Coffee and more

When planning a vacation there are umpteen decisions to make regarding where to spend the night, what to see and do, where to eat, and where to get a vehicle. Some activities that I originally thought to include in this trip were eliminated due to the fact that we haven't made any money this year. These included going to a luau, going on a snorkeling trip near the Captain Cook memorial, and visiting the pineapple farm on Maui. One tour I had booked (abalone farm tour) was cancelled due to the company going out of business, and another was impossible (octopus farm) because they are temporarily closed due to moving to a new location. At one point I considered a beekeeping tour on this island, but I eliminated that because that's something we can do on the mainland. I wanted to stick to tours that are unique to this climate. Oliver wishes I had included a tea farm (on the Hilo side as there wouldn't be enough rain on this side to grow tea), and Nadia wishes I had included a macadamia nut farm tour (which surprised me because she and Ian don't eat tree nuts). I definitely could have included the macadamia nut farm tour, and that is something strongly associated with this island. The farm tours I selected were coffee, chocolate, vanilla, sea horse, and sea salt. The sea horse farm was the most expensive, and the coffee farm was the cheapest to visit.

Nadia wanted to shop at a t-shirt store near our hotel, but when we went there after dinner one evening, they were closed. She and I ventured out for a coffee/shopping trip yesterday morning around 9:00 am. I bought myself one t-shirt. She bought herself one t-shirt and one sweatshirt. I bought her a Kona coffee latte. Then the five of us left the hotel and began to drive south of Kona. I had planned for us to visit the Kona Coffee Living History Farm, but when we arrived there yesterday, we found out that they were closed due to August 15 being the holiday when they celebrate the fact that Hawaii was admitted to the Union (August 21, 1959). Thankfully, Greenwell Farms was less than 2 miles away, and they give free tours and free samples. When we pay for a tour of a farm, I don't tip the tour guide, but I did tip that tour guide since the tour was free. The tour was excellent. It mostly focused on coffee, but she did tell us a little about other things growing on the farm (mangos, white pineapple, lychee, apple bananas, vanilla, cacao, etc.). We were able to eat some lychee fruit. Yum! This family has been farming coffee for 173 years at this location. At a grocery store in Maui the next day, I bought a few apple bananas. When I'm buying a regular banana, I like to buy them when they are still partially green. The tour guide had said that apple bananas are much firmer, and that you need to buy ones that are yellow with some brown spots. She was correct! I love the apple bananas!!

Our second stop was at the oldest restaurant on the island. The Manago hotel and restaurant have been in operation since 1917. Our third stop was *supposed* to be St. Benedict Church (aka the "Painted Church"), but when we arrived, we found out it's closed for a few weeks due to construction. So, our third stop was actually Pu'uhonua O Honaunau National Historical Park. The kids each earned a junior ranger badge. The kids also snorkeled in Honaunau Bay (aka "two step") which is right beside the NPS site. On our way back toward Kona we also snorkeled at Kahalu'u Beach Park. It was a beach without any sand, but there were SO many different fish to be seen in the water if you snorkeled. We had dinner in Kona right along the harbor. Although it was still inexpensive by Hawaii standards, it was definitely our most expensive meal on the trip so far. We had a beautiful view, but the food wasn't anything to write home about, especially considering how much we paid. Some days the kids went to the swimming pool at our hotel after dinner, and other nights they used the gym. Last night they chose the gym. 

Coffee cherries (picked when they are dark red) - with coffee bean inside

This morning, we had our final breakfast the Holiday Inn. In general, the breakfast was very similar to what is served at Holiday Inns on the mainland, but there were some differences. The first couple of mornings they served sausage as the meat option. At most Holiday Inns, they usually serve either bacon or sausage. At this Holiday Inn, they served fried chicken as the meat option one morning, spam the next morning, and I couldn't tell what the meat was this morning. After breakfast, we checked out, loaded up the van, and drove to the Kona Sea Salt Farm which is located very close to the airport. We had a guided tour which ended with a tasting session. They gave us cucumbers, tomatoes, and pineapples to use to taste a variety of types of sea salt. Although I enjoy all three of those foods, I found the only one I liked with salt was the tomato. The farm is located right along the harbor, and the tour guide said monk seals can be seen along the trail. Paul, Nadia, and I walked along the trail after the tour, but alas we didn't see any monk seals on the island all week despite the fact we saw many signs mentioning their presence at various beaches. The farm was located very close to the Kona airport, but we had to drive back to Kona for a car wash and to vacuum out the vehicle we rented through Turo before we dropped it off at the airport. We were flying from Kona to Maui. More about that tomorrow! Although we saw license plates from other states on Oahu, every single license plate I saw on Hawaii was from Hawaii. Paul appreciated that the traffic was much less stressful on Hawaii than it was on Oahu. Parking could still be problematic at times, but we were grateful every time we found a parking spot at the beach or whatever place we were visiting.