We had a lazy day in Hilo the next day. The showers overnight made it a little cooler that evening. We decided to take a rainy walk down to see the ocean about half a mile from the house we had rented. It wasn't the most comfortable walk, and the views were beautiful, but the pictures didn't turn out so great from the rain and mugginess. Cashel enjoyed it immensely, though!
On our walk back, we happened across a cute little snail - the first I've ever seen!
After a while, the rain let up, and Mark and I enjoyed a little down time on the porch while Cashel napped. I enjoyed my first cup of 100% Kona coffee and a roll as well :)
Hilo Farmers' Market
When Cashel finally woke up from his nap, we headed back into Hilo to the Farmers' Market and to find some lunch.
One of the vendors highly recommended Thai Smile, you know, "That place down there in the big white van thing". We were glad for the recommendation, and the Pad Thai with chicken was delicious - even Cashel was scarfing it down! I had an Iced Thai Tea with Lime and Mark needed his caffeine fix with a coke :) The tea was delicious (Cashel enjoyed it as well). One serving was just plenty for the 3 of us. I can't imagine having tried to attack this bad boy all by myself!
After lunch, we wandered through the vendor booths a bit, found some cute Hawaiian jewelry and an adorable dress (just in case this baby happens to be a girl - I have no idea), attempted to find some passion fruit (which is apparently out of season now - so bummed!), picked up a couple local delicacies (mac nuts and taro chips) and headed back for the car. All in all we had a great time
Rainbow Falls
The next treat of our day was to experience Rainbow Falls. It was nice to finally have a part of Hawaiian nature that we didn't have to hike and get sweaty in order to see! You could drive right up, walk up a few stairs, and bam!
Cashel was thrilled to watch birdies on the porch with us as well. I'm pretty sure he really enjoyed his stay here, even if it was muggy and rainy a lot.
One of our regrets from our first trip to The Big Island was not making it down to see the lava flow, so we had every intention of hitting the observatory area this time around. We made reservations at Kaleo's Bar & Grill (which was also very impressive considering its outward appearance and location in a small town) for 6pm and planned to head out to see the lava flow close by afterwards.
Kaleo's was highly recommended by the owner of the home we were renting, and boy was he ever right! The place had a wonderfully charming ambiance, some of the best food from our entire trip, and a very nice waitstaff, not to mention the very talented vocalist there that evening.
I just couldn't pass up the coconut shrimp (I hadn't had any yet on vacation and was beginning to have withdrawals), while Mark decided on the prime rib, and if the shrimp weren't so delicious, I would have been jealous. One bite of his was enough to send me over the edge. Yes, it was THAT good.
Cashel enjoyed the place a little bit, but had more fun trying to eat the crayons and throw his food on the floor lol
With very full tummies and a restless toddler on our hands, we made the short trek to attempt to see lava. Unfortunately, when we arrived at the observation road (we had an extra 10 minute hike on our hands ahead), the kind parking lady informed us that it was just simply too rainy to actually see anything that evening, as the lava flow was about 3 1/2 miles from the observation area. We asked a million questions (it seemed), and basically decided it wasn't worth the hassle to try to hike out there. We were bummed, but thought we might try again tomorrow.
So, we headed back and got ourselves in bed a little early.
