Our Last Day in Hawai'i:
We woke up on Easter Sunday knowing we only had about 12 hours left on the island :( But we were going to make the most of 
it! We packed up the bags for the last time, made breakfast in the nice little hostel kitchen, and said goodbye to Arnott's Lodge. We had no real plans for the day, but a few things we still wanted to do on the island. We started by setting out in the direction of more waterfalls.
We made it to Rainbow Falls, which was just outside of Hilo, and 
got out to explore...but again, it was kind of a roadside water fall, and we could see it from the parking lot! We wandered around and hiked up to the top of the falls, and found the most gigantic Banyan tree! It was huge, and interconnected, and really neat! After taking all the pictures of the falls we could handle (and the "rainbow" in the falls' mist where it got its name) we 
headed on to yet another waterfall.
Boiling Pots is actually a series of waterfalls with pools that have churning water (that look like a pot of boiling water, hence where they got their name!) and again, they were about 100 feet from the parking lot. We took a peek - but we were kind of on waterfall overload, so after staring for a minute we took off in search of other adventures. We wanted to try a brewery and a candy shop we had read about, but the brewery didn't look open....so we headed straight to the candy factory! We were welcomed at the door with samples, and had a great time tasting all the goodies. They specialized in macadamia nut shortbread, and we tried a bunch of delicious 
varieties. We made our Mother's Day inspired purchases (we 
couldn't resist and even got some for ourselves!) and headed to our next destination: the Mauna Loa macadamia nut factory. It was only about 4 miles south of Hilo, so we made the short drive and arrived at the factory.
We learned all about the trees, the processing and the history of the macadamia orchard....and we got lots more free samples :) After buying 
even more treats, we decided we had enough candy for the day, and headed to find some food. The only area of the island we hadn't explored was the Southern tip, so we agreed to head down and check it out! We drove about 20 miles south to a small town looking for a resturant to have our big Easter meal. The guidebook steered us toward another gem - we found an amazing place in the middle of 
nowhere! Taylor got a delicious plate of kalua pork hash and home fries and I had a mahi mahi wrap. Both dished were fantastic, and Taylor thought it might have been our best meal of the whole trip :) We were absolutely stuffed, but it was only about 1pm and our flight wasn't until 8:40pm, so we kept exploring!
We set off to find the coast and a thermal spring near the ocean at the very end of the island. We passed through beautiful forests, more lava flows, and across rugged, pristine stretches of black lava beaches. We found the hot springs, but the park looked crowded with locals having weekend 
bar-b-ques, so we kept moving. We stopped at a couple places and stared at the ocean...it was so turbulent and such a deep blue crashing on the black rocks. I was still astonished at how many hundreds of miles of 
undeveloped coastline there was on the island, but Mother Nature kept reclaining this land in the form of molten lava, so maybe this island will stay undeveloped for a while longer.
We drove around for a couple hours, but decided it was time to drive back across the island to Kona and start the trip home. We left the Southern point, drove back through the small towns, back through Hilo, and across 
the high country between Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa in the center of the island. It was a rainy drive until we crossed the midpoint of the island, but as soon as we hit the "west" side the rain cleared and we could see for miles. From the slopes of Mauna Kea we could see all the way to the north were we spent our first night, and all the way into Kona where we were headed. There were miles and miles of open, rocky, lava filled, grassy plains and there were almost no houses or buildings anywhere in sight besides the Kona area.
It took us about 2 hours to get back into Kona, and we arrived around 4pm. It was too early to go to the airport, so we went into town for one last drink before we had to part with the island. We wandered through the tourist district one more time, and had a drink on a balcony bar overlooking the ocean. It was a nice way to unwind before the hustle of the airport, but we were just delaying the inevitable. Taylor finally dragged me to the car, and as we were pulling out of the 
parking lot, we saw a huge rainbow hovering over a picturesque church in the middle of Kona.
We reluctantly turned in our rental car, caught the shuttle to the airport, and checked in for our flight. We made it onto the plane and settled in for our red-eye flight back to LA. We were of course seated directly behind a screaming baby, but I tried not to let it bother me. I put in my headphones and tried to think about what an awesome trip we had! We did so much cool stuff in one 9 day period! Scuba diving with mantas, whale watching, coffee tasting, volcano spotting, and so much yummy food! Waterfalls, scenic vistas, hikes through the rain forests, rainbows and black sand beaches.
And its becoming a tradition that I sum up my trips with a few fun statistics:
Miles driven: About 850 miles
Scuba dives: 6 dives! (around 4.5 hours underwater :)
Whales seen: about 20! (Taylor think this is an exaggeration - but we saw A LOT!)
Manta rays that hit me in the head: 4
Mac nut factories visited: 2
Types of coffee tasted: around 15
Sunsets watched: 4
Rainbows spotted: upwards of 10
Pictures taken: around 1,620 (9 gb of pictures and movies!)
Money saved: ~$700 on the room and exactly $800 on the flight! Thanks Mrs. Bright for letting us use your timeshare! And thanks Delta for bumping us from a flight and giving us $400 vouchers :)
See all the trip pictures here: http://kristynspictures.shutterfly.com/
So our last full day in Hawaii started off great - we tried to sleep in a little, but the 
huge windows and exciting day encouraged me to wake up a little earlier than a normal Saturday. We had a leisurely breakfast of fruit, macadamia nut cinnamon bread, and juice, packed up our rain gear (it was already raining :) and headed out to explore.
Our first destination was Akaka Falls, a state park that boasted a huge waterfall. Undeterred by the cool, driving mist, we set out of Hilo in search of the Falls. After a scenic drive through the countryside, we arrived at the park. There was a 1/4 mile walking "trail" that was actually just a sidewalk through the jungle. On the path, there were views of two waterfalls: this first was a 150 foot falls, surrounded by 
jagged cliffs covered in thick foliage. The path was overhung with huge banyan trees, tons of fragrant flowers, and patches of blossoming banana trees. After another 5 minute walk, we found the main event: Akaka Falls! The falls were in a steep valley, and no sooner than when we were in view of the falls did it start to rain. It had been drizzling for the whole morning, but just as we tried to snap pictures of the 442 foot waterfall, foggy clouds moved in accompanied by a steady rain.
We stood under a small A-frame in front of the falls for about 20 minutes waiting for a sign that the rain would let up long enough for us to get a great picture....but after no sign of stopping, we got bored and began our short hike back to the car. Of course, from the parking lot and the car, we could finally see the Falls clearly, 
but as soon as I whipped out my camera to get a far away and obstructed pictures, a cloud literally rolled over the falls! It was cool to watch the weather shift back and forth so quickly!
We decided that since it was still early, and it was Saturday, we would check out the Hilo Farmer's Market. People all over the island had told us not to miss it, so we drove through downtown Hilo on our way back from the Falls and parked to check it out. The Market itself was only about 2 blocks long, and was merely a series of tarps and tents strategically aligned side-by-side and lashed together in a rather futile attempt to keep out the misty rain that kept coming. Outfitted in our trusty rain jackets, we 
explored the market for a while. There was a flea-market-type side of the road, and on the other side, the food and flower vendors had gathered. Since we didn't need to haul around any more junk, we went over to the food si
de after about 30 seconds of browsing through the trinkets.
But the food....so fun! Tropical fruits and flowers everywhere, and prepared food vendors with tamales, coconut rice wrapped in banana leaves, chocolate truffles, Indian food, fresh breads, coffee galore, noodles, spring & summer rolls, honey, and more varieties of bananas than Taylor had ever seen! It was great! We did a giant lap, taking every sample that was within reach, and then came back around to buy our favorites. We ended up with teeny-tiny bananas, stir-fried noodles, summer rolls with organic greens and fresh shrimp, a passion fruit and chocolate truffle, and two banana leaves stuffed with coconut flavored rice. 
Oh...and we chowed down on a chicken tamale for a snack :) The rain hadn't let up, so once our shoes were soaked, our bag was full and our wallets were empty, we decided to go rest up at home for a few hours.
We took our bounty and headed back to the hostel - but took a mini-detour on the way. I had 
read about this candy store that sold "mochi", which upon more reading, I discovered was a traditional Japanese dessert/candy made out of rice flour. Intrigued, I demanded we find the store with the supposed "best mochi on Earth." We found the tiny little hole in the wall confection shop (Two Ladies Kitchen) and were immediately intimidated by the less-than-friendly woman running the front counter. There were boxes of colorful assorted mochi, bags of mochi, and single candies. Since we had no idea what to buy, I picked a bag that looked like it had a variety...the boxes were all upwards of $10 each, so I was pleasantly surprised when the lady at the resister asked me for $1.37!
Taylor (a little skeptical of my random purchase) didn't seem too excited to try the candy. I 
opened the ribbon-tied bag of pastel-colored, super squishy treats and timidly tried one.....they were sooo soft and gooey, but not sticky. They were barely sweet, but in an addictive sort of way. I forced Taylor to try one, and before I knew it, he had snatched the bag out of my hands and was happily eating all my mochi! It was so yummy! Most of the ones in the bag were "plain" or very lightly flavored, but a couple of them had tiny pieces of brownie-like chocolate in the middle. Mmmmm, just writing this now makes me want a whole new bag of bite sized, squishy, goodies!
We rested up at the hostel for an hour or two, and then got all packed up for our big trek: we were driving to the top of the 14,000 foot volcano! The mountain is called Mauna Kea, and from the bottom of the ocean to the top of the peak, it is the world's largest mountain. We packed blankets, towels, all the warm clothes we had, a small feast, flashlights, and cameras....we attempted to prepare for all possible weather, as the top of the mountain gets blizzards in the winter and the temperatures at the peak routinely drop below freezing!
Outfitted as best as we could manage, we loaded up the car, and headed to get some lunch. Taylor wanted to try the Hilo Burger Joint, so we drove back into town on the way to the mountain and stopped in for lunch. We had yummy local beers and some great burgers, and were almost ready to head up the big hill...but first, more dessert! We heard that there were tons of great shave ice places in Hilo, so we stopped to get one. The woman behind the counter took her sweet time constructin each individual cone, and we waited for a solid 30 minutes just to get a glorified sno-cone...but when we finally got one it was great! The ice was light and fluffy and the flavors were great :)
Finally full, we stopped and got plenty of gasoline (there are NO stations on the drive up the mountain) and headed out of town. The entire drive was shrouded in a foggy, misty rain. The higher the Mustang climbed, the thicker the green ferns 
grew on the sides of the road....after about 45 minutes of driving, we came upon more open and brown, grassy plains. We reached the turn off for the Mauna Kea access road (which I believe may have been strictly forbidden on our rental car agreement) and immediately began climbing the steep, winding mountainside. As we approached about 7,000 feet in elevation, we were again enveloped in a thick fog, but after about 8,000 feet the fog suddenly cleared: we were actually ABOVE the cloud line!
We reached the Visitor's Center (9,200 feet) and hopped out of the car to check it out. I read the displays talking about all the observatories on the peak (many of the world's top telescopes are on the peak, as the air is usually still, dry and pristine!) and we sat around watching videos about 
the history of the mountain. We had opted not to pay a company $200 PER PERSON to take us to the summit, but we thought our little Mustang would never make it up the gravel switchbacks that lead to the peak :( ....but I didn't want to miss out on seeing the amazing view from the very top. Sooooo.....I decided we were hitching a ride! Again, Taylor was a bit reluctant, and didn't love the idea of me walking around the Visitor's Center randomly begging tourists to let us into their 4-wheel drive cars, but I guess I am pretty shameless, because it didn't bother me one bit :) After scoping out a normal looking, younger couple (and their LARGE SUV ;) I tried to 
smoothly strike up a conversation about seeing the peak. But since I'm not really that smooth, after about 10 seconds I got anxious and just asked them if they had any room in their car...or trunk....or any space that would let us get to the top of the mountain.
Luckily, they were super nice, and it was just the two of them in an SUV that seats 8, so they were totally cool with us coming along. We changed into our long pants 
(it was about 78 degrees in Hilo, about 65 at the Visitor's Center, and probably colder at the peak) and grabbed our jackets and cameras. We piled into their car, and began winding up the unpaved section of the summit road. The couple was in Hawaii with the military, and were doing operations on Oahu for 2 weeks. They decided to hop the short flight to the Big Island for the 
Easter weekend. We had fun chatting with them about diving (they had done the manta dive the previous night!) and before we knew it we had reached the paved road (installed to keep the dust out of the air near the peak for the sensitive telescopes) and the top!
We parked the car and followed the signs to the official peak. It was only about 100 yards from the car, up a 100 foot hill....but man-oh-man is it hard 
to walk uphill at 14,000 feet! There just really isn't much air to breathe! But we made it, and spent a while hanging out, taking pictures of the other groups of tourists, and having our pictures taken. I think that was officially the highest I have ever been (officially 13,796 feet!). The panoramas were jaw dropping: the volcanic red soil against the impossibly clear, blue sky, contrasted with the black lava flows and the stark white of the alien looking observatories was just so amazing. And the whole time we were above all the 
clouds - instead of looking down and seeing the hills and valleys, all you could see was the fluffy white formations of clouds. From the top we even caught glimpses of far off Maui!
There was a couple at the top who had hiked to the peak! They had started at the Visitor's Center 
at dawn and hiked the 6,000 foot gain in elevation, 8 mile trail to the summit! Our driver offered them a ride down the mountain, so after taking a few hundred pictures of the amazing scenery and the observatories, we all piled in the SUV to get back to the Visitor's Center in time to catch the sunset.
The ride down was so neat - I had great views of all the craters and 
peaks and clouds the whole way :) We reached the parking lot and after thanking our driver profusely, made a quick dash to find a good spot to watch the sun set. There was a large hill about a 1/4 mile from the lot, and we quickly hiked up it (huffing and puffing) and waited for the magic to happen. Eventually, Taylor admitted that the view from the peak was awesome, and that he was glad that I forced him to hitch a ride to the top. Also, he still claims he spotted the nice couple first ;)
It was so neat to just sit there and watch the clouds below us as the sun made its slow decent into them. It
was glaringly bright, but so beautiful. We sat there for a while and finally, the sun sank into the puffy clouds, and we quickly realized we left our flashlights back at the car! We hurried down the hill as the daylight was fading, and made it back to the Visitor's Center. We sat in the car to warm up and eat dinner:
we had all our delicious food from the Farmer's Market. Rice, noodles, summer rolls, and chocolate truffles for dessert! :) It was all fantastic, and by the time we were finished and way too full, the volunteers had pulled out all the telescopes and it was dark enough to start star gazing.
It was pitch black out - there were a few lights from passing cars, but otherwise, it was absolutely dark and clear....and the sky was FULL of stars. More stars than I ever knew even existed. We have been camping in California and seen starry skies, and in the desert in Israel I had seen the most amazing constellations, but this beat them all! It was overwhelming, the sky was too cluttered with stars to even be able to make out the most famous and familiar constellations. I just stared for a long time. The volunteers had pointed the scopes at Saturn (you 
could see the rings!) and Mars, and it was fun to hop from telescope to telescope and see everything in so much detail. We had a blast looking through the scopes, attempting to take night pictures, and listening to them describe the night sky, but I was getting chilly (temp at the 
peak had been around 55 degrees, and it cooled down really quickly after the sunset) and we were both tired, so we eventually had to tear ourselves away from yet another completely amazing view, and start the drive home.
Just like in the daylight, we hit the thick clouds at about 8,000 feet, and it rained the whole way home. But we made great time, and were home in little over an hour. After hot showers, we went to bed for the last night in Hawaii - but it was a great day, and an awesome way to spend our last complete day on the island :)
See all the pictures here: http://kristynspictures.shutterfly.com/5167?startIndex=50
We woke up on Friday morning, packed up the suitcases, threw them all in the Mustang (barely), and had to say goodbye to the beautiful condo :( It was a great place, and we were surprised that we actually made it all 6 nights without the air conditioning! We came home a couple of days to a blast of hot air when we opened the door, but once the sliding glass doors were all open and the fans were on, the tropical tradewinds cooled the place down just enough so that we wouldn't break down and beg for the little key that turned on the A/C :)
After waving goodbye to the Kona Coast Resort, we made the short drive across the street and back 
to the Hawaiian Chocolate Factory. When we pulled up we were immediately greeted by a friendly woman with a heavy southern accent. She asked us where we were from, and after chatting for a few she let us know where to check in for the tour...the "factory" was set up on a high hill overlooking the ocean in a grove of coffee trees that were FULL of beautiful, fragrant flowers. After we checked in and the last stragglers arrived for the tour, we were formally introduced to our tour guides: Pam and Bob Cooper were from North Carolina and moved to Hawaii to "partially" retire. They stumbled upon this piece of property which the previous owner had planted a grove of coffee and a few 
acres of cacao trees on.
Cacao trees only grow in the tropics, so Hawaii is actually the only place in America that could even support them...but nobody had ever tried! The Coopers were very lucky, and their cacao survived, 
and even tasted great! 10+ years later, and they are finally in business. It was cool to hear about the whole process, from the manual harvesting of the cacao pods and the hand extracting of the seeds. The cacao seeds are even sun-dried for several weeks before roasting.
While Bob was telling us about the whole procedure, a few geckos kept eying the fre
sh cacao pod he had cut open during the demonstration. They slowly made their way across the harvesting table and began timidly licking the sweet juice left behind from the cacao...they were so adorable! I inched my way past all the other 
tourists and plopped down right in front of them all to snap pictures - I couldn't help myself!
Anyway, about 500 lizard pictures later, we walked through the tiny factory (that was just an oversized shed next to their amazing house surrounded by coffee and cacao orchards), had a few samples of their yummy goods, and drooled over the vats full of molten chocolate waiting to be poured. We bought a tiny chocolate bar in the shape of a plumeria flower (for what a case of Hershey's bars go for on the mainland ;) and headed out of Kona.
Our goal was to make it to the other side of the island and all the way to Hilo by the evening. We had all day, and nothing on the agenda besides visiting a Macadamia Nut factory, and staring at the scenery :) We tried to stop at a beach Mrs. Bright had been curious about, but when we pulled up at the guard shack for the Mauna Kea resort, we were told the beach lot was full and that we had to turn back :(
We made it out of Kona and to the Hamakua Mac Nut factory after an hour or so, and stopped to check it out. They had an amazing array of tasty flavored mac nuts (wasabi, Maui onion, honey mustard, herb and chives, Kona coffee, chili pepp-ah, jalapeno, and a ton more!), mac nut and caramel corn, and mac nut brittle. It was delicious!
We even got to crack our very own fresh mac nuts - Taylor followed the "safety first" rule, and after donning some very stylish goggles, cracked a few for us. After purchasing
some treats for the rest of the ride, we departed the factory in search of a place for our picnic lunch. We found a cool beach park and sat by the water under some shady trees and had some sandwiches. Afterwards, we resumed our drive - we had driven this stretch of road 3 times before, but it was still so pretty. The rolling grassy plains of the north side of the island are so pretty!
We made it back to Honoka'a (where we spent our very first night!) and had to stop at a place that was supposed to have amazing donuts....even though we had cinnamon rolls and chocolate for breakfast, and had just eaten lunch, we had to try the famous "malasadas" at Tex's Drive-In. We ordered one plain sugar and one chocolate filled, and pigged out on their patio. They weren't too sweet, and were just as amazing as you would hope any fried-dough-dessert could be :)
Full and happy, we finally made it into unexplored territory. We were driving along the Hamakua Coast, a 45-mile stretch from Honoka'a to Hilo. The route we took is know for its amazing views of the green cliffs against the sapphire blue Pacific. We were captivated for most of the trip, which wound through valleys and switchbacks, and reminded me a lot of our long drive up the coast of California along Highway 1.
Every once in a while we would stumble across a beach park: one of the first we came across was the site of a tsunami tragedy in the 1940's. It was a point on the East side of the island, north of Hilo, where a school had been located close to the water. A huge tsunami washed ashore and killed children and teachers. Now, its the site of a memorial and a beautiful park. While we were there, huge waves were crashing on the rocks, fueled by the whipping winds, creating misty rainbows as the sun hit the seawater that hung in the air.
As we made our way further south towards Hilo, we found waterfalls that showered into the ocean, grassy beach parks in valleys, and roads that wound through jungle filled canyons. It was a cool drive, and in the early afternoon we reached an overlook where we could see the entire Hilo Bay. After snapping a few pictures of the cruise ships and sailboats in the Bay, we made our way to our home away from home for our last 2 nights in Hawaii: Arnott's Lodge. I found the "lodge" online, and it seemed like a pretty decent hostel. The Lodge was actually only a block away from the Bay, about 2 miles outside of downtown Hilo. We checked in (and were told that we were almost their only guests this week) and hauled our suitcases to our room.
It was nice! Huge windows overlooked the backyard of the "deluxe" rooms, and a sliding glass window led out onto the patio. We had a private bathroom, and the 4 deluxe rooms all opened up into a shared kitchen....except there was nobody else staying at the Lodge, so we had the whole house full of private rooms all to ourselves!
After freshening up, we headed out to a restaurant a few people had recommended to us. The Hilo Bay Cafe was tucked inside a strip mall with a Wal-Mart, but what it lacked in location it made up for in decor and menu items. There was a short wait, so we sat at the bar and waited for our table. I ordered a drink, and the bartender carded me....and I realized that after checking into the hostel, the woman at the front desk never gave me back my driver's license :( I argued with the bartender, but she wouldn't budge...
Annoyed and sad that I couldn't have my passion fruit mojito, I pouted at the bar until our table was ready. We were seated at a cozy booth, and I attempted to order a drink from the waitress. She never attempted to ID me, and a few minutes later, wise to our game, the bartender herself delivered the drink I ordered to Taylor....
I got away with it for a few minutes, sneaking sips like an under-aged kid, but eventually we were found out and scolded. Apparently they take their ID laws pretty seriously....so I gave up. We enjoyed our dinner, despite the sticklers, and I had a "mushroom" wellington on a bed of mashed potatoes, and Taylor had a pork chop with with gorgonzola potatoes. The food was pretty amazing, and I finally (almost) stopped fuming about the drinks by the end of the meal. full and sleepy from the long drive and heavy food, we headed back to our little hostel.
We were greeted by a cool room (we had free A/C in the hostel!) and fell fast asleep as soon as our heads hit the pillows - another great day in paradise!
See all the pictures here: http://kristynspictures.shutterfly.com/5167
We woke up on Easter Sunday knowing we only had about 12 hours left on the island :( But we were going to make the most of 
it! We packed up the bags for the last time, made breakfast in the nice little hostel kitchen, and said goodbye to Arnott's Lodge. We had no real plans for the day, but a few things we still wanted to do on the island. We started by setting out in the direction of more waterfalls.
got out to explore...but again, it was kind of a roadside water fall, and we could see it from the parking lot! We wandered around and hiked up to the top of the falls, and found the most gigantic Banyan tree! It was huge, and interconnected, and really neat! After taking all the pictures of the falls we could handle (and the "rainbow" in the falls' mist where it got its name) we 
headed on to yet another waterfall.
Boiling Pots is actually a series of waterfalls with pools that have churning water (that look like a pot of boiling water, hence where they got their name!) and again, they were about 100 feet from the parking lot. We took a peek - but we were kind of on waterfall overload, so after staring for a minute we took off in search of other adventures. We wanted to try a brewery and a candy shop we had read about, but the brewery didn't look open....so we headed straight to the candy factory! We were welcomed at the door with samples, and had a great time tasting all the goodies. They specialized in macadamia nut shortbread, and we tried a bunch of delicious 
varieties. We made our Mother's Day inspired purchases (we 
couldn't resist and even got some for ourselves!) and headed to our next destination: the Mauna Loa macadamia nut factory. It was only about 4 miles south of Hilo, so we made the short drive and arrived at the factory.
even more treats, we decided we had enough candy for the day, and headed to find some food. The only area of the island we hadn't explored was the Southern tip, so we agreed to head down and check it out! We drove about 20 miles south to a small town looking for a resturant to have our big Easter meal. The guidebook steered us toward another gem - we found an amazing place in the middle of 
nowhere! Taylor got a delicious plate of kalua pork hash and home fries and I had a mahi mahi wrap. Both dished were fantastic, and Taylor thought it might have been our best meal of the whole trip :) We were absolutely stuffed, but it was only about 1pm and our flight wasn't until 8:40pm, so we kept exploring!
bar-b-ques, so we kept moving. We stopped at a couple places and stared at the ocean...it was so turbulent and such a deep blue crashing on the black rocks. I was still astonished at how many hundreds of miles of 
undeveloped coastline there was on the island, but Mother Nature kept reclaining this land in the form of molten lava, so maybe this island will stay undeveloped for a while longer.
the high country between Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa in the center of the island. It was a rainy drive until we crossed the midpoint of the island, but as soon as we hit the "west" side the rain cleared and we could see for miles. From the slopes of Mauna Kea we could see all the way to the north were we spent our first night, and all the way into Kona where we were headed. There were miles and miles of open, rocky, lava filled, grassy plains and there were almost no houses or buildings anywhere in sight besides the Kona area.
parking lot, we saw a huge rainbow hovering over a picturesque church in the middle of Kona.
