Occasionally Adventurous: Day Nine - The Big Island of Hawaii

We left our Maui apartment at 6:30 a.m. for the airport, and by ten we were landing at Hilo after a 25 minute flight. Our first accomplishment was talking the nice lady at Budget into renting us a Ford Explorer for not much more than the Dodge Avenger we had reserved. The Explorer is a really sweet vehicle - plush and roomy.

We couldn't check into our condo till three, so we drove around north Kohala district for awhile. We picked up a picnic lunch at a deli in Kawaihae and ate it at Samuel M. Spencer Beach Park. We were amazed to find that the temperature along the shoreline was 92 degrees. It was 66 in Hilo, and varied throughout the drive along the steep cliffs north of Hilo. Hilo gets 400 inches of rain a year (not a typo), and the rain forest in the lower elevations is lush, green and blooming and lovely. It was so foggy and cloudy that we never saw Mauna Kea. The low hills of the Hakalau National Wildlife Refuge disappeared into the clouds around 5000 feet.

From Spencer Park we drove north along the shoreline on 270 to Hawi, a historic town built when sugar cane production was at its peak. Now very little cane is grown here, and Hawi's business district is only two colorful blocks long. We didn't linger, afraid to leave all of our luggage and electronics in an unattended car. We drove south from Hawi on 250, turning east on 19 to Waimea, the paniolo (cowboy) capital of the Big Island. From there we headed southwest on 190. This is all ranch country. We saw sheep, cows and horses at the northern end. As we came south, the grassy fields turned to fields filled with lava rock. We could see down the path of the lava down to the ocean. We got to Kailua-Kona around four. We drove down the main street, Alii Drive, which was bustling with people. Lots of shops and restaurants. Our condo is in a complex south of the town a couple of miles, right on the ocean.

We spent a short time unpacking, then sat on the lanai with mai tais, watching surfers. It was raining when we got to Kona, and a light rain lingered till nearly sunset. Then the clouds broke up and we had a nice sunset, followed by stars. We didn't want to leave, and had chips and salsa for dinner. A good start to our week on the Big Island. Which certainly is vast compared to Maui!