The Big Island Trip (Part 3)

Here we are, our final installment of the Big Island trip (who knew a five day trip would require such a long description?:)).

When I last left off, we were just leaving the Volcano Park/cabin stay after two nights, and then we headed to the city of Hilo, which is on the eastern side of the island. Kate is the ultimate expert on Hilo because this is where she spent her childhood, so per her suggestion, we stopped at the Liliokalani gardens and Coconut Island on Hilo Bay, which has the best view of the city. here are a couple shots of Coconut Island . . .

After driving through Hilo for a bit longer, soaking up the nostalgic feel of the city, we continued to drive north along the Hamakua coast, where we made a few sight-seeing stops. First we stopped at this turn-out for a beautiful view of this bay . . .

Then we stopped at Akaka Falls State Park (also one of Kate's picks), for a short hike to Akaka Falls and Kahuna Falls, and as you can see, the hike was damp and jungle-ish, but very breathtaking. The kids were so excited that they not only got to see a volcano on this trip, but they also got to see REAL waterfalls . . . Dora and Diego would definitely approve.




Next on Kate's itinerary was a stop on the north shore, in a small town called Honoka'a, at Tex's Drive-In, specifically for malasadas (which as I've mentioned in a previous post are a Portuguese donut). It just happened to be lunch time, so we grabbed some yummy food (which included purple potato chips, I kid you not), and we topped off the meal with some delicious Bavarian cream and chocolate-filled malasadas. And I have to admit, they were the best malasadas I've ever had in my one short year of malasada experience. Brian likes malasadas as greasy as anyone can possibly make them, so these particular ones were way to light and fluffy for him . . . but I'm not as big a fan of the grease, so to me, these were perfection, especially with the creamy center. Yum.

After our meal, we stopped at Waipio Valley, which way back when was home to Hawaiian royalty. It too was very beautiful.

We continued our drive along the northern coast, and once we reached the western side of the island, we started heading south again towards the resort we were going to be staying at for a few days. Kate told us that Haupuna Beach Park was one of the most beautiful white sand beaches around, and boy was she right. This picture definitely doesn't do it justice.

We finally arrived at the Hilton Waikaloa Village Resort, which is perhaps one of the largest resorts I've ever seen. It was so big that they you need to take a train or boat to get from one end to the other, unless you were in the mood to hike a LONG way. Our room was huge, probably the biggest hotel room I've ever been in (yes, I'm still a hick), and it was quite plush and very comfortable. The resort boasted several swimming pools and hot pools, endless lagoons filled with colorful tropical fish, an animal sanctuary with turtles and geese, a flamingo sanctuary, a dolphin center with about six dolphins, twenty some restaurants, and tons of other stuff.

For any die-hard "Dog the Bounty Hunter" folks out there (which may be none of you), this is the spot where Dog and his wife got married on one of their episodes . . . she came down these steps and he approached the platform by boat.

A resident dolphin . . .
The second day we were there, we spent most of the day down by one of the pool areas, which not only had a large regular pool with waterfalls, but they also had a large "sand pool" especially for kids.

Not a happy camper . . .

The flamingo sanctuary . . .

We spent most of our last three days right there at the resort, and we spent our last afternoon exploring the town of Kona some more.

So there you have it, that was our trip. It was definitely worth the time and money to go, and I would HIGHLY recommend the Big Island to anyone who asks. It is a very spectacular and unique place, unlike anything you will ever see.

I must send a shout out to Kate for all her good advice and suggestions . . . if the whole professor thing doesn't work out, you could always consider a career as a travel agent. :) Thanks Kate!