Vacation Diary... Day 7 in Hawai'i

(Tuesday, September 23, 2008)

Today was the day that we headed out for our big adventure. We were going to Kona to go spend a few days with Charlie's sister Tia. We could have easily made the 2 hour drive through the Hamakua Coast, but we actually decided to drive the other way around the island.

We started out later than we had wanted. Couldn't go without stopping at the best box lunch place in Hilo, Kawamoto's. Nori Chicken, Korean Chicken, BBQ beef, Shrimp tempura... Yummy... Once again, it's all about the food :) After that, we stopped in at Maui Divers at Mauna Loa Macadamia Nut Factory to see my mom, and get shortbread cookies and Mac Nut Ice Cream!!! Our drive continued through the southern part of the island. We stopped at Punalu'u, a beautiful black sand beach, to take some pictures. The vog was so heavy that I found it difficult to breathe after a while. After we passed through Na'alehu, we tried to find our way down to the Green Sands Beach, but no such luck. Charlie REFUSED to ask this local for directions.

The scariest part of the trip happened after that. We made the drive all the way down to Miloli'i. Lets put it this way... Windy roads... Steep drops onto sharp jagged lava rocks... 5 miles... Once we got down there, and the circulation actually went back to my toes, I got over the beauty real quick and said, "Let's go!!!". It's hard because I don't remember where all the best things to see are. Last time that I was down there was about 16 years ago. But it was still nice.

We got into Kona just in time to have an awesome spaghetti dinner with Tia. So yummy, and a nice break from rice. We tried to get a few games in at Kona Bowl, but who thought that they'd be so busy on a Tuesday night!!!

And my best score of the trip thus far... UH t-shirts for $4.98... Yep, we bought 4 :)