Hawaii 5-0! (Part 1)

After four and a half months, it was time to set foot back on American soil. It was a bittersweet moment as I really enjoyed being in places where you could walk around and not understand anyone. Hawaii was our destination, the last in our around the world ticket.

We started out in Honolulu, our chance to relive our last day in Seoul. Given the length of our flight and the international date line, we had two full Sundays back to back. Normally we'd nap right away but in this case we were hungry. My goal for Hawaii was fish and fruit. We hadn't eaten much seafood on the trip so I was excited to go all out in Hawaii. We found a small hole in the wall place in Waikiki that had some delicious ahi poke. It would be the first of many visits. After our nap, we headed down to Waikiki beach to hang out. The beach was very popular as sunset was approaching. It was a bit cloudy but still provided a beautiful sunset. After a quick stop at Haggen Dazs, we walked back to our hotel and over to Waikiki brewery. We just missed the start of trivia but discussed answers loudly enough in hopes the competing teams sitting near us might want our help. We tried some of their brews. The IPA was particularly refreshing as it had been a long while since I had a nice, hoppy beer. The beer in Africa, Nepal and Seoul was good but they didn't vary much from lager in their offerings. We also had a nice appetizer of hummus, which we both enjoy, but hadn't encountered much on our travels. After a satisfying first day, we were off to bed to keep up our busy pace. 

Sunset on Waikiki Beach our first night

Waikiki Brewing. A welcome taste of hoppy beer!

Day two brought the return of the American hotel breakfast!! It was biscuits and gravy and chocolate milk for me!!! One of the few perks of being back in the states. We took the bus over to Pearl Harbor to view the USS Arizona Memorial. We got an unofficial sightseeing tour of all the sights of Hawaii 5-0 while taking the bus. The memorial was very well done. The simple memorial was a beautiful tribute to those that perished on the ship. After taking the bus back to Waikiki, we had an early dinner taking advantage of the many happy hours along the beach. We chose Maui Brewing brewpub. It had a beautiful patio on the second floor overlooking the bustling street below. We had some great food, great beer and great people watching! Our busy pace caught up with us and we had a nice quiet evening in the hotel. 

A very well done memorial to the crew of the USS Arizona

The USS Arizona memorial floats above the ship

Maui Brewing Co. A great place for happy hour

Taco Tuesday brought a lazy morning with another delicious breakfast. We took advantage of the hotel amenities with a dip in the pool and games of mini-golf and shuffleboard​ followed by a nap! Feeling refreshed, we set off on a walk over towards diamond Head to take a hike in the crater. As we approached, we checked the closing time of the park. They stopped letting hikers in at 4:30 and closed at 6! It was 5:45 so we modified our plans and instead ate our way back to the hotel. There was a food truck across the street that made "ice cream" from bananas. It turned out to be quite tasty and much healthier. A few blocks later we found a small place with a fish taco Tuesday special so we grabbed some tacos and headed to the park to eat them while we took in all the various youth sports that were going on in the park. We saw baseball, flag football, soccer, and lacrosse all going on at the same time. Our route then ran across the beach, where our final stop was a small cafe which had a delicious ice cream sandwich while the sun was setting. After walking off all the food on our way back to the hotel, we had to repack as the following day was our first island hop. 

Fun and games at the hotel

Banan, a unique food truck on the way to Diamond Head

Another beautiful Waikiki sunset

Our first destination was the big island (Hawaii). It was much less crowded than Honolulu. It was back to driving for me as we had a rental car to tackle the multiple stops we had planned on the island. Our first stay was in an Airbnb in Kona. The location was perfect. We could walk everywhere we needed. Lunch was another round of ahi poke at Umeke's. Afterwards we made a quick stop by the farmer's market, where I saw the biggest avocados I've ever seen as well as a trip to the grocery. Some things in Hawaii are quite expensive, especially bread! We were excited to cook again and dinner was a refreshing salad from things we found at the farmer's market. Bed came calling early as we had big plans the following day.

Can't get enough poke!

Even the geckos love the farmer's market

The alarm came at 3:00 AM. We had booked into a small stargazing and sunrise tour. Our guide, James, picked us up at 3:30 and we were off with another couple. Our destination was Mauna Kea for some stargazing and sunrise. At almost 14,000 feet, this is the home to the majority of the observatories on the island. Some of them even had sister sites in Chile to cover the whole sky. We stopped on our way up to take some photos of the night sky including an amazing shot our guide took of us with an awesome night sky background. After the photos we drove the rest of the way to the summit where we could see the sun rise over the clouds (as we were above them). We had breakfast up there and did a little hiking of nearby volcanic craters (Mauna Kea is inactive) before returning back to our place. 

A view of the night sky on the way to Mauna Kea

Thanks James, from Epic Tours, for taking an awesome picture of us. We only had to stand still for 30 seconds!

Sunrise approaching over the clouds of the Big Island

Jess taking in the sunrise

A view of the many observatories atop Mauna Kea (as well as the shadow of the peak on the clouds)

Fun with sunrise shadows

Walking around Mauna Kea at sunrise

After a good sleep, we were off again. This time it was to Kona brewing. We had an afternoon tour followed by a tasting. The tour was very interesting. Their output is very small and cannot even cover island demands. Any Kona you find in the mainland is actually brewed there. All the bottled Kona beer in Hawaii is actually shipped over from the mainland as well. The tasting had some amazing brews including an IPA with lemongrass and ginger and a deliciously smooth porter that were my two favorites. We had dinner at the brewpub after the tour, feasting on a delicious pizza with pulled pork and pineapple as toppings. We walked back to our place and had an early evening after the days odd schedule.

Kona Brewing. Much smaller than you'd think

Liquid Aloha

The next day we said goodbye to Kona, packed up the Ford Explorer and headed out. We were off to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park for some camping. On our way we stopped at the southern-most point in the US where some adventurous folks were jumping off cliffs into the ocean. The jump looked easy, it was the rusty ladder to climb back up people had concerns with. From this point we set off on a 5 mile round-trip home to a secluded beach, famous for its "green" sand. Enterprising locals were offering rides in their beat up 4x4s, but we like to walk. It was along the coast and a beautiful walk. We set up on a cliff overlooking the beach and had a nice picnic lunch while watching people get battered by the large waves coming into the beach. We also caught our first glimpse of sea turtles! The green of the sand was really an olive and less impressive than you'd think if you were told a beach had green sand. After returning to our car, we had one more stop on our way to the park. We stopped off at Punalu'u beach, which had black sand. The consistency of the sand felt and color made it feel as if you were walking on coffee grounds. 

The hike to the green sand beach

Panorama of the green sand beach

A beautiful spot for lunch and a selfie

The black sand beach of Punalu'u

We made it to the park in the late afternoon. Our campsite was reserved through the hotel so we still had to "check-in". They provided the camp site as well as the tent and a few amenities. It was a bit more glamping than camping as we had an actual mattress and duvet with pillows in the tent. We also got fresh towels each day. As the sun was setting, we had dinner at the hotel as it overlooked the Kilauea crater, which is the most active volcano on the planet currently. As darkness set, the red glow from the lava came into view. After heading back to our campsite, we hiked half a mile back over to the crater observation point (It was a half mile from the actual crater). It was from there where you could see the actual lava spitting up a bit from down in the crater. We took many pictures, all of which were certainly better than the people that didn't know how to turn their flash off! It was a stunning spectacle to behold and we we're lucky to have such good weather for it. 

Our tent from the outside...

...and the inside

An overly dramatic photo of the volcano glow from our campsite

The activity of the crater from far away...

...and zoomed in

Our first full day in the park was an overcast day. After a quick breakfast we headed over to the visitor's center before setting off on a small hike around and in one of the many craters. This one, Kilauea-iki, had last erupted in 1959. It was an interesting transition as you moved from lush, green vegetation around the rim to a barren moonscape while walking on the crater floor. The floor even had a few cracks where you could see bits of steam coming out. After that hike, we took a quick lunch before heading off on a drive down Chain of Craters Roard through the park to the ocean where you could then hike into the only active lava flow. It was a 10-mile round trip walk so we stuck with the drive. Along the way you could where the lava flowed downhill from previous eruptions. Green landscape would just have a black river of nothingness flowing through it. You could even see newer flows on top of older flows as the dark shades were discernible from each other. The sea cliffs created from the lava were beautiful, offering interesting patterns in the long cooled lava. It also led to unique creations like the sea arch. 

Ready for some hiking

Highlights from Kilauea-iki

Different lava flow patterns

Highlights from the Chain of Craters drive

Standing on some of the newest real estate in Hawaii

Panorama of the old lava flows with a bit of rain on the left 

After a full day in the park, we drove to the nearby town, aptly called Volcano for dinner from a popular food truck called the Tuk Tuk Thai food truck. For reasons unknown, it closed at 6 pm but was popular enough that people were queueing up for early dinners. It was quite good. Upon returning to our tent, we headed back up to the observation point to see what the volcano was doing and visit the museum at the site. It was misting too much to see anything and on our walk back, it started raining. We reached our tent a bit wet! It proceeded to rain throughout the night which is always an adventure in a tent!

Delicious dinner

The rain continued into the next day, one of the few days where the rain impacted our day. After a short drive to Hilo, instead of visiting waterfalls, we stopped in for a late breakfast at Ken's House of Pancakes. Jess was very excited as this was the traditional American diner experience she'd previously only seen on TV and in movies. The menu had at least 200 items. The booths were covered in vinyl. The waitress was over the hill. And every dish came with a side of pancakes, hash browns and toast!! Needless to say we left full. Our next stop was Target to pick up a few things before heading to the movies to pass the time. We saw The Circle. It was an interesting look into the world of social media and sharing. 

After the movie we headed to our final destination on the big island, Rocking Chair Ranch. Despite neither of us being horse lovers, it was a unique place that Jess had found on Airbnb. Our apartment overlooked the arena where upon arrival, we saw people practicing their lasso skills by chasing down a plastic cow being towed by an ATV! We had the ability to cook again and enjoyed another meal of pasta, broccoli and sausage! The property offered beautiful sunset views as well. 

Overlooking the arena from our room at the ranch

The ranch had amazing views for sunset

The next day we enjoyed a nice breakfast before heading out for the day. The weather cooperated as it was a beautiful day despite the forecast of rain. We hiked down into the Waipi'o valley. We descended about 1000 feet in a mile to reach the floor. It was much less fun on the way out! The beach was beautiful and we even got to wade through a stream to access the second half of the beach. The views were spectacular looking back up into the cliffs. 

Overlooking the valley. Maui (Haleakala) is in the distance above the clouds

Descending into the valley

The cliffs from the valley beach

Jess fording the stream

Upstream into the valley

Staring down the waves

Our attempt at a Jeep photoshoot

After all that work, we treated ourselves to a delicious BBQ lunch at The Fish and the Hog. After lunch, we stopped off to buy some desserts to enjoy at Keokea beach park, which was at the end of a beautiful drive through a lush, green countryside. There were some good waves crashing asking the shore and even two brave souls attempting to surf! After enjoying our desserts, we headed back to the ranch for another delicious home cooked meal of pasta and to pack up for our morning flight to our last Hawaiian stop, Kauai.

Great BBQ!

Lush green pastures of the countryside

Keokea Beach

Catching some waves

-Nick