Life is Easy in Sunny Kona

We're back! Most of you already know this, since we are oh - about a month late in posting about the trip. I was beginning to think we never would, but we've been so inspired by our friend's Jill and Morgan blogging about their anniversary trip to the SW (they were smart and brought a computer with them) that we are finally taking action. So we have a ton more pictures than we can fit here, so the links in the page go to more pictures. Or you can view the whole day one web photo album here. I suggest doing both.  

Life is easy in Kona. Even the end of the airplane journey had a relaxed tone, which may have something to do with the free Mai Tai they gave everyone before landing, but nonetheless I have never been to a more casual airport. It doesn't even have walls or gates. You just get off the plane on the tarmac and they open all the doors. Plus it's full of jasmine plants, the kind I've tried and not succeeded to grow in a pot at my office. The other big bonus of flying to a small airport is that our rental car agency was waiting for us with the shuttle, since ours was probably one of maybe 10 flights in a day. Amazingly, the whole arrival and rental car thing was so easy, that we were on our way to town before we were actually even scheduled to land.

We've got a few hours to kill before we can check in. Since Hawaii is 3 hours earlier than Seattle (it's 3pm to us and noon here) lunch is in order. Since Kona is home to the original Kona Brewery, it's a no-brainer as to where we are going to eat. We got a great outdoor spot and enjoyed the boldness of the mongeese and local house sparrows as they deftly steal food from diners. Charlie enjoyed a decadent club sandwich with his Longboard Lager. I felt very proud of ordering the organic Oceanic Wit with the vegan Hippie Stack Sandwich, but honestly I think he enjoyed his food a bit more than I did.

After lunch we tooled around town, enjoying the chance to stroll around and see historic sights, including the first church, King Kamehameha's compound, and Hulihee Palace. I was pleased to see the official start to the Iron Man World Championships as people were already all over town training for the event. And of course we could not pass up the chance to enjoy shave ice, especially not when "Scandinavian Shave Ice" was on offer. The Scandinavian secret is the giant scoop of Macadamia Nut ice cream in the center. Wow.

Soon it was time to do our grocery shopping and check into the condo for the evening. We could not have been more thrilled with Sea Village. That view at the top of the page really is the view from our lanai. No joke. And we had a view of the town, very pretty at night. And we could drink Kona coffee on the deck in the morning and end each day with a sunset cocktail and dip in the pool. Perfect.

So here's the thing about Kona. They aren't kidding about the sunset. Everywhere I've traveled it's always sunset, sunset, sunset and I obligingly go to check it out and then I think, obviously these people have never seen the sun set over the Olympics in Seattle. But it's the real deal in Kona, with a perfect western view of the sea, the sun sets in all it's glory for everyone to view straight on. After seeing this on our first night, we vowed to stay on Seattle time as much as possible, and do everything with the sun for the rest of the trip. Which was no problem really as I woke up at 4:30 in the morning the first few days. And yes, that is a paddleboarder in the sun ray there. Very cool.

 

Kohala Coast

Ahh. We are ending our trip in resort country. I’m hoping that finalizes our relaxation process. I don’t know if we will even leave the resort to be honest, but there are a few things around here to do if we feel up to it. Our hotel is actually located near a ancient fish ponds (read: birds) and a petroglyph field and there are free tours of it daily at 10:30, but we may be able to see this on our own schedule. Though we will be staying on a great beach for snorkeling etc, word is that Hapuna beach just up the way is the best beach on the island (and has been named by magazines as the best beach in the world), so we may want to drive up there for some of our fun in the surf. Doug said it has nice waves and to go early. I’ve also heard that it is really fun to visit all the resorts and see the grounds. The nearby Hilton has quite a lot of art and other cool stuff to see on the property. There’s a luau. Hmm. Honestly though, I am thinking of just camping at the resort beach these last precious few hours in Hawaii. Kiholo Bay is recommended for snorkeling. A water tour group is based at our hotel, so it won’t be too late to get on a boat tour. We can do a snorkel, sunset sail or rent a kayak from them.

Driving North Kohala

I’m not sure how we are going to time out things still, but regardless, we will be making this drive to get to our next hotel and there are some things I haven’t covered. First is the 4 mile scenic Onomea drive, which happens to house the Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden, which I think is going to be on my must see list. Everyone raves about What’s Shakin for lunch near the Botanical Garden as well. Laupahoehoe lookout will also be worth stopping at. Next is Tex Drive In – near where the horse tour of the Waipio Valley starts. Malasadas and Plate Lunch. Need I say more? If we don’t go on the horse tour, we should at least stop at this look out on the drive north.


Once we round the bend, about 2 hours drive from our hotel in Hilo, we’ll be in waimea – cowboy country. Waimea doesn’t have a lot for us, but it will be worth stopping and getting out of the car for. Think ranches and celebrity chefs. Odd Ralph Lauren combo. After we stretch our legs, I propose we drive the scenic route and head north on Kohala Mountain Road. The towns at the northern tip of the island are cute with shops, galleries, and a restaurant Doug really likes called Bamboo. From here we can check out King Kamehameha’s statue and the Pololu Valley Lookout (and hike?). The drive south is on the coast and features Hawaii’s largest Heiau (sharks here at sunset) and the Lapakahi State Historical Park. Other treats include the Pua Mua Palace Botanical Garden, Anuenue Ice Cream and Hamakua Macadamia Nut Factory.

It’s worth noting that we can always do this extra drive once we are checked into the hotel. Doug likes the views going in reverse. Or we could just skip it. It’d be cool to see the whole island though.

Hilo – Waterfalls and Tigers and Gardens, Oh My!

Hilo is a fairly large town, world renown for its farmer’s market. I can’t wait to see what fruits they have! But overall I think we will mostly explore this towns restaurants rather than sights. We probably will want to enjoy the Lili’uokalani Japanese Garden and adjacent Coconut Island. For a fruit picnic maybe?

Downtown, Wailoa State Park features a pretty pond, King Kamehameha Statue and an arts center. Other artsy spots include the East Hawaii Cultural Center (free) and the local gallery scene. If it’s raining, there are quite a few museums here. We will probably skip the Pacific Tsunami Museum. I don’t need to be paranoid about the weather. The Lyman Museum might be worth a look at least at the cool house it’s in. Same with the free Mokupapapa Discovery Center on coral reefs. The somewhat pricey Imiloa Astronomy Center does actually look worth the cost.

The real attractions in the Hilo area are seriously waterfalls, tigers, and gardens. In addition to the waterfall we are staying at, there are 2 more in town (Rainbow and Pee Pee Falls with Boiling Pots) and one with a great hike about outside 45 minutes north (Akaka). All are highly recommended sights. Hilo is also home to a fine zoo featuring Namaste, the white tiger. As for gardens, we already covered Lili’uokalani, in addition there’s the World Botanical Gardens and the Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden, plus Nani Mau and Pua Mau. But those are the big ones. My coworker said the Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden was her favorite sight on the island. Also apparently waterfalls and gardens equal rain. We will want to bring the Gettysburg Umbrella on this trip.

I don’t know how we are going to time our days in Hilo to include outside sights and which outside sights we’ll end up doing as we drive on. An hour and a half north of Hilo is the Waipio Valley – or Valley of Kings, it’s both gorgeous and virtually inaccessible by car. But we are thinking about trying to do the horseback tour as a way to see it. There's also a shuttle and wagon tour, but they don't come as highly recommended. I think it's going to be awfully difficult to pick and choose what we actually do, since we clearly won't have time for everything and timing things out to drive efficiently is going to be tricky too. If we do opt to do the helicopter trip to the volcano, it leaves from Hilo, so that would cut into some of our time here. Well like two hours of it.

Hilo also boasts some good eats – vanilla lunch in an orchard anyone? Sumptuous Thai takeout, great sushi, and the Seaside Restaurant overlooks a good birding pond. People rave about the plate lunch portions at Café 100 and Café Pesto is known for fresh gourmet bites. Amazingly, Ken’s House of Pancakes is frequently mentioned as a must eat. This will be pretty welcome to us after our time in South Point, where restaurants are pretty scarce and we will likely be doing all of our own cooking. I think we will want to buy a small styrofoam cooler, since I can't live on beef jerky and doritos (aka stuff we did not need to worry about spoiling in the heat) the way we did on our honeymoon. LOL! Also this prompted me to figure out how we might score lunch in the volcano area, and apparently there are quite a few options. We will still probably want that cooler.

Historic Kona

Kona and the area to the south are well known for Hawaiian historical sights. There are two main museums run by the Kona Historical Society, including a coffee museum. The main museum features a historic store and a Portuguese stone oven.

The most significant historic spot we won't want to miss is the Place of Refuge, which is now a national park. The park system describes its significance as a place where all Hawaiians could come to seek sanctuary. It also includes royal grounds, an historic village, and the site where criminals were punished. One cool thing the park features is an audio tour available by phone.





North of the Kailua-Kona town is Kaloko-Honokohau National Historic Park, which is the remains of an ancient fishing settlement. Many of the aquaculture ponds are still in tact, so I think this might be a good birding spot.


We also might want to stop by the Painted Church while we are in coffee country. It's named for the paintings adorning the inside walls, painted by the original father of the church, the church was built in 1899 and is very pretty on the outside as well. A Hawaiian blogger has written about this historic area in detail. He describes a cool petroglyph area near the Keauhou resorts, but it sounds like the tide makes them difficult to see. There's also Captain Cook's monument, but the hike sounds like an ordeal. You can see it from one of the snorkel tours I mentioned before.

Kailua-Kona

We spend our first 3 nights just south of Kailua-Kona.

This area is the main population center of the island. We probably won't spend a lot of time in this town except when we arrive we will do our shopping here and may have dinner or lunch on occasion. We'll be in a condo, so we'll want to pick up some groceries in town. There's a costco! And safeway of course. And i think a farmer's market.

Here's a cute little map of the centro:


Thoughts about how to spend our first day:
Arrive around noon, get the rental car, get lunch at Kona Brewing Co inside the North Kona Shopping Center on the map. We'll need to do some grocery shopping, then check into hotel.

We will probably want to walk around town a bit. The brewery has a tour at 3pm. The fishermen return to the pier at 4pm.

Doug's comments on Kona town:
Kitschy, but worth walking around and seeing palace, Royal Kona Resort is a good place to grab a mai tai on the deck. Huggo's is good for seafood at sunset.

Guidebook's comments on Kona town:
Try to see Hulihee Palace (free hawaiian concert here on Aug 22, go back?), Moku'aikaua Church, and the Ahu'ena Heiau. See palace and church right.

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This map shows where the Sea Village is at (to the left of the circled one), just south of the town on Ali'i Drive in between a bunch of other resorts: