Kona

Monday was our 24th wedding anniversary. Our first vacation together was our honeymoon in St. Lucia, and exactly 24 years later we are on another island together. After buying some more bread and fruit at a grocery store and getting breakfast from McDonald's for Paul, Nadia, and Ian, we drove to the Lavaloha Chocolate Farm in Hilo (just a few miles from our Airbnb). We had a guided tour that went from the cacao trees all the way to tasting the final product. We tasted the inside of the cacao pod. The pulp tasted better than the beans, although the beans are very good for you. During the tasting portion of rhe tour we tasted dark chocolate (70% cacao), dark chocolate with salt, dark chocolate with orange (my second favorite), milk chocolate (50% cacao) which was my favorite, milk chocolate with salt, and white chocolate with nibs in it. Oliver splurged at the end and bought a bar of their white chocolate. Hilo receives more rain than any other city in the United States.

Next we drove along the Pepe'ekeo scenic drive which features rain forest, waterfalls, and coastal views. It was gorgeous, and part way along the drive we stopped at the Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden. It quickly became my most favorite botanical garden that I've ever visited. There were so, so many beautiful flowers. I took so many pictures! We also enjoyed watching some crabs along the shore. We also stopped at a state park which featured two waterfalls - Akaka and Kahuna (Akaka was definitely the prettier of the two). After this hike, we stopped at Tex Drive-In for malasadas. I had chosen one place for us to try shave ice and four places (between the three islands) for us to have malasadas. This was our second time to have them. At this stop Oliver and I chose mango, Nadia chose Bavarian cream, and Ian chose strawberry.  Our last scenic stop was at the Waipio Valley Lookout. We ended our day by driving to Kona, which is on the dry side of the island. We checked into the Holiday Inn, ate pizza and breadsticks at Black Rock Pizza, bought groceries and socks at Walmart, and swam in the pool (or sat in the jacuzzi) at our hotel. We have to pay $15/ day for parking at this hotel, but considering we paid $36 total to stay here for five nights and that includes free breakfast every day, spending $111 total for five nights is a good deal. 

On Tuesday our first stop was a Sea Horse Farm. We had a guided tour, and we each got to hold a sea horse, which was very special. The babies (fry) are SO small! We fed them some brine shrimp. We also saw leafy sea dragons while we were there. We then spent about five hours at Manini'owali Beach in Kua Bay. Both of the Airbnb's we stayed at provided us with beach chairs, umbrellas, fins, snorkels, etc. We brought snorkels from home, but while we're staying at a Holiday Inn we won't have access to the other beach gear. Paul and the kids encountered two sea turtles very close to where they were swimming at the beach yesterday. All of us saw some spinner dolphins from a distance. On our way back we stopped at Patricio's Mexican Taqueria for dinner. Since it was Tuesday, the tacos were $4 each. Oliver had a shrimp taco, and Ian had a ground beef one. I had a cheese enchilada (also $4), and Nadia had a quesadilla. We also got an order of nachos to share. The food was very tasty, and for Hawaii had very affordable prices. After we parked the van at our hotel, we walked along the shops closer to the shore. Oliver had a smoothie, and Nadia had a Kona coffee milkshake.

On our flight from Seattle to Honolulu, some of us had a can of a Pass-O-Guava drink. Since then we've purchased cans from various places (grocery stores, gift shops, etc.). Some cans have been under a dollar, and all have been under $2 each. Paul likes their iced tea. The kids and I have tried a variety of flavors such as Lilikoi Passion, Guava Nectar, Passion Orange, etc. We were pleasantly surprised that at the Holiday Inn breakfast on Tuesday morning one of the choices was Pass-O-Guava! I stopped drinking juice at breakfast about 30 years ago, but I made an exception yesterday for Pass-O-Guava.

On this vacation we've encountered a higher percentage of international travelers than we typically do. We've heard many different languages being spoken around us. The other family that joined us on our tour of the chocolate farm was from the UK (same language, different accent). In particular, it seems that there are many people from Japan here on vacation.