We’ve come to our last day. Hopefully you’ve enjoyed our journey along with us. We packed up everything and D’s parents made us omelets.

We decided to stop at one last beach: Kukio. It is on the way to the airport. There were some nice houses with amazing views. I guess Michael Dell and Charles Schwab have homes there.

I was determined to get a good Christmas card photo on this trip. Here’s one that was almost picked:

I’m not sure what k is pointing to.

FINALLY, k smiles in a picture. Maybe she was getting homesick and knew today was our last day.

I found it amusing that there was a live band playing at Kona Airport. I guess they wanted to spread the aloha spirit.

On our plane back we sat across from the same couple we were next to on the way there. They said k was the best-behaved baby they’ve seen on a plane. Not sure if that was really true, but it was nice of them to say.

We had to wait a long time for our luggage back at John Wayne. My mom told me to take a picture of this security guard on his Segway.

On our last full day on the Big Island, we wanted to take it easy. D was anxious to get some more snorkeling in. In the morning we went to “A Bay”, in Waikoloa. The snorkeling was better than Hapuna. I wasn’t planning to go in, but D convinced me.

Our next stop was the Black Sand Beach in Mauna Lani. D and his dad snorkeled. Again, I wasn’t planning to go in. They came back saying it was amazingly clear and that it was like an aquarium, so of course, I had to go. This time I actually used the snorkel instead of the snorkel board. The fish were so pretty!

We ate lunch at Brown’s Beach House at the Fairmont Orchid. We arrived before it opened, and it still took us a while to be seated. Turns out that the staff was busy switching out all of the chairs and setting up brand new place settings. Our hostess informed us that we were the very first customers to use their new chairs/settings. She took our picture and told us to e-mail it to the manager. I’m not sure if D’s dad actually did this, but here’s some of my pictures:

As you can see, it is right on the water. I bet it would be really nice at night. (They were all booked for dinner).

The lunch menu had an Asian bent. Here’s my kurobota pork yaki soba:

We all shared the mud pie.

In addition, the waitress gave us an ice cream dessert for free since k was “3 or under”.

Pretty fancy for a little kid. We ate it for k, of course.

We worked it off with more snorkeling at the Orchid. This turned out to be our favorite because we saw sea turtles! One of them was following me, and I was kind of scared. D’s mom said she’s been surrounded by multiple turtles before while snorkeling, and I can see how that would be scary. Too bad I couldn’t get a picture, but we’ll always remember our encounter.

Meanwhile, k had more fun on the beach. We kept slathering her with sunscreen so she wouldn’t burn.

Our final dinner was at the Kamuela Provision Company in the Hilton Waikoloa. It was too windy to sit outside, but D captured the lovely sunset that we were able to see through the open windows:

I had a seafood pasta that was exceptional–there was a lobster tail, among other delicacies. There was another family at a table nearby with a 10.5 month old daughter. We ended up sitting a couple rows behind them on our plane back to OC!

Wednesday was our big road trip. Yes, the Big Island is actually pretty big. It took us a couple of hours to reach the other side of the island to visit Hilo and the volcanoes. I wanted to go on Wednesday in particular because Hilo has a farmer’s market then (and on Saturdays).

Our first stop, however, was in a small town called Honakaa, at a restaurant called Tex Drive-In. I wanted to try their specialty, malasadas. According to the menu, they only had the barvarian creme filling that morning, so D ordered one for each of us. When we bit into them, there was no filling! I took mine up to the counter and was told that we had to specify that we wanted filling; otherwise they come plain. Well, custard filling is my favorite, so I had to try it and ordered one more. D and I were able to eat 1.5 malasadas each, no problem. They are so fluffy and light! You can almost convince yourself that they’re not that bad for you. Almost.

When we arrived in Hilo, k was sleeping, so D and I jumped out of the car to check out the farmer’s market. (D’s parents stayed with k). There was a lot of interesting produce. However, we just bought a couple of musubis (spam and salmon) and a couple of cheap souveniers on the way back.

We kept driving on to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. First we saw a short movie on the volcanoes. Then we drove around the park, making only three stops since we knew k wouldn’t be able to stand any more. Our first stop was the Steam Vents:

These were pretty cool. There was some scientific explanation posted, but I didn’t really get it.

It was windy here, making k’s hair even crazier than usual:

The next stop was the Kilauea Caldera:

Dude, where’s the lava? Just kidding, I didn’t actually expect there to be lava spewing right in front of our faces, but I thought we would be able to see some red stuff, even if it was far away and you needed binoculars. We were told that the lava that was flowing that day was only accessible by helicopter. Too bad.

Our final stop was my favorite: the Thurston Lava Tube. You walk down a paved path surrounded by lush greenery. It really sounds like a rainforest, and it was nice and cool.

Then you walk through the lava tube, which is a big cave. Again, don’t ask me for the science behind it. It’s pretty dark, and there’s puddles inside, but it was fun.

Afterward we ate a late lunch at Ken’s House of Pancakes, a Hilo institution. D ordered his first loco moco. It was OK, but not something we’ll crave anytime soon.

k slept some during the trip, but she also cried. A lot. I’ve never seen her so upset in the car!

Poor thing was blowing snot bubbles. It didn’t help when they were cutting trees along the two-lane road and we had to periodically stop for a long time.

We were debating whether to make one final stop at Waipio Valley. It is a famous tourist stop, and we figured we might as well get it in since it was sort of on the way back. You can take tours to the bottom, but we just snapped a few pictures from the top:

That was a long day. We didn’t feel like going out to dinner, so D’s parents was nice enough to bring food over and made a prawn salad for us. It was nice and refreshing and a low-stress way to end the day.

On Tuesday we went to Waimea, which is Hawaiian cowboy country. We visited Parker Ranch, and took a tour on a horse-drawn wagon. It ended up being a private tour since we were the only tourists.

Raising cattle is Parker Ranch’s primary business, so I was disappointed that we did not see one cow or cowboy on the tour! The climate change was notable as soon as we left the parking lot–the wind really kicked up.

The immediate scenery was not too much to look at, but it is surrounded by green hills.

This was the main attraction/destination of our tour. Hmm…

Some cute farmhouses we passed along the way:

Here’s a random sign that was posted inside the wagon:

Another funny sign:

We ate lunch at the famed Merriman’s.

Many of the ingredients they use are local and tasted very fresh. It was also quite reasonably priced at lunch. I would say it is a must try if you visit Waimea.

Afterward we briefly walked the grounds of Mauna Kea beach. The hotel is closed due to renovations (there was damage from the recent earthquake). On the plane we sat next to a woman who tried several times to go there, only to be turned away because the parking lot was full. I guess we got lucky.

For dinner we went to the Marriott Waikoloa’s Hawaii Calls restaurant. The highlight for me was dessert (which came with our early bird special): D and I shared a piece of chocolate cake and guava chiffon cake. We were told by our hostess that our waiter’s name was Derek, but when he came by, D thought his name tag said “Tai Chi”. We left that one alone.

Since there wasn’t too much to say in this post, here are a few random shots:

Here was our rental car for the week, a Chevy Uplander, aka “The Limmobile”. It had an amazing amount of room in between the middle two seats. D said the steering was “loose”. Good thing we didn’t have any incidents.

This was the condo where we stayed (bottom level). I think k was beginning to think it was our new house!

The nice kitchen. Very convenient for eating breakfast.

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: