopped at so many times before and they
even had our shopping card still in their computer!
Next we were off to Waipio. Check in time was 2:00 pm
so to kill some time we went up to the Kalopa
State Recreation Area where we were looking for
the horse my wife had befriended when we lived in
Kailua-Kona. To her disappointment, the horse was not
there and the field looked like it was grown up and
unattended for some time, so we assumed the horse moved.
Next we were off to The Waipio Ridge Vacation Rental and
here is the view we were welcomed to:
After the stay at Waipio we moved down to Hilo
where we
stayed at the Hilo Seaside hotel. Parking was a bit of
a problem, but we were lucky every evening. The view
right outside our room was this great garden:
 
From Hilo we took day trips down to Puna
at Kalapana
where
the lava closed the highway and then back up the coast
road. This is one of the prettiest drives in the
world, in our opinion, and rivals the drive to Hana on Maui.
For more details on the drive see: A
Trip Through Puna.
We also made a couple trips to the Volcanoes National Park
up the Mauna Loa road and through the park. Also down
the Chain Of Craters Road at sundown to see if we could see
the glow where the lava enters the ocean. The lava
flow was too far away from the parking area for us to see.
For more information on the Volcanoes National Park see: Volcanoes
National Park.
Of course a must visit was to the Lili'uokalani
Gardens, a
Japanese garden built right on Hilo Bay. For a photo
tour see: Lili'uokalani
Gardens.
Another must see for us was the Hilo Zoo. The main
attraction is their white Bengal Tiger. I've not done
an essay on the Zoo as of this date, but you can get more
information at: www.hilozoo.com.
Another trip from Hilo while on the way back to Kailua-Kona
was a stop at Punalu'u
black sand beach. This is a
particularly beautiful spot and is the only black sand beach
of any size since the volcano destroyed the Kalapana black
sand beach. For a trip there see: Punalu'u.
Also on our way to Kailua-Kona we stopped by Ka Lae, or
South Point, the southern most point in the USA. I've
not written on this subject yet, but plan to in the near
future. This is thought to be where the first humans
landed on Hawaii.
Finally we were back in Kailua-Kona where we made day trips
to Koloko-Honokohau National Historical park, see: Koloko-Honokohau
National Park, the Koloko
Fish Pond. Also we stopped by Kealakekua
Bay (see: Kealakekua
Bay.) and Pu'uhonua O Honaunau (see: Puuhonua
O Honaunau and where we took
the self guided Puuhonua
O Honaunau Self Guided Walking Tour).
Another trip up to Waimea to the Parker Ranch Store to but
some stuff for the grand babies and friends. They had
some great murals in the Parker Ranch Shopping Center entry
lobby to the food court. Look for
an essay in the future. And then one last trip back to
check on the horse at Kalopa. The horse was not there,
but low and behold there were two horses there that was
friendly and cane to the fence when I whistled to them.
Barbara got to hug a horse! Just what she wanted.
Too bad they were not there when we came two weeks earlier
as we had a giant carrot. We carried that carrot
looking for a horse for several days until it started to
smell!
One evening we dined at the Kona Inn for a special meal and
I got lucky. Lucky to get out of there for under $100
that is. Another evening we were able to hook up
with Marty and eat at the Big Island Grill a new place that
took over the restaurant that used to be Verna's and before
that a Jack-In-The-Box. The food was excellent
and by the time we left, the place was packed. They
have to be the most successful restaurant at that location
so far. On yet another afternoon we picked up Marty
and went to the Dairy Queen for treats. I was wanting
to watch some bikini volleyball, but the high school team
showed up - without bikinis.
The ride back home was very exhausting even with a
tailwind. Stephen picked us up at the airport
with buddy the dog in the truck. He was very excited
to see us and I must admit we him. You know what they
say about absence and the heart.
Well we are back in Texas and have a lot of good material
for the blog, so stay tuned and check back often.
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