Hawai'ian Historical Sites

Along with beautiful scenery and good food, we enjoy learning a bit of history when we travel.  The Big Island has several beautiful National Historic Sites on the Kona side.  The first one we saw is Pu'uhonua o Honaunau (also called The City of Refuge).  Ages ago if you broke a law (say your shadow crossed over the land of the chiefs), you were sentenced to death.  You had an out, though.  If you could swim or somehow get to one of these places of refuge and become cleansed, your trespass was forgiven and you could return home a free person.

This place is quite beautiful and we enjoyed our several hours here, from strolling through the lush grounds, looking out over the ocean, to the most entertaining and informative ranger talk.

The other Historic Site we visited bordered the campground at Spencer Beach, so we could just walk over to visit it.  Pu'ukhola Heiau is the temple of the great King Kamehameha who united all Hawai'ian islands under one rule in 1810.  

In contrast with the City of Refuge, this temple (heiau) sits in a starker landscape overlooking a small bay that is often filled with sharks (which we did not see).  However, we did see the spout of a humpback whale just off the shore while visiting this site.

Food on the Big Island

It wouldn't be my blog if I didn't have a food post.  In no particular order, here are some of the highlights of our culinary experiences.

These are Kona coffee beans at the Bayview Coffee mill.  These are being turned by hand every hour.  We had a lovely tour here by the owner and bought some beans home to enjoy and share with our lucky daughters.

 Ken's House of Pancakes in Hilo.  A tradition.  If you like a 50's diner with Hawai'ian flare, you have come to the right place.

 This is Mahi Loco at Ken's.  Loco Moco is a bowl of rice, topped with meat of your choice and then gravy, then topped with two eggs.  I had to try it once.  Now I have.

 These are the side dishes at the Manago Hotel in Captain Cook.  You choose your meat and these sides come family style. H even ate the limas!

 This was the meat we chose - Ono.  It's a delicious white fish.

 I had to take a photo of the inside of the Manago Hotel dining room.  I loved the yellow formica table which looks just like the one we had when I was growing up.

 The Papaya Special - breakfast at the Coffee Shack.

 My favorite meal was Christmas Eve at Cafe Pesto.  We started with the crab cakes salad.  The dressing was fabulous, as well as the cakes.  The recipe for the dressing is on their website. (There is also a Cafe Pesto in Hilo.)

 Next came the Pizza Margherita.  We took half of it with us for Christmas lunch.

 We couldn't resist the creme brûlée.  Double yum.

 I could not resist taking a photo of these guys at the Hawai'ian Style Cafe in Weimea.  It looks like they came down from Alaska.

This is the "Light Breakfast".  

 This is the breakfast sandwich.

Beaches

Beaches - Oh! The Variety on the Big Island!

The first beach we saw (and I am not counting shoreline where the waves crash against the rocks), is Punalu'u at the south end of the island.  It is known for black sand and always having green sea turtles basking on the shore.  We were not disappointed.

I used a telephoto lens for this guy so I could stay at least 15 feet away.

If black sand wasn't enough, we took a side trip to the Green Sand Beach near South Point (the southernmost point of the U.S.).  This is quite an adventure.  First you drive 12 miles off the main road on a bumpy path to the parking lot.  Then you proceed to walk into a very strong headwind for 2.25 miles.  Some people say it takes 2-3 hours to get there, but I took few photos and hoofed it, and we made it in 50 minutes.  Upon arrival, you are greeted with this great view down to the beach, and then you work yourself carefully down the steep slope to marvel at the beauty of it all.  We wanted to stay longer, but the cove is not protected from the wind, and sitting to enjoy it was not the most pleasant prospect.  However, it was worth the adventure.

The path along the coast to the Green Sand Beach

This is Ho'okena Beach where we camped for two nights.  The skies are full of stars, and the camping was amazingly quiet, but for the sound of surf.

North of Kona was our chosen snorkeling spot at Kekaha Kai State Park.  The lava in the ocean gives tropical fish a great home, so we saw many kinds of beautiful species.

 However, the road out to this park is rough going over the lava field - 20 minutes of bouncing each way.

 We camped for two nights at Spencer Beach - Christmas Eve and Christmas night. This is a great place for families with a white sand beach and few rocks.  The facilities here are great.

 Here is the Mauna Kea Resort Beach of which I blogged yesterday.  The resort allows 40 cars at a time to public access on this beautiful beach, so we made sure to be there by 9:15 a.m.  We were car #35.  I don't have any idea if this beach was busier than usual or not because it was Christmas.

 Just south of Mauna Kea Resort is the public beach Hapuna.  While just as beautiful as Mauna Kea, it was overrun with people.

Christmas in a Very Warm Climate

Mauna Kea Beach on the Big Island of Hawai'i.  Yup, that's where H and I spent Christmas morning!  A few months ago we knew we'd have our family Christmas at Thanksgiving, so we made plans to spend a week in Hawai'i over break.

This is the view we had while chatting with our families in Iowa, Texas, Colorado and California on Christmas morning.

Ten years ago, right after 9/11, we took our daughters to Maui over New Year's. After that trip, H decided that he wanted to go to the Big Island some day, rent a camper van, and roam around the island. Before going to Hawai'i the first time, we thought that Honolulu was on the island of Hawai'i.  However, Hawai'i is actually the name of the largest and most southern (and geologically newest) island in the chain. Hawai'i has two distinct sides (wet and dry) and a great variety of topography.  The island consists of 5 volcanoes - one is extinct, three are somewhat dormant, and Kilauea which is active.  The Hawai'i Belt Road circles the perimeter in about 250 miles.

We landed in Hilo (the wet, east side) in order to pick up our VW Vanagon from Happy Campers Hawai'i. For the next seven days we drove most of the perimeter, stopping at various campgrounds, seeing volcanoes, exotic beaches, wildlife, cultural history, and trying out as many different kinds of food as we could find.

Now, back home, the task is to go through over 600 photos.  Some I'll post, some I'll put in this blog, some I'll try to remember just where we were when I snapped the shutter.  After all, there are many, many beaches in Hawai'i.