Our planned 6:30 departure time came and went as we realized our bodies were starting to adapt to the Hawaii time zone - but we did eventually get on the road by 7:30. Driving south through Kailua-Kona, we saw our first big-box / "normal" retail since we landed on the island (I guess Village Burger is in a mall, and it has a Starbucks - but still with a very "cowboy" feel to it - not like a normal "off the highway" retail facility). It was interesting to drive through this after 2 1/2 days of wondering if lava-desert Hawaii had any "normal" retail. Not that we were craving it - but it was odd to have left all of my socks at home and then wonder if there was any store on the island at which I might buy replacements. Kailua has that type of store. Kohala doesn't. Wait - why do I need socks on Hawaii?
Our Hawaii guidebook - and I think I plugged it on Maui also - but Hawaii Revealed is absolutely the best guidebook you could have. We have not been steered astray by anything written in the book and answers to any questions we could have are contained within it's covers. I bought the Big Island version on our iPad a month before we came, and found that I really needed a guidebook to be a book so we bought a physical copy here on the Island. If anyone goes to Hawaii they should get this book first. It's great to read before you do something, but then also fun to review after you've experienced something they've written about to see how their perspective compares to yours. Usually very close.
Anyway, our guidebook talked about Donkey Balls. Before this draws frowns - they are a Hawaii thing - chocolate covered macadamia nuts in round (ball) form. So we stopped at the store and it was excellent. The tattoo-covered Hawaiian native lady that helped us was great and we enjoyed the stop immensely. Why we spent $93 at a store called Donkey Balls I still don't know, but they do taste good.
So after Donkey Balls (that'll be the last time I say it), we kept going south down Highway 11 and were amazed at the landscape schizophrenia between lava desert and rainforest - not only across the island, but even on this short part of the drive. We next stopped at Hana Hou Restaurant and Bakery in Na'alehu. Suzy and the kids went crazy over the "malsada" - Portuguese donuts. I just remember the heartburn (actually can still feel it as I type, but yes the taste was good).
Our last pre-Volcano stop was at Punalu'u Black Sand Beach. This is a pretty cool "genuine" black sand beach, and we saw several large turtles up close. Given that it was a holiday weekend, there was a big local group having some sort of event there and that was interesting to see also. Lots of jacked-up, mud-strewn, 4 wheel drive pickups.
So then we entered Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park, with high hopes established by many who have called it the number one attraction in the state. We love the beaches in Hawaii, were moved by Pearl Harbor, enthralled with the landscape and micro-climates of Kauai, found Maui to be completely blissful in many different ways - so "number one" here on the islands is a really a high bar.
And if we'd seen a lava flow (which the rangers say takes a stroke of timing luck), it just may have crossed the bar. But we only saw steam - which isn't to say we didn't love Volcanoes Park - because we did - it just didn't reach the top spot with us. The steady rain probably didn't help - more on that below.
What we did do was pick the right trail to hike.
Unfortunately, we were about to the word "Iki" on the crater floor in the map to the right when the sky opened up and a hard, steady rain started to fall. Being the only Dad in the park who didn't plan for rain, we spent the next hour hustling back up the crater wall, through the Thurston Lava Tube, and eventually back to the warmth and dry comfort of our minivan!
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