Hawaii Day 7 - Chocolate and the Hamakua Coast

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 fresh 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