Last Days

Our luau on Wednesday night was entertaining and fun . . . probably something we wouldn't do again but glad we did. It actually grossed me out to see them un-bury the pig and then serve it but they had some really yummy fish, so I ate that instead. The dancers were neat, and we learned some more about Hawaiian history.

Yesterday we traveled to the east side of the Big Island, to a town called Hilo. Michael read online about a Hilo Art Museum so we went on a wild goose chase trying to find it. Apparently they have been in several different locations and we ended up getting a bunch of different opinions on where they might be and some locals didn't even know the art museum existed, which is strange in such a small town. Hilo reminded us a little of San Franscisco. It is, obviously, right by the ocean so it's very humid, and it's a hilly little town. We went to a couple waterfalls, one named Akaka Falls that was very spectacular and one named Rainbow Falls, where we hiked up to the overlook at the top of the waterfall. We shared a pizza at a little Italian place in Hilo and headed home on Saddle Road. Saddle Road is the shortest distance between Kona and Hilo, but it was built by the military out of neccessity and isn't the best road. It's like a roller coaster for the car. It was a fun drive, and it goes between the two mountains on this island, Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea. Yesterday we went from 71 degrees in Hilo, to 48 degrees by Mauna Kea, and back to the 80s in Kona. We stopped at the Mauna Kea visitor's information and observatory building but didn't go up to the summit. We also saw some military vehicles off Saddle Road, including some huge black helicopters. After arriving back in Kona, we ate dinner at the Kona Brewing Company brewpub. They name beers based on Hawaiian landmarks, such as Wailea Falls in Maui (on the Road to Hana). It was a fun atmosphere and the food was good. We had pizza with macadamia nuts, among other things.

Today is our last full day here. We are headed to Volcano National Park to explore. We decided against the helicopter trip . . . the woman we were working with was giving us prices based on one person and we were under the impression it was for 2, so the actually price to do it was double what we were expecting . . . and it's not cheap!! So we are exploring by car and foot today.

We fly out of Kona tomorrow night at 9:50pm Hawaiian, 12:50am Colorado time. We get back to Salt Lake City at 9am on Sunday morning. It will be a long night! We've had a great vacation but we talked yesterday about how we are ready to head home, stop living out of suitcases and hotel rooms, and see our families.