I've been having too much fun to blog. So here is what R and I did the last two days.
Monday was filled with "lets get in the jeep and see where it takes us." So up we got and off we went. We had some fantastic breakfast at the Aloha Theater about 15 min south of our Hotel. Oh it was good... R and I both tried something new, Portagues Sausage. Oh my was it tasty.From there we were off to head south.. But then I saw a shop called "Just Ukes." We stopped and met Paul as he was just about to open the store. Paul helped R find and learn the basics of Ukuleles. We purchased an electric/acoustic one for R to start practicing and incorporate into his music. Paul recommended we make a stop at Pu'uhonua O Honaunau. He drew us a map and off we went.
From there we went back to the hotel to drop off the Uke so it wouldn't get lifted from the Jeep.We stopped at Kona Joe's to look for some Chocolate Covered Coffee Beans for my brother and tasted some fresh roasted 100% Pure Kona Coffee. I really did like it. It wasn't as bitter as any other coffee I've tried. Then we made a stop at the Kona Coffee Heritage Farm. This place is a 80+ year old coffee farm that is run by the Hawaii Historical Society. The family that ran it before th HHS took it over worked and live at the farm from 1925 to 1994. The house they lived in is still there are was the same house for all those years.
Then we made the trek south futher to Pu'uhonua O Honaunau. We got a bit lost and ended up in a pretty bay. From there we righted ourselves and went further south. We arrived at the national park just when the parking gate attendant was off duty. So we didn't have to pay to park, but R and I made a donation that would have covered our enternace fee. This place was where the Kahuna lived and was where Hawaiians escaped to when they broke a Capu. These Capu (laws), if broken we punishable by death, but if you could make it here, the Kahuna would absolve you of your sins and you could go back to the village.
It was just beatiful. Very peaceful and heavy in the sense of history.
We left The Place of Refuge and went north to the Painted Church. This church is beautiful. It holds maybe 50 people and the walls are painted with religious scenes.
We made our way back to town to pick up some masks and snorkles, there is a great beginnner snorkle spot next to The Place of Refuge called Two Step that R and I are going to try out. From there we did a little window shoping along Ali'i Drive and got some great burgers at Splashers in Kona.
Yesterday we took a Circle Island Tour all around the island of Hawai'i. This was very cool. We started the morning at the Royal Coffee Co then to the Sweet Bread Bakery at the southern end of the island. We saw turtles at the black sand beaches, stoped at the Volcano Country Club and Course for lunch, went to Volcanos National Park, traversed the Thurston Lava Tube, ate fresh macadamia nuts at the Mauna Loa factory, saw chocolate covered dryed squid at the Big Island Candies factory and ended our evening driving through Parker Ranch, the third largest (interms of head of cattle) cattle ranch in the US.
We ate like pigs through out the day so R and I didn't grab dinner last night, he taught me to snorkle instead. Today is filled with a hair cut for me, a submarine ride and going snorkleing at Two Step. From there we might make it 13,000 feet in the air to Manua Kea to the Observatory.
