It's about time.....

There he is, our buddy for the four days we spent in Kona.

 

 The start of the Good Doctor week-long Thanksgiving hiatus. First off, bye-bye Vancouver........

........that Pacific Ocean is kinda big.....

Thank-you WestJet.......

......and thanks again. (beer and V-8 ain't quite the same as beer and clamato, just sayin.)

Aloha Waikiki! (The first and last time we will see it on this trip.)

.....changeover in Honolulu......

....a quick 56 minute flight and there it is!

.....touchdown in Hilo!

.....all that travelling makes one awfully thirsty!

Our first meal on the big Island. I highly recommend the Booch Bar in Hilo!

There I am, Mr. Ominous! We got to Hilo in the dark, and the walk to town was very dark, and rainy.

....very dark indeed.

.....we soon found out being on the northeastern side of the big Island meant a lot for rain. This was outside of our hotel door.

In the morning we got to see the hotel property in the light. Saw bananas.......

......a view of Hilo Bay from our front door......

.....meanwhile, on the inside......well.......

.....my uneducated guess, a breadfruit?

....andddddd the coconuts!

Our home for two nights. (definitely not for everyone). Described as "An old world Hawaii lodging experience."

uhhhh, ya, maybe we'll pass on the end units......

Lots of fresh produce in the outdoor markets in downtown Hilo.

The mandatory, pose by the banyan tree, pic.

The mandatory, pose with a big wave Kona beer, pic. (private joke, right Unk?)

You know what they say, it's not the size of your banana......

Time to explore, first around the Onomea Trail...........

.....around Honokaa......

.....exploring makes one awfully thirsty......

.......pit stop at the Honokaa public house......

.....mandatory selfie, then onto.......

Waipio Valley Lookout.

Very nice.........

......uhhhhhh very nice!

Then onto stunning Laupahoehoe Point.

5 o'clock somewhere.......

Then back to the Wild Ginger Inn for another quick monsoon.

Well, it worked. My piece of gum stopped the shower water from running onto the bathroom floor. (am not recommending this hotel by the way)

That's a good motto for Hilo and ?.......

One last look towards downtown Hilo.........

A quick visit to Liliuokalani Japanese gardens......

....and hello to this Hawaiian goose, which is considered a threatened species under the endangered species act.

.....and hello to this saffron finch.

Ritsue posing beside this stone lantern (erected in 1968) from Hiroshima prefecture to celebrate 100 years since the arrival of Japanese immigrants to the Hawaiian Islands.

It took 2 days for me to finally get my feet in the ocean.

....to quote B.T.O., "let it roll.......down the highway........

The rest of the day we spent at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.

The steam from this crater was awe-inspiring.

As we moved around we starting realizing the magnitude of this park. (We were not able (or allowed) to get close enough to see the Mauna Loa volcano.)

Ritsue inside the Thurston lava tube.

......let's see where this path takes us.......

.......the random, fern is not in the way, pic.

The crater rim trail brought us to this crater floor, wow!

......so incredible.

As we cruised through the park we saw many signs like this.

Another blessing...........

......down the road, the scale of these lava fields was becoming evident.

As we drove along Chain of Craters drive.........

.....towards the Holei Sea Arch......

We stopped a couple of miles before and took a little walk. The best part was no one else was around........really gave us time to ponder......

The sea arch was pretty cool, too.

Really enjoyed our Chevy Traverse.

One more stop to admire mother nature before we finally arrived at........

.......our Kailua-Kona home away from home for 5 days.

That's an okay view to wake up to in the morning!

Exploring close to home.......

.....we ventured out into the hills above Kona.

Thirsty time! We stopped at the Kona Brewing Company.

Seems so long ago already.......

Recommending the Ahi Tartare and the Shoyu chicken and rice.

The next day it was a visit to the Hala Tree coffee farm.

Nice view out to the ocean......

It was interesting to learn the process to get to the bean stage.

We were treated to a shot of their famous Mamaki organic tea, very nice.

......a little bamboo action......

Posers!

They had recently harvested, but there was still some coffee cherries on the trees.

Some of the trees were 100 years old.

  Now we've bean there done that.

Ritsue's friend Kumi told us about a "locals only" beach close to the coffee farm.

Keei Beach was just as we were told. Very few locals and zero tourists. It was a special afternoon.

We didn't really plan for the day. Lunch was spam nigiri from the local grocery store. (It was good!)

Evidence of the past lava flows was everywhere.

Ritsue out for a swim......

This spike was quite a ways offshore in the lava rock. Hmnnn......

Didn't have a snorkel, mask or fins, but still managed to spot this sea urchin.......

......and this yellow tang.

Prime parking as well. Where shall we "traverse" to next?

We had dinner that night at the Keei Cafe in Kealakekua, recommended to us by sis Jude and her husband Les.

The fish was exquisite.........

......as was the ahi tuna salad.

Top it off with a Lilikoi martini for dessert, yum!

The next day was touring around the Kailua/Kona......

.....going to miss it.......

.....time to refresh at the Fish Hopper restaurant.

.....one last stroll around the touristy parts of Ali'i Drive.

.......very close now.......to......

Huggo's On the Rocks!

What was pointed out to me after I posted this pic was the fact I left out the actual coconut!

Ya, pretty chillaxed......

......so good......

.....gorgeous......

That night was the first rain we experienced in Kona......

....topsy-turvy, I feel a change a comin'......

'til we meet again........

...the darn, time to head to the airport, say good-bye to paradise, pic.

Old school boarding at the Kona airport. 11:30 p.m, yuk.

....back to reality. Was 05:46 Kona time......

.....landing in Vancouver, 07:46 now back to reality.....

Yup. (and as I post this blog it is currently minus 7 Celsius, brrrrr)