Day 6 - Hilo, Hawaii

Waimea is a high elevation town and the coldest spot on our trip thus far. We bundled up before we headed out for the day then immediately started peeling off the layers at each stop.

After checking out, we went to Mamane Street Bakery and picked up some pastries for breakfast. The bakery was actually a tin warehouse lined with bagged bread and other tasty treats. I asked if they had a cafe because I heard they made good breakfast pastries and the owner said, "No, I just make things for people who come by." She turned around and pulled out a rack of freshly baked breakfast treats. It was a nice local find. I wish I had taken a picture but I was so thrown off by the unlikely transaction.

After procuring the baked goods, we stopped off at Waimea Coffee and picked up a couple of cups of today's special blend (happened to be "Obama Blend" -- the Hawaiians seem to be proud of the fact that the president is from Hawaii but at the same time I get the sense that not all of them love the president). We took our bagged breakfast to Hapuna Beach and ate while we soaked up the view. The beach is a postcard perfect depiction of the palm tree studded Hawaiian beach.

We spent the day traveling from Waimea to the Waipi'o Valley, following the Hamakea Coast down to Hilo and taking in several sights along the way including Akaka Falls and a couple of scenic turn offs. We missed seeing Rainbow Falls because we took a four-mile scenic drive that took us away from the highway.

A continual source of amusement to us as we travel around the islands is the Hawaiian language. There are only 13 letters in the Hawaiian alphabet so one would think it would be easy but it is surprisingly hard. Often there is just a one letter variation between towns or roads and when the last four letters are vowels it can be a little overwhelming. Thankfully, transactions happen in English but driving in a foreign language is remains daunting. Because we are pronunciation challenged, we can't remember anywhere we've been and we don't really know where we are going. Seriously, today we drove through Honoka'a, Hamakua and Kahana -- they are just similar enough to be completely confusing. Thankfully, instead of getting frustrated we just laugh. We laugh a lot.

Our new home, The Inn at Kulaniapia Falls, was tricky to find but we made it through the valley, over the hills, around the farms and up the mountain to the waterfall and our very brown room. The owner endeared herself to us by talking about "mac nut Belgium waffles" for breakfast. I hope she delivers.

Tomorrow we move to the town of Volcano.


Mother's Highlight: The water at Lapahoehoe Point was so beautiful. It was pretty much the most beautiful water I've ever seen. I also liked lunch at Hilo Bay Cafe (sweet potato and flaxseed burger with garlic fries, an arugula salad with parsley dressing and a coconut milk limeade).

Julia's Highlight: Laupahoehoe Point. The water was raging and blue and invigorating. The combination of the light sand, blue water and black lava rocks made for a jolting display of color with each white-capped crash of the waves. It wasn't a relaxing beach but the color and the fury were transfixing.