First Full Day at Hawaii Part 1. AKA: Time to See the Volcanos or the Waterfalls?
Woke up after sleeping like the dead. Well maybe I shouldnt say dead. Have to say something about the Jet Lag. Even though I did not sleep much on the flights over, I woke up at 4:00 am local time. Well my body said it was 10:00 in Miami and that is late for me. Did fall back asleep but it became a recurring theme during the entire trip, every morning I was up very early.
Today was an easy morning anyway. Visit the front desk and go to Blue Hawaiian for a helicopter tour to look at the volcanoes. Roused the kid and we were off.
First things first, we had to visit the front desk. The same staff member that checked us in last night, checked us out. And checked us back in again. We got to know her real well. The hotel had a breakfast buffet that did not look appealing so I asked someone on the staff where was a good place to have breakfast. After trying to sell us on the buffet, she suggested the Lava Java, a place down the road, A five minute walk from the hotel. I also showed them our helicopter tour reservation and asked how to get there. They gave me directions that were easy but you will eventually find out there was more to this story.
So we set off. Kona is not a big city. It is a few mile stretch along the coast and a few decent sized streets that head inland. The Royal Kona is right on the water and Lava Java was about a half mile away on the other side of the street. It is also a very pedestrian friendly area. Crosswalks are everywhere and everyone walks instead of taking on the challenge of finding a parking space.
The walk to the restaurant is normally not a big hike but because of a continuing condition with my feet (plantar fasciitis) it was a tough walk. The short story is the large tendon in the foot and up the calf gets inflamed and causes pain issues. I have adapted to it and it has gotten better but after all the sitting around and inactivity they tightened up requiring a couple of breaks to walk the half mile. It gets better as it stretched out during the trip but still bothered me at times. OK, last medical reference.
We get there and it is a smallish restaurant with the majority of seating outside. Nice place. These pictures were taken later in the week so we are out of chronological order. Not that it matters to me. If it does to you, skip this and come back in a few updates. Everyone else, dont worry, it is not a time space continuum thing. The world will not end if my photos are viewed out of order.
Lava Java became our breakfast stop and we did go there three times.
This is the Pirate Princess in her dress she bought while we were there
Me in the shirt I bought at the dive shop
These pictures were on our last breakfast there where she ordered the macadamia nut pancakes. For our first breakfast, she had some Belgium waffle thing.
I had what I had every time we ate there, the eggs benedict
They served coffee, Kona of course. DD had her iced. With cream and sugar. I had iced tea which was this flavored stuff that tasted awful. Only tea I want is classic with lemon. No sugar. Other than the tea, the breakfast was great. The hollandaise sauce was unbelievably good. Feeling pretty good we headed back to the resort.
On the way back there was a jewelry shop owned by a local artist and of course the kid needed to go in and look around. Ended up with this. Actually the jewelry was reasonable. Found this a lot in Kona. She bought stuff there and found similar things at Aulani that were exponentially more expensive.
The helicopter tour didnt start until 2:00 so we had time to kill. The place was about 30-40 minutes away so I thought we would drive around until it was time to take off. Head out and near to the resort was a National Park. Why not stop? We had time.
Interesting place, just dont ask me to pronounce the name
What struck me was the barren aspect of park. Nothing but lava rocks.
Almost like what I think would be the surface of the moon
Unfortunately, it was not whale spotting season. This looked like a good place to whale watch. Would have been cool. We did see some of the creatures depicted later in the trip
Not a good picture but this is where I discovered why this side of the island is so dry and brown. The mountains are the breaking point. Most of the winds come from the East and the clouds dump all their water on the eastern side of the island. There it is like a rainforest, here it is almost like a desert. Similar to the Mainlands West Coast.
One of the interesting things driving was all this graffiti in white rocks that contrast the black lava rocks. They were all along the road. Will loves Elizabeth, RIP... Interesting. No hidden Mickeys though. Thought about doing one. Maybe next time.
Mimosa anyone?
Another stop off further down the road
Beautiful contrast between the black of the rocks and the blue of the Pacific
And the mountains off in the distance
Back in the car, Pooh liked to take her picture in the mirror
Out of picture space so the next post will be the trip to the harbor and a drive up a mountain.
Up Next: First Day in Hawaii Part 2. AKA: Goats? Why Does it Always Have to be Goats?
Nice pictures.
