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
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