Took a trip to the dry side of the Island. Just a bit into the drive we stopped for a Malasada, which is a Portuguese fried bread or doughnut. Keala had left a note in her welcome letter that these shouldn’t be missed and they were good hot and fresh.
Dennis had researched a good beach he wanted to go to. It is near to Kona, but about a half hour hike over some old lava fields. It was amazing how dry it is on the other side of the Island. We had seen that there was a different macadamia nut farm, but it turned out to be a processing plant. They did have some different flavors (Bob liked the “Spam” seasoned nuts), and a nut cracker and some fresh nuts, so we liked it.
Nearby was an Historical Park of where King Kamehameha had a temple and his court. It is called Pu`ukohola Heiau. It was a short self guided walk, and it was interesting, but it didn’t make the ancient Hawaiians seem very nice.
Then to the beach at Makalawena. It was funny, as we were leaving to go there Tim left a message on Dennis’ phone with directions to it. He didn’t know we were going there.
On the way home we wanted to try one more time to see the stars at Mauna Kea. They had told us Friday should be good weather, but when we got to the visitors center it was still foggy. We could see the clouds thinning and it looked like the sun was trying to break through. Another tourist with a rental car walked into the Information Center then came back and started driving up the mountain to the top even though it’s supposed to only be for four wheel drive vehicles. We figured at least we could see the sunset if we drove up a little way. The clouds didn’t want to clear and we ended up making it all the way to the top and got to see a fantastic sunset, plus all the telescopes. There were many tours up there doing the same thing, but costing a lot of money. The road turned out to be nicer than the road to our house, but being at 15,000 feet elevation did make us a little light headed. It was a lot of fun.
When we got back to the Visitors Center the sky had cleared and we did get to look through some telescopes at stars but the program wasn’t very good. We stayed for awhile then went home. We need to get a good telescope for the cabin.
[album: https://cielogrande.net/wp-content/plugins/dm-albums/dm-albums.php?currdir=/wp-content/uploads/dm-albums/Hilo 10012011/]
The pictures are fantastic and those donuts look so good. Keep the pictures coming and have a great time. Love you both.
We are glad to see you guys made it in OK.
Wow, what a day, it all looked fabulous…..The sunset was beautiful but I bet it was even better in person except for the low oxygen and cold…..Bob if you are a geek, you are my favorite geek. Keep the pictures coming and keep having a good time. Love you both!
The sunset was more beautiful in person, even with the cold and low oxygen.