Berg May 2010 Big Island of Hawaii Vacation

Our trip to the Big Island of Hawaii (Google map) was divided into three chunks: A condo in Kona (largest city on the west side of the island), a cottage near Hilo (the largest city on the east side) and a single night at a resort in Kona.
On the map below, you get a rough idea by us flying into the western airport, staying south of it in Kona then driving north (great drive) around the island to Hilo (near the other airport. We stayed south of this airport, near Kea'au. We then drove the southern route (duller drive) back to Kona, where we left via their airport after one day in Kona.

We left on May 10th and got back at 4am on the 23rd. We had a travel day each way which was spent visiting Anne's brother in Phoenix. This made travel much easier than it would have been otherwise.

Due to having a 4.5-year-old and 23-month-old, we had to take things fairly easy. For the most part, each day had two parts that were divided by a nap (or would have been, had we been lucky enough for the kids to have slept).

There is a 6 hour time difference between EDT and Hawaii time. This meant that we woke early at the beginning of the trip but that we were so messed up, time-wise, by the end of the trip that nothing made sense at all. Anyway, it was not a huge deal. People are up early in Kona so there were things open at 6am (but not at 3:30, as we would have liked for the first morning there).

Part 1: Kona (May 11-15)
We stayed at a condo in Kona Shores. (Anne used VRBO.com to find this as well as the place near Hilo.) It was a residential-type of place. I would guess that 75% of the units were full-time residents. The pool was a bit small, but it was ok. The condo itself was unremarkable, but the location was decent.

11th- Got in late, went to condo pool, got situated a little--had an early bedtime because we were jet-lagged mainlanders.

12th- Got up at 3:30am, explored downtown Kona





then went to Hapuna Beach, the most beautiful one on the island (according to the tourism books).




13th-Mauka Meadows/UCC
These pictures are all from Mauka Meadows. It was the finest garden we saw the whole time. It had a few of every great fruit tree that grows on the Big Island. It is owned and maintained by a huge Japanese coffee company. As far as we could make sense of it, this is a public service to get investors to love their beans. These beans go for upwards of $50 a lb in Japan. Anyway, we wandered through their awesome grounds/trees and came to the largest fountain I have ever seen at the end of the trail.






14th-Kahalu'u beach twice (great snorkeling and good sand/sealife), Kanaka Kava dinner
This is a Kava bar that was frequented by locals. They were great to talk to. Kava (a bitter root that liquified and mixed with water) supposedly has "mellowing" effects on those who drink it, but all it did to me was numb our tongues. The food (we had ahi and pork) was awesome.




Part 2: Hilo (May 15th-20th)
We stayed at Deep Hawaii, a collection of 4 cottages that bills itself as being on a working fruit farm. It was a bit underwhelming, fruit-wise. Nearly everything was not pickable at that time and the fruit-farming portion of the property was not exactly appropriate for strolling around (it was organic/overgrown, nothing was labeled, and there were a lot of mosquitoes). We enjoyed the grounds around the cottage, but it they were nothing compared to the fully-manicured gardens that we saw during the day. The biggest surprises of our cottage were:
1. Mosquitoes--Kona had few, Hilo had many.
2. No A/C (it was 72 at night and 82 during the day with high humidity--every day has the same forecast). Two of our nights were pretty sticky and naps were definitely sticky.
3. Coqui frogs (a LOUD invasive pest brought in from Puerto Rico) were in abundance and sang to us from sunset to nearly sunrise. They sound just like whistling.

Caught a Coqui (got them from near our window 3 nights in a row to stop the noise)



Our cottage in Deep Hawaii Fruit Farm near Hilo



15th-checked out, drove to Kamakua Coast in Hilo

Hilo Farmers market (spring rolls, tamales, listened to a local big band, went to shoreline in Paradise Park.






16th - Onekahakaha beach in Hilo


17th-Volcanoes National Park




Mauna Loa Macadamia factory (awesome inflatable can of nuts, eh)

Not Mauna Loa, but it shows the manual labor that goes into macadamia nut production (why macadamias are so expensive).


Fun driving around:


18th-Pana'ewa Rainforest Zoo, Onekahakaha beach, L&L Hawaiian BBQ (Hawaiian BBQ is similar to chinese food but with with the meat cut into sheets instead of chunks)



19th-Drove through scenic routes near tropical gardens, Akaka falls, Rainbow Falls, Pe'e pee'e falls, stayed in and relaxed.
Ice cold young coconut





Falls




All animals have turned black to blend in with the lava rocks, even worms.

Lava Tree Park, where lava formed a cast around wet trees 200ish years ago.




20th-left Hilo, Hilo Coffee Mill, Volcanoes National Park again


Punalu'u black sand beach (turtles)




Southernmost bakery in the USA, Macadamia nut factory, Greenwell coffee farm



Part 3: Big Resort/Hanging Around Kona (20-21st)
Anne got a great deal online and we really needed to burn a day in Kona to wait for our flight. I had never been to a resort and I likely will not go to one again. It was odd to see how they worked: People get an expensive hotel room (which were good, but not really luxurious) so they can start adding really expensive items to their room tabs. From designer clothes and jewelry through any kind of alcoholic beverage you can think of, prices were 33% to 100% higher than they were just a few blocks away. I don't know how these things could work without credit. It was a consumptive buffet of overpayment and people lined up for it. They dinged us only for parking, which seemed odd given that they were the most expensive lodging around and we otherwise did not pay for parking on the island.
Maybe this sort of resort makes sense in third-world countries (where the resort is the oasis from poverty), but Hawaii had less apparent poverty than Cincinnati (and none of it was as severe), so no oasis was needed. The public beaches in Hawaii are GREAT. Furthermore, the resort did not even have a beach (it only had a rocky shore and an extravagant pool).
From our philosophical discussion about why resorts exist:
The Bergs vacation so that we get a break from our life by experiencing the lives of others. Resorts are for people who want to break from their lives by experiencing nothing at all.
Instead of actively engaging with a new place, resorts are for disengagement.
Instead of welcoming the awkwardness/challenge of learning about a new place, they require nothing other credit and for you to be willing to be served. You stand little chance of being challenged socially at a resort.

Philosophy aside, the resort was a great single-day break for us--the kids loved being in the huge pool (artificial pebbley beach in the pool, two waterslides, and plenty of shallow water). Best of all, they had A/C and we all slept soundly.
Resort shoreline (Joel and I walked all over this a'a lava in the morning), resort poolside (it was like 3 or 4 pools in one, but you might pick up the ambience from this one picture ).



dinner at Kanaka Kava again


21st-Swam and climbed on a'a lava rocks until 2pm then drove around until getting to the airport at 8 pm. We went to markets and ended up talking with a coffee farmer at the Kona International Market.

22nd Airplanes, Saw Scott in Phoenix, but we were all very tired so we slept for a lot of this time.
23rd - we got into Columbus around 1:30am, and were in bed in Cincinnati at 4am.