Hawaii Recap (The Big Island)

Traveling and Day 1: Tex Drive In, Waipio Road, Bamboo Restaurant

We had two good flights on the way out (although they seemed REALLY long), and with no delays, we arrived on time, grabbed some KFC for supper and headed to bed.

On our first full day in Hawaii, we were up early, found some breakfast in Honoka'a at Tex Drive In, and then made a crazy long, crazy challenging hike down (and back up) Waipio Road. We were pretty shot the rest of the day, but managed to make some dinner reservations in Hawi at Bamboo Restaurant later that evening.

Here is a full recap of our travel day and first full day in Hawaii!

Day 2: Akaka Falls, Hilo Bay Cafe, Settling in to Kamea'a

Our second day in Hawaii happened to be a travel day, so after packing our things up and grabbing more breakfast at Tex Drive In (which happened to be right on our way), we hit the road en route to Kamea'a via Hilo with a stop at Akaka Falls along the way. It seemed like a much longer day than I anticipated it being (it was humid and sticky and warm as we were entering the rainforest), but it was beautiful! We grabbed a late lunch at Hilo Bay Cafe (delicious!!) before making our way to the house we had rented in Kamea'a right down near the ocean and settling in for the evening.

Here is a full recap of our second day in Hawaii!

Day 3: Ocean walk, Hilo Farmers' Market, Thai Smile, Rainbow Falls, Kaleo's

Our third day in Hawaii started out with a rainy morning walk down the street to see the ocean. Afterwards, we relaxed a bit (Cashel got in a long nap too) before heading to the Hilo Farmers' Market to find some lunch (we settled on some delicious Thai food at Thai Smile) and souvenirs. Afterwards, we made a short stop by the beautiful (and easily accessible) Rainbow Falls before calling it a day and heading back to the house. We made dinner reservations in Pahoa'a town nearby at Kaleo's (excellent food!) before trying to attempt to go see the lava flows at the end of Hwy 11. It was too rainy, however, so we didn't get to see anything afterall :(

Here is a full recap of our third day in Hawaii!

Day 4: Easter Fun, Panewa Zoo, Punalu'u Bakery, Setting In

Our fourth day in Hawaii, we were up fairly early again and Cashel was surprised to find some Easter treats on the table (although he wasn't too interested in the Easter egg hunt shortly after). We had lots of packing up to, unfortunately, as it was another partial travel day. We visited the Panewa Zoo in Hilo for Cashel, after which Cashel was ready for a nap, so we grabbed a little Jack in the Box before heading out of town en-route to Sea Mountain near Punalu'u Black Sand Beach, where we had hoped we could check in early (we couldn't).

We had to kill some time before our check in at 3pm, so we stopped at the local grocery store, grabbed some ice cream treat at Punalu'u Bakery. Fortunately by that time, our condo was ready for us, so we settled in. We spent some time visiting with other guests in the pool area (pool was too freezing to swim in), then made some spaghetti for supper and called it an early night.

Here is a full recap of our fourth day in Hawaii!

Day 5: Punalu'u Black Sand Beach, Resting, Hana Hou Restaurant, Pool Time

Our fifth day, we made an early morning trip to Punalu'u Black Sand Beach to explore a bit, which wore us all out. Cashel crashed hard after that, leaving us some extra time to lounge around the condo. I got a little sun while Mark napped. When Cashel woke up, we made our way to find some lunch at Hana Hou Restaurant (good food, but nothing spectacular), then spent a relaxing rest of the day back at the condo. We did manage to make it to the pool for a short swim (still frigid) before settling in for the evening. Cashel LOVED this place as it had lots of stuff to safely climb on (along with lots of stuff to NOT so safely climb on), and lots more birdies to watch.

Here is a full recap of our fifth day in Hawaii!

Day 6: South Point Road, Greenwell Farms, Big Jake's Island BBQ, Kona

Our finaly day in Hawaii, we packed up our things and hit the road en-route to Kona for the day. Mark wanted to check out the South Point Road to see what the hype was about (It wasn't much, by the way - just an old country road that eventually got too rough to continue on), then we made our way to find some lunch at Big Jake's Island BBQ (absolutely outstanding ham sandwich with honey clove glaze - my mouth is still watering!) before taking in a coffee plantation tour at Greenwell Farms. Afterwards, we made the last little stretch in good time to Kona and killed a bit of time at Walmart before making our way down near the beach and touristy area for the evening. We explored the boardwalk area a bit before grabbing some dinner at Bubba Gump Shrimp Co., then took in a beautiful sunset down the street a bit on the rocky beach front area. Our flights home were both without any issues, and our little guy slept the whole way (can't say as much for Mom and Dad, but we tried).

Here is a full recap of our final day in Hawaii!


We had a wonderful time in Hawaii, although I think it will be quite a while before we think about going anywhere that far away anytime soon again. Those days spent flying are enough to wear a person out! Lovely, lovely place to visit. We would highly recommend it to anyone :)

Hawaii 2013 - Day 6: South Point Road, Greenwell Farms, Big Jake's Island BBQ, Kona, Bubba Gump Shrimp Co.

After a harried morning trying to make sure our things were in order, packed properly for a flight, and that we didn't forget anything, we relaxed for an hour or so before hitting the road en route to Kona to catch our flight home. Since we had a red eye flight (a.k.a. overnight, leaving at 10pm), we had a whole day to "kill", so we gradually made our way.

Our final day in Hawaii, we packed up our things and hit the road en-route to Kona for the day. Other than the complete lack of restaurants or reasonable food sources nearby, we were sad to say goodbye to Sea Mountain - our stay there was wonderful! But we were escorted away with some incredible views such as these, which made the parting a little sweeter :)

South Point Road

Mark was fascinated with the idea of South Point Road and decided that with a sleeping kiddo and some time to kill, we might as well drive down there. We figured the views must just be out of this world. Instead, we got a lot of this, which...don't get me wrong, it's beautiful...is just like driving in rural Minnesota. Well...except for the lack of snow...in April lol

They even had a row of windmills, because apparently it's very windy at South Point. (It makes me wonder if they've ever been to Southwest Minnesota haha)

We were fascinated with a few things while on this short road: 1) How many people actually had built homes out there, and 2) How many of those properties were dilapidated.

Regardless, it was still a beautiful drive on a beautiful day! Initially, we had planned to do this 2 mile hike down to Papalokea Green Sand Beach, but with how much sun we had gotten the day before, along with our need for a down day, we had skipped it. And considering it was pretty warm that day, we decided that without a place to shower, we would just skip Papalokea altogether. We enjoyed the view just the same, though :) We turned around when the road started getting rough.

After our little excursion, we headed back on South Point and rejoined our main road headed to Kona, which soon turned into such an interesting part of the island: the volcanic rock "desert", as I like to call it.

It doesn't really look like much, but it's pretty impressive when you're there. It's amazing to think that at one point, this was where the lava flowed.

Big Jake's Island BBQ

We didn't stick around to check it out for too long since our tummies were rumbling, and made our way to Big Jake's Island BBQ, which had rave reviews (that they TOTALLY lived up to) to find ourselves some lunch.

While the place itself was pretty underwhelming, the food was incredible! Jake talked us into a delicious special of the day, which was a ham sandwich with a honey clove glaze, some beans and slaw. My mouth is literally still watering just thinking about it!

One of the things I was overly worried about on the trip was how we were going to keep our (what we thought was) picky toddler nourished, but he surprised us and chowed down on pretty much everything we let him try. The ham? Yeah, he ate a lot of it lol

Well, that is...when we could get him to stop watching all the roosters that were roaming around lol

Greenwell Farms

One of the parts of the trip I was looking forward to this time around, since we missed it the last time, was to tour Greenwell Farms - arguably one of the best coffee plantations in the world! I had been saving up my blow fund dollars for a while in preparation for this stop :)

We took a short walking tour of the plantation, learned how coffee is make and the history of the operation.

On the coffee tour, we also learned that avocados are grown on a tree...

...and that coffee "beans" are really from berries, and that those berries are supposed to be green when you pick them - who knew?

The reason that Kona coffee beans are so very expensive is that they are hand-picked by Americans in a higher-paying region, which makes sense. They then run them through this machine, which cracks open the berry pods and spits out the beans inside.

They then soak them in these giant tubs...

...and then dry them on the roofs of these buildings for 3 days.

I was pleased to find so many flavors that I liked, so I ended up with 3 bags of coffee: Macadamia Nut, Chocolate Macadamia Nut and Chameleon Blend. I had initially gone in thinking that Peaberry was going to be THE big thing, but I found the flavor too bold for my likings, so I settled on a bag of chocolate covered Peaberry coffee beans instead. Ninety dollars later (Oy!), we were back on the road towards Kona :)

We made the last little stretch in good time to Kona and killed a bit of time at Walmart before making our way down near the beach and touristy area for the evening. Cashel really enjoyed stretching his legs and wandering ALL over Walmart (with Mark and I chasing behind him).

The Oceanfront

When we got down near the waterfront, we explored the boardwalk area a bit. I could probably have spent a few hours perusing the little shops, but believe it or not, we actually didn't have that much time left in our day to explore.

Bubba Gump Shrimp Co.

Before long, we happened across our dinner spot for the night: Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. I had always wanted to try this place out, but honestly hadn't ever been anywhere that I knew one existed, so that was sort of exciting.

This was our view from our table - beautiful!

I thought it was cute how you cued the service here: If you wanted them to refill drinks/etc., all you had to do was flip over this sign, which said, "Stop, Forest, Stop!"

It was early, and we were still fairly full from lunch, but we knew we needed to be at the airport early, so it was either this, or become scavengers at 11pm when our stomachs really started growling and we were an hour into a 7 hour flight. We decided to split the shrimp scampi, which was good, but not out of this world. It would have been nice to try one of their more signature dishes, but Mark isn't overly adventurous when it comes to seafood, so we settled :)

Final Sunset in Hawaii

After supper, we wandered down the street a ways further and happened across the beginnings of a beautiful sunset overlooking the rocky beach front area just off from a little park. It was perfect timing with a squirmy, curious little kiddo, who thoroughly enjoyed inspecting all the rocks :)

Before we knew it, the sun was making its final descent :) It was a wonderful ending to a wonderful vacation for us.

We made our way back to the car, stopping for ice cream along the way (two scoops: macadamia nut and coconut), then piled into the car and headed for the airport. Poor little man conked out during the 20 minute drive, and kept sleeping as we took him out of the car in his carseat while we waited for Mark to return the rental car.

Our flights home were both without any issues, and our little guy slept the whole way (can't say as much for Mom and Dad, but we tried). Why can't paradise be just a short drive away?

Aloha! And Mahalo for a wonderful visit, Hawaii :)