After our night with the coqui frogs, we awoke to silence. The water pressure in this hotel was awesome (always a huge plus in my book). Lily and Princess somehow got motivated and got ready first and went to explore. Angel and I were trying to make sure all our purchases fit in our suitcases. When will we learn -- pack a half full suitcase and just buy it when we get there. It happens every time. L and P brought us apple bananas they picked from the tree downstairs.
As we were planning on hiking we dressed in jeans and had our sweatshirts out. We went down to explore also -- connected to the hotel is a rainforest garden. There is a small waterfall and river. It felt like I was in the movie set for “Honey, I Shrunk the Kids”. The banana trees were massive. There were beginning ferns and even gifts to the Hawaiian gods.
Luckily, we fit everything back in the vehicle. (Despite our new purchases.) We stopped for gas -- $4.13 a gallon, so glad it’s not that expensive where we live.
Sights in Hilo:
it's advertised
downtown Hilo and their magnificent tree
Look it's a Mary Kay boat -- wonder how much makeup you have to sell to get that one
the only place they won't sell you something in Hawaii
Even though we had driven the road at least 4 times, we failed to see the statue of King Kamehameha. So of course, we stopped and took pictures. People had left offerings, we had nothing to leave.
There were some folks out protesting -- “We were fired for being a hunter”. They didn’t say what they were hunting for or who they worked for -- does the protest work if you don’t know why they are protesting?
Had to eat and we went for the best breakfast in town -- Ken’s Diner (yes, from last night). No, none of us ordered the Sumo Breakfast but we did have a better view this morning of the Sumo wrestler.
didn't get the Spam option nor the blood sausage
Angel doesn’t like breakfast food, but it’s mine and Princess’ favorite meal of the day. I could eat breakfast food three times a day. Princess had the Belgian Waffles (all on the side). I had the standard eggs but here you get rice in place of hash browns or grits -- you put soy sauce on it. Their pancakes were awesome - I hadn’t had pancakes in almost a year -- yummy. We ordered a side of pineapple -- and were appalled when Wilma, our 70 + year old waitress, brought out “canned round with a hole in the middle slices”. Needless to say, those went untouched, ugh -- it should be against the law.
Found the highway out of town and there was a great shop on the road -- Poke your way (it’s a local fish). Couldn’t get a photo as there was a traffic jam. Princess and Lily read aloud the information about the Volcano from the Big Island Revealed tour book while we roadtripped.
We stopped in Volcano Village at the Quilter’s Shop and found the coolest green fuzzy Hawaiian print blanket and some awesome local paintings on black velvet - no, there wasn’t an Elvis painting but it would have been cool if they had one.
Lava Rock Cafe (a take off of the Hard Rock Cafe) was there and the local general store. They even had Kix cereal (didn’t know they still made that) -- local jellies and jams here too. A few tour buses came by and this was one of the set stops.
Made it to Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park -- it was very windy and we needed those sweatshirts. Not as many people as we expected there. And with the travel gods still on our side we arrived 10 minutes before a park ranger tour -- the foliage/local wildlife/summit tour.
It took us a few minutes to get this one
what a cute ride
Met Ranger Travis Delmont, a young local, for our tour. He was born and raised in Puna (where we found out later was the hippie haven -- with the locals called Punatics). He was a good hearted kid.
He had a photo book that he could flip for us. While at our first stop he explained about the local trees and birds. It was very funny when he said that new species got to Hawaii by the three “W”s -- wind, water and wings (we thought wind and wings would be the same thing). We got the whole explanation of the new species adaption to the environment and the diseases -- for someone who is not that into science, it was fascinating.
We continued on the path, but it looked like a road. I thought maybe for park vehicles - like mules. Travis showed us photos of this road - Crater Rim Drive and the damage from the 1983 6.6 magnitude earthquake. There was a huge dropoff into the crater. The path was the road and you could see the damage. The deserted broken up parking lots and the overgrown faded speed limit signs felt like we were in a post apocalyptic movie.
We went to the overlook and Travis sat us down and told us some of the legends of Pele and her love interests -- I think it would be bad for a woman to be the god of the volcano. She even turned one of her interests into a tree -- the Ohi’a Lehua -- they have the beautiful red prickly flowers. Ohia rejected her in favor of his true love and Pele turned him into the tree and his true love, Lehua, missed him so much the gods of the trees turned her into the flower on the tree. Legend goes if you pick the flower it will rain because of her tears from being separated from him.
Travis then played the nose flute for us. The locals believe the breath from your mouth is not good because your mouth utters ugly words. But the breath from your nose is pure and is your breath of life. The nose flute is one of the ways the Hawaiian men woo their ladies. I thought is was a very romantic notion. Trees that cry and the breath of life. Gotta love the islands.
We were able to see out to the volcanic crater and the steam that was coming out of the earth. The air here felt different than in Hilo. The steam dissipates a few miles away, but you can still feel it. There were people hiking along the caldera floor, hum, Moana Loa is due to erupt any minute now as it is overdue, walk along the floor not near a vehicle.....Oh, yeah Travis had left his radio too. So we were out on the volcanic overlook and had no connection to the outside world.
see those people
There was an old hotel being restored at the edge. It had an adirondack feel to it. Had the best view of the caldera and crater. Along the path back there was a steam vent. At another overlook a Japanese lady in a pink velour jumpsuit was chanting to Pele.
just a little odd
After finishing at the crater, we ended up at the Volcano Art Gallery. It was located in one of the older buildings on the grounds and they had wonderful pieces. Found a dear friend a beautiful pink paperweight. There were photographs of the lava flows, handmade jewelry and large net sculptures. Angel found some beautiful orchid earrings that she purchased and wore everyday.
so is it only in this gallery you have financial responsibility for your children?
loved this piece, especially with the light behind it
primo is a local beer
one of my favorite quotes of his
Pele
We headed out and hadn’t eaten lunch yet. There wasn’t a lot along this road -- but we found the R&G Minimart -- it was one of the smallest convenience stores I have ever seen. Lots of Japanese foods -- even dried cuttlefish (wonder what that tastes like). There were folks there sending money home via Western Union. It was a very desolate area.
look another Hawaiian artifact
Our next stop was the Black Beach. Like the Northern California coast - this is a violent coast also. No recreational swimming here unless you have a death wish. The lava rocks make it a very dramatic coast. The black sand feels different than the gulf coast sand I am used to. There was a guy out there making and selling grass hats. But we were surprised and quite disturbed with the sculpture we found nearby.
another Hawaiian Legend
On our continued journey to the Kona area, we passed lots of lava rock -- Lily asked the pertinent question -- I spy something black. It was a very dark landscape -- lots of different shades - from black to brown and some green thrown in where a few trees had started to grow.
Princess and I stopped and took pictures of the sunset over the lava rocks -- you couldn’t really take a photo of how pretty it was.
We finally made it to the Kona area -- saw a buffalo in a fenced area -- I guess he got here by water. The roads were very windy and had a nonexistent shoulder. It had gotten dark and there was a ratty old truck in front of us with a Hawaiian in the back sitting with a towel over him -- it had started to rain too. We were so happy to see civilization after a few hours of lava rock fields. There were lights all over the mountain and in front of us. We were dying for the restroom and stopped at the Walmart (we were desperate). It is always interesting to see Walmarts in different places -- they sell fireworks here -- lots of them. We were impressed with the cleanliness and modernity of the Walmart bathroom.
It was still about another 30 minutes to Waikoloa to our resort area. Passed quite a few hitchhikers and lots of cars out on this side of the island. Finally got to the Marriott Resort. Our bellmen collected our luggage and we got settled.
one of the many Christmas trees
Due to our long drive/day, we decided to eat in the hotel's fancy restaurant. We lucked into 50% off Thursdays. They seated us on the lanai under the stars. There was a band playing in the connected bar and you could hear the surf too. It was a tad bit cool but perfect otherwise. We enjoyed Maui Onion soup, salads and steaks. Then we got the sampler dessert platter and an extra pineapple upside down cake. Delicious.
All of a sudden, I felt a little kiss on my arm and a tug on my shirt -- a small boy of about 3 was at our table entertaining us. He was kissing us all on our arms (that’s as far as he could reach). He was a little doll. He was very funny and wanted to join us. His mother came over and told us he was half French and half Italian -- he was going to be a true charmer when he got older with that dangerous combination.
You forgot to mention- the fact that I am allergic to all types of nuts. The 20 year old waiters response was to ask "all nuts" my reply "yes all nuts." He laughed so hard I thought he would never stop. After a few minutes the whole table got his joke.
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