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.

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Thursday we went to hike down into Waipi’o Valley. There is a road down into it, but the grade is 25%, so no one drives without a four wheel drive or on a tour. The valley is located in the north of the Island on the Hamakua Coast. It was about a 40 mile drive from where we are staying with some nice coastal scenery. First we stopped by the very accessible Akaka Falls. There is a good cement path to the falls through some very lush and colorful jungle foliage. Bob was very nostalgic about Hawaii on the hike, and after thinking about it realized that it was because when he was little, Hawai’i had just become a State and there was a lot of references to it in cartoons and other TV shows, and of course there was the Tacky Tiki Room in Disneyland. He thought that was funny.

After the falls we drove to Honokaʻa. We had heard of this town because it is where Rosanne Barr has a house and where she made her reality show “Roseanne’s Nuts” about like on a Macadamia Nut Ranch. We liked the show, but saw this week that it was cancelled for a second season next year. We had lunch at a small restaurant in town. We had read the town was an artist area, but many shops were empty and the town was dead this time of year.

A short drive from Honokaʻa we parked at the overlook of Waipi’o Valley. The view was spectacular and the hike down was steep, but since the road was paved not too difficult, just like home but without the big gravel to slip on. It wasn’t very crowded on the black sand beach. We walked over to the Z-Trail that rises the other side of the valley to get a look of Hiʻilawe Falls, the tallest on the Island. It was a little in the shadows and not running so hard, but still pretty.

When we got back to Hilo we had a Homemade Ice Cream at Hilo Homemade Ice Cream. Dennis had Macadamia Nut and Bob had Rocky Road. Yummy.

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We are glad to hear Ginger and Zues are doing okay. We really appreciate they are being taken care of.

Went to the big Farmers Market in Hilo. They have a little one everyday, which we got some fresh fruit and vegetables at on the first day, but Wednesday and Saturday it is bigger with more vendors and more things like jewelry and clothes to sell. The we headed south to see the lava fields. Right now there is no lava flowing to the ocean so we hiked to the beach across an old flow from the 1980’s. On the way home we stopped at Mauna Loa Macadamia Nut Factory and walked the self guided tour backwards. The didn’t show how they cracked the nuts, which is what we wanted to see. We bought some cans of nuts. The Kona Coffee glazed ones where good. Sat in the spa with a glass of wine with Steve and Keala and they shared some ideas of what to do. Both were born in Hawaii, and Keala’s family has been here many generations since the time of Kamehameha in the 1800’s. Then a stir fry with our veggies for dinner.

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We checked out town of Hilo and the waterfall on the property. Then, we were hoping to stargaze at the Mauna Kea Visitor Station at 9,000 feet up the Volcano. There are many of the worlds big telescopes at the top of the mountain at 14,000 feet. Unfortunately, even though it was a new moon, so stargazing should be good, it was cloudy. We may try another night. We did see a nice sunset, and Bob got his nerd fix with an astronomy lecture in a red lit room.

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