May 3, 2017 - Tanya's Trip to Hawaii - Day 2 - Kona & Kailua Village and Hilo

Elisa's Daily Scoop
NEXT TRIP DEPARTS IN: 20 DAYS

Kailua Village & Hilo

Happy, Happy Hump Day!!

I am so happy!  It's the first day in a number of them that I woke up and the sun was shining! Very hopeful that we'll be blessed with sunshine through the weekend.

This weekend, Saturday, to be exact, my parents return to New York from their Winter retreat in Boca Raton, Florida.

My Dad hates to leave there and I do not blame him one iota!! The weather, the lush green everyday, the slower pace of living - so I'm sure he will be rather miserable to be back on Long Island.
​Anyway - I'm just glad to have them back here!!

Hawaii - here we come!

As for today, I'm going to be "tagging along" virtually as Tanya bops around Hawaii.  Today she is on "the big Island" where she will be visiting Kona and Hilo, which I'll tell you about!

​Kona

Kona (credit: tripadvisor)

The sunny Kona District stretches for about 60 miles from Kona International Airport to beyond Kealakekua Bay on Hawaii Island’s lava-lined western coast.

This area is quite expansive and it is filled with everything  from coffee farms to historic Hawaiian landmarks.  

Kailua Village or "Kailua-Kona" can be found in Kona as well. For history buffs, King Kamehameha actually spent his final years in Kailua-Kona.

Today, Kailua Village is a bustling, gathering place in the heart of Kona and is located 15-minute south of Kona International Airport.

It is home to a variety of shops, restaurants and nightlife,  amidst historic places like Hulihee Palace, Mokuaikaua Church and the Ahuena Heiau.

Hulihee Palace - located in historic Kailua-Kona, Hawaiʻi, on Ali'i Drive. The former vacation home of Hawaiian royalty, it was converted to a museum run by the Daughters of Hawaiʻi, showcasing furniture and artifacts. (credit: wiki.com)

Mokuaikaua Church, located on the "Big Island" of Hawaii, is the oldest Christian church in the Hawaiian Islands. The congregation dates to 1820 and the building was completed in 1837. (credit: wiki)

Ahu'ena Heiau is a temple of peace and prosperity. Built by King Kamehameha I between 1812 and 1813 to honor Lono, the god of fertility and served as the king's personal refuge and was his home for the last years of his life. (credit: gohawaii.com)

Other significant historic places in the area include Kealakekua Bay to the south, where Captain James Cook first set foot on the island in 1778 and where he was eventually killed.

​Nearby is Puuhonua o Honaunau National Historical Park, a well-restored Hawaiian “place of refuge.” North of Kailua-Kona is the Kaloko-Honokohau National Historic Park, a 1160-acre park that lets you explore early heiau (temples), fishponds and petroglyphs.

Puʻuhonua o Hōnaunau National Historical Park is a United States National Historical Park located on the west coast of the island of Hawaiʻi in the U.S. state of Hawaiʻi (credit: nps.gov)

Hilo

​Hilo is a town on Hawaii, "the Big Island" and is known for Wailuku River State Park, featuring Waianuenue, or Rainbow Falls, with its colorful mist effects.

​The bubbling basalt-lava rock pools known as the Boiling Pots are nearby. To the south is Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, home to rainforests and the active Kilauea and Mauna Loa volcanoes.

Please check out Tanya's photos - so gorgeous!!!
And read about her first day on "the Big Island."

I'll be back with more tomorrow about this amazing state!!

-E
xoxo

Tanya's Daily Scoop
CURRENTLY TRAVELING IN: HAWAII

Lava Fields Galore!

Aloha! 

Coming at you from Kona, on the Big Island of Hawaii.

Map of Hawaii at our Resort (c)travelincousins.com

I'm so happy to finally be here!

I've been visiting the Hawaiian islands since 1994 and Hawaii Volcanoes National Park has been on my "Wish List" (I don't like the term bucket-list) for years and years and yet this is my first visit to this Lava filled island!

Credit: Oregonstate.edu

Related reading:
My first time to Maui!

​In fact I had a friend ask me if I had wanted any suggestions and/or tips about the island because she visited here a few months ago - and LOVED it.
She and her husband put 1,400 miles on their rental in the course of a week!!!
Now that is a whole lot of driving on an island! 

But this is no ordinary island - 
Hawaii AKA Island of Hawaiʻi, the Big Island, or Hawaiʻi Island is the largest island located in the U.S. state of Hawaii.

It is the largest and the southeastern-most of the Hawaiian Islands, a chain of volcanic islands in the North Pacific Ocean.
​With an area of 4,028 square miles, it is larger than all of the other islands in the archipelago combined and is the largest island in the United States.

However, it only has 13% of Hawaii's people.

The island of Hawaii is the third largest island in Polynesia, behind the two main islands of New Zealand.

So of course I wanted to hear her suggestions/tips...

And after sending me lots of helpful ideas, her reply to me was: 
"Glad to help! I can't believe I've been somewhere you haven't lol!!!"

Our time in Hawaii started with heading to grab some lunch - as we were pretty hungry (since I left all of our food and snacks at home on the kitchen counter). 
So our first stop was Evolution Cafe - which turns into Ai Pono a few nights a week. Actually there are 3 businesses being run out of one kitchen - a Pizzaria, a vegan bakery and smoothie shop, and a vegan cafe.

For this particular visit we were going to the vegan bakery/smoothie shop, which also offers a breakfast menu until 11:30am. So smoothies it was!

Coconut Grove shopping center (c)travelincousins.com

Evolution Bakery and Cafe (c)travelincousins.com

All Vegan menu (c)travelincousins.com

Once we were sipping on our refreshing smoothies, we decided to take a wee bit of a stroll...

Historic Kailua Village Flag (c)travelincousins.com

Kailua-Kona (c)travelincousins.com

Royal Kona Resort (c)travelincousins.com

We then went to check in and check out the resort...

Royal Kona Resort (c)travelincousins.com

Royal Kona Resort (c)travelincousins.com

Take a break (c)travelincousins.com

After listening to the surf and watching the waves roll in and out (as well as the clouds), we decided to go for a little drive. 

Soooo much lava - this is a drive by pic (c)travelincousins.com

More lava - this is a drive by pic (c)travelincousins.com

Lava for as far as the eye can see - this is a drive by pic (c)travelincousins.com

​And there were Lava fields everywhere!

Actually as we were landing yesterday, all I could see were fields of LAVA - this was kinda shocking to me that the runway was located on a Lava field...

Well that was before realizing that these Lava fields are everywhere!

Lava flows

I have never seen this much Lava in my life!!!

Dinner was next and boy was I famished.
​
We went to Monstera and had a lovely Japanese meal of Sushi, Seaweed Salad, and a Yummy sizzling plate of Tofu in a ginger sauce. Mmm the meal really hit the spot!

Vegetable Roll (c)travelincousins.com

I'm ready to dig in (c)travelincousins.com

Dave is ready to dig in (c)travelincousins.com

After that we were back in the car and driving back to Kona. I was rather sleepy and kept dozing off. The 1.5 hours of sleep the night before had caught up to me!

As for today we are heading clockwise on a semi circle drive of this BIG ISLAND - gonna see some amazingly gorgeous views, waterfalls, the town of Hilo, and a famed local farmer's market.

It's time for us to head on out. I'll be back tomorrow to bring you the full scoop and lots of pictures from day 2 of our Hawaiian adventure .

Toodles,
​-T