Tuesday
When I arrived in Honolulu to meet my mom, I landed an hour
late because they had to fix the cargo area’s vent system after we had boarded.
Unfortunately, her flight had arrived EARLY so she was sitting around at the
car rental office for over two hours. Yikes! Our first stop was the Honolulu Cookie
company near the airport. We bought our coworker gifts right away, so we wouldn’t
have a deal with it later (great decision). Next, we visited Lin’s Hawaiian
Market near Ala Moana. The snack selection was ridiculous! Karen recommended
their furikake mix, so I bought three bags!! I also got some lilikoi flower,
garlic chip, and spicy olive snacks. All very interesting. We had some time to
kill, so I ordered melon snow. We shopped at Ward Center before heading to
Aunty’s house for a wonderful, welcoming, Hawaiian dinner. She served lau lau,
poke, poi, kalbi, and sweet bread with lilikoi butter. I was shocked at how
well poi tastes when paired with kalbi. I was stuffed!
Wednesday
We ate breakfast at home, and had a nice chat with Aunty and
Uncle. I had a local granola for breakfast—something healthy! We picked grandma
up at home and ran errands with her. At the grocery store, we found li hing
pineapple. It was REALLY delicious. For lunch, we ate at Fresh Catch. We shared
three types of poke, crab stuffed ahi roll, and garlic chicken. The best poke
of the three was a wasabi flavor. I liked it so much that I think it’s one of
my favorite pokes!
After dropping grandma off, we shopped at Windward Mall. My
mom checked out the farmer’s market and bought me some fresh papaya!!! I bought
a few tank tops from Cookies, Know1, and Local Motion. Love those stores! We headed
back to Kailua, where Cindee had arrived with her family for dinner. Aunty
served hibachi steak, spareribs, and veggies. For dessert, we had haupia cake.
So much good food.
Thursday
We ate breakfast at home again, which was the fresh papaya
from the farmer’s market and some apple banana! We went to visit grandma,
before heading to Ward Center for more shopping. I bought a cute one-piece
bathing suit for my water adventures over the weekend. I was so fat, I couldn’t
fit into any of the bikinis that I had at home. L
My mom wanted to go to Barnes & Noble, so we stopped by Ala Moana and ended
up browsing. For lunch, I ate Poke & Box. Their two-poke lunch is such a
deal! And they have tempura ball toppings, which I had never seen before. I
wish all poke places offered that topping.
We went back to grandma’s house for dinner because she had
prepared a wonderful roast stew. Uncle Douglas brought Sicilian pizza and cannoli,
and Aunty Edith brought more poke from Fresh Catch. Grandma showed us an old
photo album, which I had never seen. There were a lot of great photos of my mom
and everyone else! It was truly a delight to spend so much time with grandma this
trip, and really sit down and chat with her about the past. I can see that she
gets tired faster now because her attention fades after a few hours. It makes me
appreciative that we could make the trip, and I can’t wait to visit again soon.
Friday
I flew to Kona bright and early! Yep, this trip was from
Kailua to Kailua-Kona. We had a delicious breakfast and Frenchman’s before
picking up dessert at Holy Donuts. We ordered a dozen and they were all good,
but the real gems were the crème brulee donuts! Andrey had to work, so we had
lunch in Waimea at Luna. Best zucchini pizza I’ve ever had. The crust was
buttery and light. I LOVED IT! Andy and I ventured down the coast to Hilo. We
stopped at Waipio Lookout and Laupāhoehoe Point to check out the scenery and
take photos. We found a market on the way to Akaka Falls, where we ate the most
delicious cinnamon bun ever. It was made with Hawaiian sweet bread! At Akaka
Falls, we decided to jog about halfway through the hike. The drop was really
impressive, and there were so many different types of gorgeous trees!!
After the long day of sightseeing, we had dinner in Hilo at
Hawaiian Style Café. The wait was over an hour, but it was worth every minute.
We shared a surf and turf dish, poke nachos, and tripe stew. There was SO MUCH
food that we were stuffed! The mauna kea coffee was really yummy. After dinner,
we drove through torrential rain down dark and deserted freeway to get back to
Waimea. We still had time to kill when we go to Waimea, so we wandered around
the KTA store. I loved walking through each aisle, especially at a new store!
There was McDonald’s nearby, so we tried the guava pie. After Andy ordered it,
he went to the bathroom and I opened it to take a bite. After my first
(delicious) bite, the pie dropped back into the pie box and came out through
the bottom. MY PIE WAS ON THE FLOOR!!!! I was laughing so hard that I almost
peed in my pants. I told Andy what happened on my way into the bathroom, and by
the time I came back out he had already bought a second one. HAHA. He didn’t like
it, so I got to eat the rest. We finally picked Andrey up and headed home.
Exhausting day!
Saturday
We began our day looking for food! After a few failed
attempts and a trip to the chocolate store (where we had delicious chocolate
turtle samples), we ate melona bars and butter mochi for breakfast in the car. We
also stopped at Matsuyamas and picked up poke-stuffed inari. Legit hiking food!
We drove to Rainbow Falls to check out the gorgeous views, and then we made our
way to another scenic fall. I didn’t feel comfortable taking the local trail,
but the guys convinced me to do it. The path was muddy and steep, the rocks
were slippery, and by the time I got to the stream crossing I just decided that
I wasn’t going to go any further. Andy and Andrey got to enjoy the rest of the
waterfall hike while I sat in the stream. In retrospect, that probably wasn’t a
great place to park my butt. Especially because that’s probably not a great
place to be during a flash flood.
We drove on to Hilo and picked up strawberry mochi from Two
Ladies Kitchen. The strawberry mochi was even better than I expected, and I had
some really high expectations due to the number of people who highly
recommended it. For dinner, we ate at Café Pesto. The ginger calamari was very
good, and the steak, fish, scallops, shrimp, and risotto were all delicious.
After some wine, we stopped by Ross to pick up a blanket. Andy and Andrey ended
up buying these matching shark shirts, but they didn’t have any in my size.
DISAPPOINTING!
When we got to the Volcanoes National Park, we rented
bicycles and poncho’ed up. Andrey shared a tandem with me, but the gears on the
tandem bike didn’t work. So we had to pedal a whoooole lot. The ride up was not
so bad, even though it was a bit windy. When we got to the top, we could see
this beautiful, billowing blob of lava red. The shape was ever-changing and
morphing as the lava was hitting the water. It was beautiful and almost
emotional. Walking on the lava was also an interesting experience. To know that
you’re walking on something that was LAVA is perplexing and makes you really
think about how cool nature is. The ride back down actually had more uphill
areas, and the rain really started pouring sideways. The wind picked up and it
was so loud that I felt disoriented. I pedaled as hard as I could, and I was
honestly miserable toward the end. I started thinking about Forrest, which I
guess is my happy place? By the time we got to the bottom, I was totally beat.
That was one of the most physically challenging things that I’ve experience in
my adult life. We grabbed some food at Ken’s House of Pancakes, and the saimin
made me feel a bit refreshed. We decided to head home and call it a night.
Sunday
We started the day with breakfast from Peaberry &
Galette. The croissant sandwich was so freaking delicious. We drove to the
Captain Cook area and rented our kayaks and snorkeling equipment. I was nervous
to go out on the water because I can’t swim, I’ve never kayaked before, and I’ve
never been out on open water without a boat before. The waves were crashing
against the rocks, and it was really intimidating. Luckily, Andrey was in my
kayak and he is basically a water angel. Once we got started, I realized that I
LOVE the rowing part. I insisted on rowing all of the way, even when we didn’t
need to row. When we turned the kayaks and started moving sideways with the
waves, I felt seasick. I didn’t really have any options so we kept going to the
snorkeling area by the Captain Cook monument. We stopped because we saw a group
of dolphins! They were playing, spinning, and splashing around us. I got into
the water to float with them, and we heard the high-pitched noises of the dolphins
communicating. It was one of the most beautiful moments of my life. I’ve never
felt as close to nature as I did right then. Andrey really got close to them
and started singing in the water. Dolphins are so cool! Andy and I both did not
snorkel. I’m glad we went anyway because being with wild dolphins in sea water
is probably not something I’ll get to experience again. For post-kayak food, we
ate Da Poke Shack and it was glorious. By sunset, we were heading up to Mauna
Kea observatory. Watching the sunset from mid-mountain was amazing and
colorful. The higher we climbed, the colder it got. I was happy to buy a
sweatshirt and t-shirt at the observatory store just to keep warm! The Asia tourists
with their phone lights and cameras were annoyingly disruptive when we were
trying to stargaze. If I could volunteer anywhere in Hawaii, I would work there
to scold the tourists. Anyway, there were so many stars that I don’t think I’ve
ever seen before. The night was crystal clear and we even saw Venus in one of
the fancy telescopes. After the stargazing tour, we drove back to Kona and ate
tacos at Oceans. I had a li hing margarita, which was my first alcoholic
beverage of the trip. That must be a record!
Monday
Andy made eggs for breakfast, and we ate them with taro
sweet bread. We headed to the pier, where we boarded our Big Island Duck
Adventures tour! I love duck tours because they’re fun, comfortable, exciting,
and you learn so much. This tour was sooo windy that I could barely keep my
eyes open at time. Even with sunglasses on! We played trivia and our team, the
geminis, certainly did not come close to winning. HAHA. The tour was fun
anyway, and my favorite part was seeing the partially restored pond wall. The guides
told us about how there was only one person who still had the skill of placing
stones. I think that is something I would enjoy, like stuffing envelopes and
grouting bathroom tile. After the tour, we headed to Waikoloa Beach to look for
sea turtles. We eventually saw one!!! He was playing in the water by the shore.
We went shopped the King and Queen shops, but Andrey was the only one who
bought something. HAHA. Well, I did buy a melon icee. After checking out the beaches
nearby, we had dinner at Holukoa Café. The dinner was bittersweet, because I
knew I would be leaving shortly after. I had a spectacular time on the Big
Island because Andrey was a fantastic host and Andy was obviously the best
travel buddy. I usually feel stressed, rushed, and overwhelmed on vacations
with big groups. Our trio was the perfect arrangement to enjoy everything at
our own pace. This is THE MOST wholesome and active friends vacation I’ve ever
taken. I can’t believe we experienced so much in so little time. I love how
much they pushed me outside of my comfort zone. We made so many memories! I
lava it. J
