On our way, we stopped of at a few places...some scenic points and at a beautiful beach called Hapuna. The Travel Channel rated this beach in its top 10 beaches in the world (according to the people here in Hawaii). The beach was beautiful…white soft sand and beautiful clear blue water. I could have stayed on that beach for hours with a book, an umbrella and a cold beverage…It was sunny and beautiful.
As we continued north a ways, we ran out of road...literally. The road just ended without warning at the Pololu Trail. We parked and got out to see incredible cliffs, and the gorgeous blue water surrounded by what looked like a rain forrest. This place is amazing. We were again not prepared to hike, but Mike went anyway. I am disappointed I wasn’t able to go with him. We stayed at the top of the cliffs and enjoyed the breathtaking views from there. Mike reported back that the views from the bottom were even more incredible. Luckily he took some photos, but I'm sure they don't do it justice.
While the three of us waited at the top, we met a family visiting from Nottingham, England. They really traveled quite a distance to experience Hawaii. 5-6 hours in the car from Nottingham to London. The next day they took an 11 hour flight from London to Los Angeles. The next day they took a 5 hour flight from Los Angeles to Oahu…and then a 45-50 minute flight from Oahu to the Big Island. And I thought our one flight was long…yikes!
We left there, found the highway we meant to originally find (the oops always turn out the best...at least on this trip) and drove to Waimea. On our way, we were able to stop and take in the amazing views. We were far away from the beach, high up in a mountain, but we could still see the Pacific. It was so pretty…the vegetation is so cool and all the green is amazing. In addition to all the green pastures, there are black lava fields all over the island. It’s very cool.
Waimea is “Cowboy Country”. It is where the island’s cattle are raised (but they are sent to the Mainland to be "fattened up" and butchered...how dumb is that?). We asked a few people where we should eat, and those few people all told us to eat at a little Italian place in town called Solimenes. The food was yummy…it was a good choice. Anthony liked his meal so much, he even "mopped" his plate with his bread...something I've never seen Anthony do in nearly 20 years of knowing him.
Funny enough, Waimea was windy and cold. It reminded me of Flagstaff. It was very strange to be that cold in Hawaii, but this island experiences almost every climate on earth. The summit of Mauna Kea even gets snow in the winter. That would be cool to see.
We left Waimea and headed back to the condo...it was a long drive back. By the time we made it back to the condo, we were all exhausted. It’s sad to me that I just want to sleep on vacation. Especially this vacation. We have been going, going, going…we’ll need a vacation from this vacation. There is so much to see and do on this island. I had read over and over again how much larger this island is compared to the others, but I didn’t understand it until we were here.
When I was here before, I spent one day in Hilo and one day in Kona. I did not drive anywhere out of town, so I was unaware of how truly far apart everything is. It takes a lot of time to get from place to place. It’s another interesting thing about this place.
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