Big Island Recap Day 4

Back to the Big Island. On Monday we ventured out by ourselves during the day. First stop: Mountain Thunder, a Kona coffee plantation. We kept calling it Thunder Mountain on accident. It was a bit tricky to find. You have to pass a side street called “Hua” three times and then turn onto it. I would think there would be better signage. Bad signage is a gripe of mine, but I digress.

Mountain Thunder didn’t have a parking lot, so we just pulled up to the side of the road. There was a guy sitting at a picnic table, along with a cat, and he seemed startled by us. D said we were there for the tour, and he looked confused. I guess it was early. He played a video clip about the plantation and poured us some coffee. The good thing about Kona coffee is the lack of an aftertaste–it’s smooth.

Here’s the resident cat.

Then the coffee guy gave us a private, brief tour of the place.

A coffee bean plant (didn’t realize it looked like this before):

Here’s the beans before they are roasted:

We didn’t get to see the actual place where they grow the coffee because they use donkeys to fertilize the plants and there are potential liability issues, should they kick someone. The plant we were shown was just growing on the side of the road where we parked our car!

D listening intently to the coffee spiel.

Our tour guide was actually from Connecticut and came out to Hawaii for college. He hasn’t been back since his freshman year! k was well-behaved during the tour.

After loading up on some souveniers, we went to Kailua Kona. We did some shopping, but didn’t find much. The area seemed pretty dead. Perhaps they were still recovering from the Iron Man triathalon that occurred the week before. I hear it gets crazy, so I’m glad we avoided the crowds. The highlight for me was the ABC store–pretty sad.

Lunch made up for it, though. We ate at Big Island Grill, as recommended to us by one of D’s co-workers and various blogs/reviews. This was one of my favorite meals of our trip! I ordered the B.I.G. saimin:

Look at that tempura shrip on the side! Don’t worry, I didn’t eat all of that batter, but everything was delish, including the floating wontons that you might not be able to see. Well, the pork was a bit fatty too, but I was able to take off the fatty parts.

k liked the noodles too:

D ordered the mixed plate of chicken katsu and beef teriyaki, at my urging. We love sharing plates so we can taste more things!

Highly recommended.

On our way back to the condo we made quick stops at Costco (to check out their only-in-Hawaii products) and Kailua Candy Company. I bought a couple of “Honu” candies, a turtle made with mac nuts instead of pralines.

Once we returned to the condo, we decided to take a dip in the pool. k was even able to go in because D’s parents had bought her a flotation ring with a seat. She enjoyed splashing the water on the side with her arms. You can look forward to that picture on our Christmas card!

For dinner we met up with D’s parents at the Canoe House. D and I concurred that this place had the best atmosphere. We ate outside during sunset, and it was just so relaxing. It seemed that k really enjoyed the food, too. She was still feeding herself bits of chicken and bread after we had all finished 🙂 D and I both ordered fish–my mahi mahi was almost over the top in competing flavor profiles, while D’s sea bass was almost too subtle. It was weird that the dishes came out of the same kitchen. Overall, however, it was a very memorable experience.

Like father, like daughter:

You can’t beat that sunset: