How to spend the last day of a rough year? It was an amazingly beautiful day.
We headed south to Kailua to the Greenwell Farms coffee plantation. Arrived right in time for a Seattle transplant to take us on a tour. They had rows and rows of coffee trees. She said some of them had been here for over 100 years, when they started the farm.
beautiful banana trees
coffee aisle
There were houses where workers lived -- coffee beans have to be hand picked. I never knew coffee beans were red. They use the whole bean -- Kona Red, an antioxidant drink, is made from the skin.
We saw the drying houses with the rolling roof. The wet house had Spanish music blasting as the helpers worked.
They had a cute little gift shop with a great view. We tried the different varieties of coffee -- dark roast, medium, etc. The Kona Red tasted like cranberry juice.
Headed north, and stopped off at the Donkey Balls store -- chocolate covered macadamia nuts. They had a great little art gallery, with mini luau pigs. The shop clerk told us about a Zen-like place to visit -- she gave me directions and spelled out the sign for me -- Pu’uhonua O Honaunau. Was she kidding? They had an amazing black and white photo compilation on aluminum (we have seen this medium a few times). It was an islander on a canoe with a whale. Our next shop was an antique store that had great little luau old drink glasses -- of course I bought four.
On the way to the harbor, I let a local turn in front of me and instead of waving he gave me the shaka :) I could live here....
At the harbor, we found Bite Me, a popular local restaurant. It reminded me of a Florida dive bar -- great red deck with picnic tables and umbrellas. Even the standard old dudes sitting at the bar. They had no fried foods. I am not a big fish eater, but am trying to modify my tastes. I tried blue marlin fish tacos (catch of the day -- this place is right beside where the fishing boats come in -- so it is fresh). They were extremely good and the Bite Me sauce was tasty. The fish had the consistency of steak. I liked it.
more Aloha cats
Even the Thank You's sound pretty - Mahalo
The restrooms were across the street (which seems to be a normal location around here). When we left a little boy was running for the restrooms.
It was such a beautiful day out and we were a little skeptical about this “Zen-like” place they had suggested. But thankfully these people were correct -- it was a place to recharge. We didn’t realize we would get to spend a few hours on a peaceful beach retreat.
Pu’uhonua O Honaunau, aka Place of Refuge, exceeded the praise we had heard. I cannot really describe this magical place. A Pu’uhonua is similar to “sanctuary” where islanders who had broken the kapu (law) could run in order to escape the punishment of death. The only way to get there was by swimming. The park service had reconstructed the temples and had set up 16 reading points to hit. While walking around, I could visualize a terrified Hawaiian scrambling up the beach exhausted by the swim. But on the beach in reality was a sea turtle enjoying the sun and warm sand.
It took us the whole time there to learn to say the name. Our park ranger, Kalehua, taught us how to pronounce the name. He was a hoot and told us some of the legends and gave us grass crickets he said he had made. Kalehua told us of his time with the Hawaiian Police and his training in California. He said his first stop was a very large mad drunk driver -- as he had never done that before Kalehua just said "Aloha" and the guy was so flustered about possibly driving all the way to Hawaii he didn't even put up a fight. Additionally the funny former policeman serenaded us with the nose flute (it must be a requirement of all park rangers in Hawaii to be able to play the nose flute). He had a great smile and quick wit.
On the way out there were signs for the Painted Church Road -- so we decided to give it a try -- another pleasant surprise:
writing on the wall
As it was so hot out, we needed a cool refreshment -- and opted for Dave’s Ice Cream. Princess was in for a treat -- she has never been able to eat ice cream at a ice cream parlor due to possible cross contamination and her peanut allergy. In Hawaii, it is a regulation to thoroughly wash the scooper after each customer.
Across the street was another antique shop -- Angel and I were in our dream shopping story -- two antique shops in one day. They had some nice things here, but I was good. Did find a pink frog made of fiberoptics, like I needed that.
Cool signs and interesting landscape decorations -- we are really looking forward to seeing a donkey cross the road.
Is this Hawaiian Vacation ???
our hotel view
We had “big” plans for New Year’s Eve so we tried to rest up before our night out on the town. We got gussied up and headed to the Hilton (huge resort). I haven’t worn a dress this short since I was in high school. Princess had some issues with her shoes.
The Hilton was all decked out for the Christmas Holidays. I particularly liked the mini Claus family with the Hawaiian outfits.
We had to tromp over a bridge of stairs to get to the ballroom area. They had some metal horses pulling a metal carriage. The ballroom area was a huge room with overly high ceilings. It looked like they could separate into 5 different rooms.
There were tons of tables set up with hats and Happy New Year tiaras. The first act was John Keawe playing his guitar. He was excellent. The dance floor was big but only children were out there. Above the dance floor was a large area with balloons waiting to be dropped. (Some of them must have fallen out already.)
The buffet was interesting -- the Portuguese chicken, rice and Hawaiian bread was good, but the other just didn’t look appetizing. Princess had the chef come out and advise her of the peanut possibilities, this might not have been a great idea.
When I came back in the “real” band had started -- always love a band with a saxophone and 70’s attired singers and band members. The dessert table was loaded but Angel and I tasted each one of them and they were awful - how can you make bad desserts.
A very pretty blonde older lady walked by in a floor length red gown. She gave us grief about us not being out on the dance floor. She had at least 15 years on us. So we decided to go with her on the next trip out. Celebration was playing by Kool and the Gang -- is this really 2011? I had flashbacks to Baylor Sing and our esteemed leader working us hard.
After taking tons of photos in front of the Tiki Gods lit up in blue, we decided maybe the Hilton wasn’t our speed. After exploring the lagoon area a little, we relocated back to the Marriott.
At our hotel, the party was on -- look what we were missing.
he had on shorts
Lost our heels and sexy dresses and found our blue jeans, sweat shirts and flip flops ready for a perfect New Year’s Eve on the beach. The beach was fairly deserted and we took over a few lounge chairs. None of my beloved fireworks, no lit up Eiffel Tower, but how often can you spend the last night of a rough year with your bare feet in the sand, your butt in a beach chair while watching the moon over the still water and the moonlight in the clouds framed by palm trees. Bliss! It’s going to be a good year.
2012 is going to rock!!!
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