2019 November - Day 04 Big Island Hawaii - What to do?

Today was an interesting and long day.  First, we were informed by our AIRBNB host that we could not stay until 5 PM.  The house cleaner apparently needed to come earlier.  So we had to be out by 2 PM.  Not too big of a deal.  But it did cause us to try and figure out what to do for 3 more hours.

The first item of the day was to get up and get all packed.  After doing that, we headed to the temple to attend the 10 AM session.   The temple, both outside and in, is very beautiful (as are all LDS temples).  We really enjoyed the session.

After the temple, we returned to the BNB and changed our clothes and ate some left overs for lunch.  Denise did not eat much as she still needed to check off the Loco Moco food item.  Anyway, we left around 1 PM or a little after and headed up the north west coast to check out a few beaches.  My sister’s ex brother-in-law owns a condo up there.  We kind of wanted to see what it was like there.  The drive was about 20 miles (40 minutes)...have I said what crazy speed limits they have here and how slow everyone drives?!?!?  I just get so frustrated being in a 45 mph zone on a two lane highway and two cars blocking both lanes are going 40 mph.  It is nuts!  Anyway, the coast line looks a lot like the moon again...lots of lava rock landscape.  We did not find it so pretty.  However, we did pass by some nice, sandy, beaches that were in the resort areas.  We actually got out of the car at Beach 69.  It was interesting as it was amazingly shady.  The trees went down almost to the water.  So if you were not a sun seeker but loved the ocean...this would be perfect.

While we were driving back, my sister called us.  We had been texting here asking questions about beaches and this area.  Turns out we were at the exact area where Spencer’s condo was.  It was a really nice area that had a very nice ‘mall’....Queens Market it was called.  Shelley said we could find a food court there...which we did.  And yes, Denise found a Hawaiian BBQ that had Loco Moco.  But instead of having the ‘standard’ Loco Moco with a hamburger patty, she had the Kailua Pork on it instead.  It was really good.  Not very healthy...but good.

By now it was a little after 3 PM.  And we had plans to see the movie Judy that started at one of the theaters at 5:10 PM.  As it turned out, the darn theater was on the complete opposite end of Kona.  And our darn GPS was taking us to odd places and my gas was beginning to run low.  In the end, we arrived at the theater at 4 PM, bought tickets and wondered what the heck we were going to do for the next hour.  So what did we do?  We went to the Long’s Drug store and wandered around.  I lasted about 10 minutes there and then headed out to just walk around the parking lot.  Eventually we ended back up in the theater (that was empty) with the guys at the concession counter dinging us to buy popcorn, candy or sodas.  At one point, I asked the kid if he made his money on commissions.  He laughed and said he was new and just trying to impress his new bosses.  We never bought anything...too full and way too expensive.

The movie (Judy) was about Judy Garland.  Kind of a depressing show.  But the actress playing her (Renee Zelleweger) will probably get the Oscar for her performance.  It was impressive.  We were out of the show by 7:30 PM.  Our plane to SFO was at 10:30 PM.  I still needed to get gas and we needed to return the rental car around 8 PM.  Earlier, when looking for gas stations, my GPS showed Costco having gas for $3.09 per gallon.  I would say the average price in Kona was $4.00 per gallon.  So I called Costco because a) we did not have our card and b) wanted to know how much gas was...and indeed it was $3.09!  Almost a dollar difference.  So off we went to Costco to figure out how to buy it without a card.  Denise could show her electronic card but the gas pumps do not have the means to recognize that.  Denise also wanted her glasses fixed at their optical department.  Well...it all worked out.  We bought a gift card to use for gas.  Denise got her glasses fixed (really nice gal worked with her on that).  And we handed in the rental car at the airport around 8:30 PM.  Not bad.

I am now writing this from the SFO airport.  Our 5 hour flight went well arriving in SFO at 5:30 AM PST.  We immediately went to get some breakfast using our Priority Pass.  We can spend up to $58...which we did.  Crazy huh?!?!  But what a good deal for us and the food was pretty good.  Now we hope we can get on the same plane but it looks like we might have to split up.  Fortunately, the next plane has enough seats to get us home.  We should be back in SLC by 2 PM.

It has been a really fun trip.  Much more so than I thought it would be.  I’d love to come back to this island and just enjoy it again....maybe stay on the Hilo side.  Who knows.  We’ll see where our next adventure takes us....until then!

Pictures:

Food Court at WaiaKola (something like that!)

Queens Marketplace at WaiaKola

Entry at Queens Market at Waikoloa Resort 

Yesterday at the beach....headed to get a shaved ice!

Outside waiting area at the airport.  They have no inside waiting area.  Pretty interesting...

This is where they let the Denver Broncos cross the road when they come to the Big Island.  I guess they run free over here as we saw a number of Denver Bronco crossing signs!

The grass parking lot by our BNB...

The Kona Temple...

Loco Moco...sorry the picture is sideways.

Beach 69....Northwest on Big Island.

The shady area of Beach 69....

Shaved ice with ice cream buried on the bottom....

Happy shaved ice consumers...

Our first and only Poke Bowl...so good.  We were licking our fingers.  It was calle Da Avo as it was in a Avocado Aioli sauce.  The Ahi Tune as amazing.  And you also see fried rice and macaroni salad...staples here.

The shaved ice truck....

The door into our BNB.

The moon landscape....

Tough selfie to get it all in.  Arms not long enough...but having a good time.  Great way to end this blog!

2019 November - Day 03 Big Island Hawaii - Beaches!

November 4, 2019

Today was to be our lazy day.  And it king of was although we were out of the BNB by 8:30 AM to head south to a beach I wanted to snorkel at.  Unfortunately, I did not sleep well.  So I woke up around 4:30 AM and struggled to fall back into a deep sleep.  I think the neighbors rooster had the same sleep issue except that he was very vocal about it.  They start making noise really early over here.

For breakfast, we just had frozen chocolate milk and some pastries I bought the other night.  The milk froze a bit in the refrigerator.  I turned it down a bit.  But the pastries were good.

We headed out to ‘two step’ beach.  There is a Hawaiin name for it.  I don’t remember it.  Just google ‘Two Step’ and it will come up.  It is named that for the fact that there is a place in the lava rock where two steps are formed and it is fairly easy to get into the water.  The beach there was all lava rock.  And parking was extremely limited.  However, the snorkeling was really, really good.  Very clear waters that were pretty deep and lots of nice marine life.  This is also a place where scuba divers shore dive.  And there were few coming and going.  I asked how it was and they said pretty good.  They said if you went far enough out the coral came to a shelf and dropped 100 feet to a sandy bottom.  I never went that far to see that.   We stayed there til about 11 AM or a little after and then decided to head towards the next beach.  

As we drove, we started to feel hunger pains.  So along the road way, we looked for eateries that looked appealing.  We ended up at Keola Fish and Chip place.  it was really interesting...in a nice way.   A single order of fish and chips was $16.  But, we shared it and the portion was more than enough for both of us.  The prices are high....but the portions over here are huge.  I want to go to a Taco Bell or McDonalds to see what their prices are like.  We did stop at Walmart so Denise could get a hat and a small sewing kit since one of her swimsuits started to come apart.  Walmarts are the same all over the world!  Anyway, this fish place was up on the hill with a nice garden area where we ate.  Nothing fancy at all.

After lunch, our next stop was Kahalu’u Bay to do some more snorkeling.  This is in the more touristy area...but still south of Kona.  It is a nice bay.  But very wavy.  People surf on the north side.  Others snorkel on the south side.   This was also lava rocky and much more shallow.  But there were fish everywhere feeding on the coral rocks.   So it was fun to chase them around as you fought the strong surf coming in and out.  I really love being in the ocean.  I’m always amazed how buoyant you are.  I just float with all this flab on me.  

After snorkeling, we have been just chilling in the shade people watching and enjoying the crashing sounds of the surf.  I’m now writing this portion of my blog to get it done.  I think Denise is tired of me blogging as it takes at least an hour each day to drop my thoughts, add pictures and so on.  But I think someday, it will be a great memory to my kids and others of the wonderful adventures Denise and I had while on this earth together.  We have been truly blessed with the equal desire to see as much of this world as we possibly can.  And we are equally blessed to have the means to do so periodically.  I can see it in my children the same desire to see the world.  But I have to remind them that we had to wait a bit until we put the more important priorities in life first (Family, Careers, etc.).

Once we leave here, it is our plan to go back to the BNB and shower and get ready to go have a nice dinner somewhere here in Kona.  We plan to come back a bit earlier than normal to just have a chill night in our BNB.  We might watch a few of our shows that we’ve recorded and downloaded.  Who knows.  But isn’t that what vacations should be.  And honestly, in 72 hours, we have covered this island pretty darn good.  Sure, there is a ton more to see and probably do.   But the highlights...we’ve hit them.

Tomorrow, we plan to go to the Temple and do a session there...probably around 10 AM.  We then will come back, put on some beach wear and head north to the beaches north of Kona.  We have not been there.  We will have to be back to our BNB by 3:30 PM to get cleaned up and out of there by 4 PM’ish.  Our BNB host (Lani) has graciously allowed us to extend our check out time to 5 PM.  The plan is to go to the movies, get some dinner and then end up at the airport to catch a 10:30 PM flight home to SFO and then to SLC.  If all goes well, we could be back in SLC at noon on Wednesday morning.  But who knows...we’ll see.

More to come!!!  Pictures:

Enjoying her little pond at Two Step Beach...

Enjoying her shade at the other beach...you spell it!

Two Step Beach....all lava rock as you can see.

Our table for lunch....

Two Step Beach....

Funny story with this....we entered here for Two Step Beach.  After leaving and sitting at the Fish and Chips place, Denise said, “There was this historical place I wanted to go to...maybe we can go tomorrow.”  After researching, this was the place.  We did not go into the National Park as we went to the beach.  In the end, we decided not to go back.  We’ll come back someday.

The roadway rock work...sorry that it is sideways.

2019 November Day 02 Big Island Hawaii - Church, Waterfalls and Volcanoes

November 3, 2019

We decided last night that we would attend a 10 AM church service in Waimea.  This was in the direction that we wanted to go to see rain forrests and waterfalls over by Hilo.  So to get there by 10, we had to leave around 9 AM'ish.  Upon entering the chapel, we were greeted with paper Lei's (things around your neck) to welcome us as visitors.  When the meeting started, we looked around and half the folks in attendance had lei's around their necks.  Lots of visitors.  Not surprising in the Hawaiinislands.

After church, we darted out and on our way to Akaka Waterfalls.  On the way, I found a small road that looked barren where I could pull off and change my clothes.  I pulled in front of a road that led to some farm.  As we did that...a heard of chickens came running down the road towards us.  They wanted to watch me undress I guess.  It was funny.  I changed quickly and off thoAkaka we went.  We found it easily.  It is a LARGE waterfall.  There was a path that led around it that we walked.  The forest was cool and nice in the shade...hot and muggy in the sun.  Fortunately, most of it was in the shade.  It was up and down a bit.  Not too bad.  Lots of pictures there.  Very nice.

It was about 12:30 PM by then and I was getting hungry.  So we headed into Hilo and found a highly rated Hawaii Plate lunch place.  It was called Hawaiin Style Cafe Hilo.  We found it easily and it was crowded.  We decided to wait the 30 minutes and it was worth it.  The plates were huge.  Fortunately we shared one.  Katsu chicken, some kind of beef, macaroni salad and big scoops of rice.  All very yummy!  Glad we shared a plate.  More than enough.  After lunch, we headed to another water fall called Rainbow falls.  This was about 5 minutes from where we ate our lunch.  Really close.  It was beautiful too...but not nearly as large as Akaka falls.  In both cases, I was wishing that we could get down to the pools and swim.  It was prohibited in both places.

After Rainbow falls, we decided to go down to Volcanos National Park.  We were going to make the long drive there on Tuesday.  Glad we did it today.  It was only about 30 minutes from Hilo.  And, it was worth the 30 minute trip...not sure it would have been for a 2 hour trip from Kona.  The park has lots shut down to the eruptions that happened a while back.  Nonetheless, it was cool to see the huge craters there.  We were up high and steam cracks were billowing up steam all over the place.  Hard to believe that we were standing in a volcano.

At the end of our volcano tour, we headed back to our BNB in Kona.  About a 1.75 hour drive.  As we came out of the park and headed up the high way, I noticed some large black things moving on the side of the road.  As I got closer, it turned out to be 4 wild pigs!  I passed and then turned around to go back and get pictures.  As I pulled off the road, a stream of cars passed close to them and spooked them.  We tried to get pictures...but none turned out good.  We decided to go back through Hilo and then take the 'Saddle Road' to get over to the Kona side, west side, of the island.  That was a heck of trip.  You climp up so high...your ears keep popping.  At points, it felt like we were driving in the clouds as they would come and go making it feel foggy.  The road to Maune Kea was closed from there.  But there was a bunch of tents...a tent city all around that road.  Not sure why.  I'll have to research it out.  But it was really a neat ride home from Hilo to there.  

To conclude the day, we found a Thai food eatery, ate some expensive Thai food and now we are back in our humble BNB getting ready to post this and then go to bed.  The name of the eatery was Original Thai Cuisine.  It was real close to the temple.  There are lots of eateries near the Kona Temple.  Tomorrow is a laid back beach day of snorkeling and sun.

Pictures:

Rainbow Falls....

Steam Vents in Volcano National Park

Rainbow falls

The volcanic crater

Flora in the crater...

The ceiling of the chapel in Waimea

The saddle road back to Kona...traveling in the clouds.

Akaka Falls

Volcano Caldera

Akaka Falls

Happy travelers grateful no seismic activity is occurring.

Driving through the clouds on the saddle road back to Kona from Hilo.

 

Being attacked by chickens while changing by clothes.

2019 November - Day 01 Big Island Hawaii - Green and Black Sand Beaches

November 2, 2019

We arrived a day late to the Big Island due to not being able to get on the plane yesterday.  I had a seat.  Denise did not.  So we ended up getting a hotel room and then catching an 8:30 AM flight to Kona.  However, on Friday, between landing in SFO and our flight to Kona (that we did not get on), Kami came over and got us and took us to the marina where her cruise ship is moored.  I had never been there before.  Both her and her boy friends boats are really nice.  Two bedrooms, two baths and nice areas to hang out in.  We were there about an hour and a half before we came back to the airport.  She is about 10 minutes away.

We arrived in Kona around 10:30 AM.  Not too bad.  We would have been at the temple until almost noon anyways.  After getting a rental car from Enterprise, we headed to our BNB.  It was real close...just up the mountain and a bit south.  Maybe 10 minutes max.  We unpacked our stuff and then decided that we would head south down to the southern tip of the island.  We stopped at a sandwich shop called Poi Dog Deli.   The sandwiches there were about $15.  So we split one.  It was pretty skimpy for the price.  But it was good.  Unfortunately we did not see that the ham and pineapple sandwich also had jalapeños on it.  Made it hot.

Our drive south was about a 1.5 hours long on some narrow roads.  The drivers here are opposite than Utah drivers.  If it says 35 MPH...they go 30 and stay in the fast lane when there are two lanes.  And yes, they have roads with two lanes each way that have 35 MPH zones.  It is pretty nuts.  Anyway, down at the southern tip were two beaches that we wanted to see...Green and Black sand beaches.  We decided to go to the Green Sand beach as it was said that we had to walk 2.5 miles, one way to get to the beach.  But we had heard, however, that there were people who would drive you down.  We arrived there around 3:30 PM.  It was hot.  The parking lot was dirty.  People were getting into their cars and we asked them about the hike.  They were clear...DON'T DO IT!. PAY THE MONEY.  Yes, there were people, homeless looking people with beat up trucks, suburbans, SUV's and ATV's taking people.  A gal and her boyfriend said it was their turn to take people in.  We asked how much.  $20 per person for a round trip ride and 45 minutes messing around on the beach.  And based upon what we were hearing...the decision was a no brainer.  We said...let's do it.  It turned out, with another couple from Switzerland, we got into the back of a beat up pick truck with bars all around to hold on to.  I sat on the floor.  But the gal said that I was going to want to stand up.  She was right.  I have never taken a ride like that before.  To go the 2.5 miles, it took 20 minutes for that truck to grind over a terrain that looked like the moon (lava rocks) and dirty trails.  Super large pot holes, hills to climb and so on.  I was sweating when we arrived because of the intense grip I had on the poles and trying to remain standing as they 4-wheeled over this path.  Now, the beach was pretty nice.  Yes the sand was green.  There are only two in the world like this beach.  We had to walk down a bit to get to the beach.  But I had my shirt and shoes off and into the ocean.  Home again.  It felt so good.  The waves were pretty rough however...surf was coming in.  Nonetheless, it was great...felt so good.  After our 30+ minutes, off we were with the moon rover taking us back over this crazy landscape.  We were SO GLAD that we did not walk that.  We would have gotten lost and we'd probably still be walking!

After Green Sand beach, we headed to the Black Sand beach.  It was another 20 minutes or so up the highway once we got back to the highway.  The Green Sand beach parking lot was about 11 miles from the highway.  Anyway, the Black Sand beach was easy to get to.  It was pretty actually.  Yes...it was all black sand.  Much more course of sand than that at Green Sand beach.  We did not stay long here.  Just took some pictures and then turned the car back towards Kona.  

We arrived back north of Kona and decided to find the temple.  Our BNB is about 5 miles from the temple.  It was a pretty siteto see all lit up at night.  We arrived there around 7 PM.  Getting to it is somewhat odd as it is at the end of a dead end street.  I've never seen that before.  We hope to do some temple work on Tuesday before we leave that day.

For dinner, we went to Denny's.  Yep...Denny's.  We were tiredand it was the only obvious thing.  I was told by my sister to try the Loco Moco.  And sure enough Denny's had it.  Pork Fried rice, a big burger patty on top, with a fried egg on top of the patty all buried in brown gravy.  It also had onions and other assorted vegetables.  It was really good.  I could not eat it all and took half home for breakfast.  Denise had some crazy good pancakes with all the trimmings (bacon, hash browns, etc.)  After my AARP discount...$36!  I would have paid less than $20 for that at home.  The food here is really, really expensive.

After eating, we went to Safeways that was in the same parking lot and bought some chocolate milk and pastry treats for some of our breakfasts.  We then returned to the BNB, showered and then totally crashed into bed.  We were wiped out!

Pictures:

Green Sand Beach....

 Loco Moco.....

 Kona open air airport welcome sign.  Unique airport here.....

 Black Sands Beach.....

 Tired 4-wheelers from the Green Sand Beach....

 Kona Temple at night....

Black Sand Beach.....

Our BNB...really clean...really nice.  Not big...just right.

We hooked up with Denise’s sister in between flights.  She owns a boat near the SFO airport.  But this is her boyfriends boat.  They are moored close to each other.

 Another Green Sand Beach picture....

 Kami and Denise at the boat harbor....

In one of the tide pools at the Black Sand Beach, there was this ripples in the water..  It was a little spring of water coming up through the rocks.