So you’re going to Hawaii? Ever since we met my wife and I wanted to visit the Paradise of the Pacific, and in October we were finally able to pull off the trip. We asked people for things to do, things to see, read the Hawaii guidebooks (these were awesomely helpful), and for this blog I wanted to share many of the things we experienced, hopefully giving you ideas if you ever make it to the Big Island or Kauai.
I’m a little torn, though. Why? There is the part of me that wants to do a full-blown blog post about our vacation to Hawaii. The dilemma? A full-blown post would be pages, and pages, and pages, long. Okay, really not pages, unless you printed it out, but you would just keep scrolling, and scrolling, and probably give up around Day 3. We were there for 12 days. You would miss a lot.
So, the question came to me, “How do I shorten this thing? Would people rather read things, or see things?” Duh, seeing is easier, isn’t it?
My solution? A mostly picture blog post. Pictures are easy. You can look and keep on scrolling. Intermixed with the pictures will be interludes and links to all things Hawaii, or at least all things our Hawaii trip.
It was a travel day. We took off in daylight, arrived in the dark, and settled into our Airbnb place. I found it weird that the rental just uses a normal, manual lock-box, and I also wondered, but doubted, if they ever changed the code. Part of me wants to fly back just to see if the code is the same.
It’s a selfie of me and my reflection on the United walkway at O’Hare Airport.
If you look in the distance you can see a ring on the ground. That’s the new Apple Campus.
Is it weird that I like to take pictures from the window seat on the airplane, even in the dead of night?
Day 2 – Let’s Drive!
We had one goal while in Hawaii and that was not to be like a monk seal and lay on the beach all day. Don’t get me wrong, we had beach time planned, but we wanted to see things, visit things, and eat fun food. We jumped right into it on Day 2 by planning a trip down the west coast of the Big Island down to South Point.
My wife and I noted how the plants along the side of the road in Kona looked like the hair of troll dolls sticking out of the ground.
On the Big Island there are a lot of roadside memorials.
A banana virus? Sounds straight out of a horror movie!
I would have participated in the Ironman in Kona, HI, but I’ve got a bum knee and a big belly!
There was a lot of talk about the incoming weather, as I suppose there should be for an Ironman competition.
I tried my hand at negotiating at the Kona Farmer’s Market. I believe Kona Kay actually ended up having me pay more money than if I had just paid individually. I suck at negotiating.
St. Peter’s by the Sea Misson is this teenie church in Kona. I wanted to see inside, but it was closed. I guess God was out surfing!
We needed sustinance, and Yelp directed us here. Sun Dried Specialties has this fabulous lobster crab cake, and their poke is pretty darn good as well!
No, they aren’t donkey testicles, but chocolate covered macadamia nuts at the Donkey Balls Factory Store.
The 12-year old in me laughed at nearly every variety of donkey ball at the Donkey Ball store!
If you leave your resort you might be surprised to find that not all of Hawaii is pristine. It’s interesting as hell, though!
One of the murals at St. Benedict Catholic Church, a.k.a., The Painted Church. This one is of hell. Looks scary!
I didn’t know there was such a thing as a “Good Death,” but this is supposedly it, at The Painted Church, St. Benedict Catholic Church.
Let’s do The Old Testament at The Painted Church, St. Benedict Catholic Church.
I kept noticing that a lot of the statues looked like people trying to poop, but the people seemed constipated. I am 12.
It might be a National Park, and full of history, but the twelve year old in me loved the statues the most.
I thought these dudes at Pu’uhonua o Honaunau National Historical Park looked like Beavis and Butthead. If you don’t know who they are , well, you are young.
Do I really need to write a comment for this picture?
There are probably bikers aplenty every day, but with it being Ironman weekend on The Big Island, they were everywhere up and down the western coast.
Would you buy a DVD from this guy?
Stunning views and craziness can be found at South Point, Hawaii.
I would have followed the youngin’s into the hole, but I didn’t have my bathing suit.
Yup, made it to South Point. It’s the southern-most point of the United States. Suck it, Key West.
Down by South Point, HI, things are flatter, and there is grass fed beef.
Day 3 – The Beach is Hard
Having traveled the highway and byway of the west side of the Big Island we needed a day of rest. What better way to rest than at one of the best ranked beaches in the world, Hapuna Beach. The weather was perfect at the beach, but this was also the beginning of learning that the beach is hard. Well, laying on the beach is easy, but it was a long walk from the parking lot to the beach, and worse yet, uphill going back to the car. Sadly our sunset at a different beach, Anaeho’onalu Beach, wasn’t that great, but dinner at Roy’s Waikoloa Bar & Grill was a great way to wrap up our west side of the island trip!
Hapuna Beach is ranked as one of the best beaches in the world. I agree.
Anaeho’onalu Beach is the place to be for a good sunset on the Big Island. It also can look like a Cialis commercial.
One last sunset picture from Anaeho’onalu Beach. I kind of wish we had time for a trip on the glass bottomed boat.
Roy’s Waikoloa Bar & Grill was our last dinner on the Kona side of the island. It was at the recommendation of a friend that we ended up eating there. It was very tasty. Say “Aloha!” to Arnie, the General Manager. He rocks!
Day 4 – Rain?
Kona, HI doesn’t get a lot of rain, but as the fates would allow our departure day saw the west and north side of the island get just about their month’s worth of the wet stuff on our travel day to the east side of the island. The rain hampered our hope of hiking down the trail at the Pololu Valley Lookout, but our travel around the north of the island, over to Hilo, and down to our “treehouse” in Volcano was just as adventure-filled as our Day 2 adventure along the west coast.
The west side of the Big Island doesn’t get a lot of rain. We were treated to most of it on our departing morning.
The Pololu Valley Lookout is supposed to be beautiful. I wish I could have seen it through the misty rain.
The road from Hawi to Honokaa is up pretty high, high enough to be in the clouds!
When we told Arnie at Roy’s in Waikoloa of our travel plans to the other side of the island he recommended Gramma’s Kitchen. Great eats!
I don’t know why there is a memorial to David at the Waipi’o Valley Lookout, but RIP David.
The Umauma Falls are part of a ziplining experience. We didn’t have time for the ziplining, but the falls and surrounding parkland are worth the small admission fee.
On the Hilo side you can get a workout just walking down and up the path at the Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden. Enjoy the beautiful foliage!
At the Hawaii Tropical Botanical Gardens you might not always be able to see the blue sky. It’s that lush.
They aren’t really pipe cleaners, but they do look like them.
There is a lot of color at the Hawaii Tropical Botanical Gardens.
The menu at Kilauea Lodge in Volcano, HI changes a lot. Yes, for this menu they had antelope. It was actually very tasty.
Day 5 – I Don’t Want to Die Today
It was time to see desolation, rebirth, and wonder all in one. It was volcano day and a trip to Volcanoes National Park. The Kilauea crater is mammoth, the Chain of Craters road takes you from lushness to desolation to ocean, and it was while at the ocean that the decision was made not to die on this day.
What do you want to see if you visit a volcano? Lava! The problem? Every sign on this day was saying, “Andy, if you try to go to see the lava you will die.” The hike to the lava was about five miles in and five miles back, in upper 80 degree heat. It was recommended that you take 3 quarts of water per person, snacks, and it would take at least 5 hours. Sure, there is all of that, and plenty of people make the journey, but plenty of people aren’t out of shape, with questionable knees, and did I mention out of shape?
There was the part of me that really wanted to give it a shot, I mean, there are worse ways to die, right? Thankfully, when asked, the ranger said there wasn’t any surface lava flow on this day. So, basically, we would just be taking a long-ass hike that might kill us.
I decided I didn’t want to die, my wife decided she didn’t want to die, so we just enjoyed the scenery on the way back up the crater.
Every sign told me I would die if I tried to see the lava flow. I would have tried the ten mile hike except the ranger said there wasn’t any surface lava the day we were there. Thank God.
It was also the day that I got over the fear of our rented “treehouse” sliding down the mountain, and we wouldn’t be killed by the Chupacabra who I feared was on vacation from his home in Mexico.
This picture is actually in color at the Panalu’u Black Sand Beach. The gray skies and black sand beach create the illusion!
There are some things in this world you can only see in certain places, and a true black sand beach is one of them. It’s weird yet beautiful at the same time!
Black sand, dark water, and a touch of color at Panalu’u Black Sand Beach.
There is a good chance you will see turtles at Panalu’u Black Sand Beach. He, or she, makes me kind of want to be a turtle.
Lots of waterfalls are everywhere in Hawaii, but head to Rainbow Falls in Hilo, in the morning, to get a rainbow. We stopped it the afternoon. No rainbow. ???? It was still a cool waterfall even without the rainbow.
Lots of people want to go to Mauna Loa Macadamia Nuts for treats, but if you like chocolate Big Island Candies is really the place for you.
Looking for someplace interesting to stay when you head to Volcano, Hawaii? Why not a “treehouse.” They aren’t really treehouses, but houses in the trees. Just don’t watch any horror movies before you go. We stayed here. It was very nice.
To get to our “treehouse” we had to drive down roads that were lush. I also thought they would be great in a horror movie with someone jumping out, in the rain, screaming, “Run!”
Our “treehouse” was way off the main road. It was an awesome place to stay after I came to the conclusion the Chupacabra wasn’t going to get me.
Day 7 – Our Anniversary Sunset at Hertz
Ah, our 7th wedding anniversary and it was “Goodbye, Big Island! Hello, Kauai!”
After a giant pancake and a couple of plane rides we found ourselves in Lihue on the island of Kauai. We were excited for a romantic dinner, a lovely sunset, and getting to our Kauai pad at a reasonable hour.
Little did we know that our experience at Hertz would be just like a Seinfeld episode where they were able to take our reservation, they just weren’t able to hold the reservation. There was that, and the fact that maybe if the one employee would have gotten off of Snapchat and Facebook on her cell phone, and did some work, we would have gotten our car in time to see the sunset at someplace more romantic than the Hertz parking lot.
If you are near Hilo, HI, and want some great breakfast and lunch fair, head to Hawaiian Style Cafe. The Loco Moco was great, and this giant pancake was a side dish. Everyone was leaving with doggy bags.
The Big Island had some feral chickens but not nearly the amount that were on Kauai. These chickens were at Hertz. I think they wanted a ride to the airport.
We hoped for a slightly more romantic spot for our Kauai sunset on our anniversary, but Hertz had problems with our car reservatation. It was something out of the Seinfield episode.
There were a lot of tsunami signs for evacuation routes in Hawaii, but this sign had the best advice.
We needed a place for our anniversary dinner, and Sam’s Ocean View was on the way to our condo. At the time it was too dark for a good view, but the food was great and service good, too. A nice way to celebrate!
Day 8 – Sites From the Sky
We had two goals on Day 8. One was to enjoy our helicopter ride, and the second was to see our first sunset at a romantic place on Kauai. One out of two wasn’t bad.
The helicopter ride was awesome and seeing things from the perspective of a helicopter is phenomenal. I had to keep reminding myself at times to stop taking pictures, put down the camera, and just enjoy the beauty.
This was also the day I learned I really like poke thanks to Pono Market, and shave ice (there is no “d” even though you really want to called it “shaved ice”) thanks to Hee Fat.
The helicopter ride filled our morning, wandering Kapaa filled our afternoon, and trying to get reservations at Bar Acuda kept me on my phone as they never answered the phone to take a dinner reservation. With some time to kill before the sunset we drove to the restaurant, I made the reservation for the wrong night, now couldn’t get through on the phone to change the reservation, and their email response mentioned they would get back to me in 1 to 4 days.
We ate somewhere else. I guess business is too good. Good for them.
Now it was time for a romantic sunset near our condo, at the St. Regis in Princeville. Another night on Kauai, another night of a non-sunset as it turns out the view from the St. Regis isn’t that great from fall through spring, with the sun setting behind the mountains. ????
We would have to try again for our sunset.
They ain’t cheap, and neither is Hawaii, but if you want the easiest way to see everything, a helicopter is the way to go. Kauai is beautiful, and even more beautiful from the sky. We chose Blue Helicopter Tours.
Kauai from a helicopter.
More helicopter ride photos in Kauai.
The north coast of Kauai, from the air, is beautiful.
A view of Kauai you can only get from the air.
There is a rain/timing thing needed for a good helicopter ride, and we were treated to the Wall of Tears at Mt. Waialeale.
I was told that while in Hawaii I had to try Poke. Turns out I really like Poke, and Pono Market in Kauai had the best I tried.
Just in case you need to see what Pono Market in Kauai looks like from the outside, so you don’t miss it.
When in Hawaii you must have Shave Ice (there is no “d” in ‘shave”). First stop was Hee Fat. They had the best!
Yup, stop in here for great shave ice and and some nice shopping.
Need a sunset while in Kauai? While the St. Regis Princeville probably has a beautiful sunset most of the year, if you head there from fall through spring, the sun goes down behind the hills and is kind of crappy.
Day 9 – Finally a Sunset, and Great Pie.
We didn’t intend to spend the entire day on the south side of Kauai, but dammit, we wanted a sunset! Our initial goal was just to see Waimea Canyon, aka The Grand Canyon of the Pacific, grab some more shave ice, and maybe drive through the Tree Tunnel.
We took the drive up the long road to Waimea Canyon, but the tricky part is the waiting because one minute it might be rainy and cloudy, but sit tight for five or ten minutes and suddenly everything is gorgeously lit by the the sun.
According to The Ultimate Kauai Guidebook: Kauai Revealed (Ultimate Guidebooks), keep driving up Kokee Rd until it ain’t a road no more. You end up at Pu’u O Kila Lookout for the the best view outside of the canyon, which I admit was pretty awesome after the clouds cleared.
Back down the mountain it was time for Jo Jo’s shave ice, a tree tunnel, a blow hole, and the Kukui’ula Village Shopping Center for their Farmer’s Market with a snack of pie, soup, enchilada, and margarita.
Finally it was time for our awesome, Kauai sunset, complete with monk seals and surfers.
Whew, what an awesome day!
You better like winding, dark roads if you plan on driving yoruself around Kauai.
I was surprised I caught this shot from the passenger seat of our car.
At Waimea Canyon lookout you might be surprised to see graffiti in the bathroom. Not so pristine as the view of the canyon.
The Waimea Canyon road is long and winding, but the view is spectacular. If misty, wait a bit and see nature’s beauty arrive from the mist.
Wait a few minutes and a misty view will begin to give way to a little more beauty at Waimea Canyon.
Waiting a few more minutes and then the sun arrives at Waimea Canyon.
Bring your raingear and wait a few minutes at Pu’u O Kila Lookout. Eventually you will get an awesome view.
There are many lookouts as you travel The Waimea Canyon road. Go ahead and stop at some of them for different views!
After the canyon we found ourselves at Jo Jo’s Shave Ice in Waimea on our quest for the best shave ice. Jo Jo’s wasn’t quite a fluffy as the shave ice at Hee Fat.
Even though Jo Jo’s came in second place in our shave ice quest, Josh did make the experience enjoyable. He even smiled.
Driving to the south side of Kauai? Don’t miss the coolness of a tree tunnel made entirely of Eucalyptus trees.
Feeding ferel chickens? Not really a problem you find in the continental US.
On the south side of Kauai is Spouting Horn. Watch the ocean erupt through the blowhole, and hear the lizard “roar!”
Monk Seals are endangered. It’s sad because they are so cute when resting on the beach, kind of like me.
Since the sunset on the north side of Kauai was kind of crappy, the next day we headed to Poipu Beach Park. The sunset was exactly what we hoped to see: Magnificent.
The surfers don’t really care about the sunset. They just want a wave.
One more sunset picture at Poipu Beach Park, Kauai, HI
Day 10 – The Beach is Hard, Part II
After the busy-ness of Waimea Canyon we needed a day of rest. It was time to find a spot on the beach. We started at Anina Beach. It stretches for a couple of miles, the water is wonderful, but we found a lot of the beach a little too rocky for our liking. Bummer.
Let’s head to Hanalei!
Sure, parking can be a bitch, but our Guardian Angel of Parking Spots, Aunt Geraldine, found us a good location and it was time to vegetate for the day. Hint: Don’t forget to put sun tan lotion on the tops of your feet! Ouch!
Yea, every now and then a rain cloud would show up, but any shower passed quickly allowing us to watch a completely enjoyable family enjoy the water all day.
We had one more shave ice stop, Wishing Well, which kind of disappointed us as we heard good things about it, but any shave ice is better than no shave ice! Then it was time for dinner and a final cocktail before our departure the next day. Luckily we were treated to a saxophone player, because nothing screams “Hawaiian music” like a saxophone player.
Want calm water and lousy sand (unless we just didn’t walk far enough) on the north side of Kauai? Head to Anini Beach. Want fun water and awesome sand? Head to Hanalei Bay. Parking sucks, and if things get a little cloudy or sprinkly just wait about five minutes because the sun will be back!
Hanalei Beach will be partly cloudy one minute, sunny the next. Enjoy it all!
Our third stop for shave ice was Wishing Well Shave Ice down in Hanalei. I wanted it to be better, but it ended up in third place.
We learned the beach is hard. There is walking on the beach, walking to the beach, and swimming if you decide to get in the water. The hardest thing? Don’t forget to put suntan lotion on your feet.
The shopping center with a Tiki bar had some entertainment. A saxophone player?
Day 11/12 – Take Me Home, Friendly Skies
Our trip was coming to a close, but we had some time to kill before getting to the airport. What to do? My friend Catherine, in her list of things that are cool on Kauai, mentioned the Himalayan Academy. We sneaked our way onto a tour which was cool as it allowed us to see the Iraivan Temple being constructed, a marvel of craftsmanship. A very peaceful place, and fascinating!
One flight was late, there was sprinting through Honolulu airport like O.J. Simpson in a Hertz commercial, sick people in front of us who brought their own smorgasbord of sub sandwiches, chips other snacks to eat, and then proceeding to fart them all out for the last two hours on our flight from Honolulu to Chicago, an Uber driver who left us standing on the curb, another Uber driver who paid her tolls with actual cash instead of having an iPass, and one really, happy dog to greet us as we walked through the door back home! Phew and pee-yew!
We had a few hours before we needed to be at the airport so it was time for one last stop. At the recommendation of a friend we found ourself at the Himalayan Academy on Kauai. It was very peaceful.
Construction of the Iraivan Temple continues at the Himalayan Academy on Kauai. It’s being built from granite from India, and is a wondrous work of construction skill.
We hijacked our way onto a tour at the Himalayan Academy. Our tour guide was very informative, and explained that the skilled craftsman made this chain out of one piece of stone.
We left Hawaii in the afternoon so the final sunset of our trip was from the plane. Aloha!
It’s a long, direct flight from Hawaii to Chicago, especially with the time change. Morning light didn’t yet arrive in Chicago, but the city lights greeted us home.
Put the Camera Down
Hawaii is a phenomenal place. If you’re going there I have one recommendation: Get your ass off the resort and visit, hike, relax, and experience. Lastly, this was our experience. It includes most of the things my wife and I did while on the Big Island and Kauai. Oh yea, I have another recommendation, sometimes put the camera down, and just let your mind create memories for your lifetime. There are images a picture can never recreate.
