The Drive to Hilo

From Emily: I’m not even sure where to begin sharing about yesterday. I feel like we packed an entire week’s worth of sight seeing into one day. It was amazing. I guess I’ll just start at the beginning.

We were all up and going early and by about 8:40 we were in the car heading north. It was amazing to watch the changing landscapes. First, it was rocky and barren. Just black lava rocks and brown grasses. Then, it changed to lush green, rolling hills, cows grazing on the side. Our handy travel book (Hawaii: The Big Island Revealed) taught us lots of fun little bits. So, we learned all about Parker Ranch which is the biggest private ranch in the country. It is very hard to wrap my head around that idea, but it did seem to go on and on. We stopped for a quick break and snack in Waimea and then just outside, the book recommended a scenic drive. Since we weren’t in a hurry, we thought why not? It was amazing. So, beautiful and the views of Mauna Kea were stunning. It is just a massive mountain. So different from the mountains at home. We stopped several times for pictures and the girls were madly clicking out the windows. It will be fun to see what comes out. We saw beautiful green pastures and then it shifted to more woodsy – reminded us of the drive to Poipu on Kauai. Then, it opened up and we saw the ocean again. Definitely worth the time to do this little drive and so neat that the girls are now old enough to appreciate it.

Our next diversion was down to Laupahoehoe Point which was hit by a tsunami in 1946
. It was a totally different beach front experience here – wild and windy. You could definitely sense the power of the sea here and this rugged beauty.
Back on the road, we continued on to ‘Akaka Falls. Which have a massive 420 foot drop, however, perhaps the most impressive part was the little hike to the falls. The palms and greens were huge, towering plants. It felt magical and like we’d stepped into some fanciful world. So, lush and beautiful in this rain forest.
After the falls, we had some lunch and then continued our journey. We stopped briefly in Hilo, but didn’t see a lot there. Our guide booked talked about blood sucking mosquitoes at the falls and boiling pots there and since we were without insect repellent we chose not to give blood and bypassed this outing. Instead, we decided to continue onto Volcano National Park.

From Alex:Yesterday was a awesome day!!!!!!! We drove around the top of the island and stopped at Waimea to buy something. In between Waimea and Hilo we stopped at a water fall! There , were 2 water falls. The main one called Akaka falls was coolest. The other one, Kahuna falls, wasn’t as cool. There wasn’t much at Hilo so we drove on to the volcano.