Hawaii Day 4 - Valentine’s Day

 Happy Valentine’s Day! 

We started our day with another breakfast at the KMC cafe. Ross was going to bring the avocados we bought at the banana stand, but when he picked them up, his first reaction was “Don’t look at them” so of course I looked. Both avocado has dozens of little wiggling maggots coming out of them! YUCK! I kind of wanted to cut them open to see what was all going on in there, but we just tossed them. I didn’t want to be totally grossed out before breakfast.

We were a little more frugal with our meals and still were fed well enough! No giant pancakes for me today. I stuck with an English muffin and peanut butter and Ross went with a couple eggs and toast. Easy peasy! There was a group that seemed to have access to a mini buffet, but it was barely touched. When we were finishing up, no one was around, so we snagged a few McDonald’s style hash browns to go!

We walked over to the KMC general store to see if there were any trinkets or souvenirs we wanted to pick up. I found a few things and a few snacks. After that, we finished packing up and checked out of our lodging. Thanks KMC! It was fun to stay right in the National Park!

We had one more hike we wanted to check out, but we had to leave the main park and drive down the road a mile or two to get over to a small additional park area. There’s no real park entrance, so it’s just open for anyone. We read that it would be good for birdwatchers, so we wanted to see if we could spot something new!

We were the only ones there when we arrived. Nice and quiet! It was a 1.2 mile loop hike and it was easy going. We added the Hawaiian Creeper and Japanese Bush Warbler to the bird list! We also spotted more Kalij Pheasants bobbing around along with a few other birds. The walk was very enjoyable even when not trying to spot birds. We saw a giant spider in an enormous web that we were happy was far away. 

Once we were done with our loop, we hopped back into the car and headed for Hilo. Our hotel room wasn’t ready yet, so we met up with Richard and Cindy at Richardson beach for a little while. The water was way too cold for Ross and I to get in. Ross wanted to chill for a little bit, so Cindy and I took a walk towards some of the large lava rock outcroppings near by. Cindy stuck to the pools of water and I clamored out onto the rocks. The views were spectacular and the water was a vibrant blue! It was fun to spot all the crabs in the rocks. After soaking up the views and the sun for a bit, I wandered back to the group. 

Shortly after that, I got a notification that our room was ready early! Richard and Cindy were done with beach for now and wanted to head into Hilo for some lunch and to stop at a farmer’s market. We decided to check into the hotel first. We got to our corner balcony room and were loving on the view! Eventually, we cleaned up a bit and went to downtown Hilo to meet up with our friends. We found a free parking spot one block from the farmer’s market. We wandered the booths selling trinkets, shirts, and all sorts of wares. Nothing caught our eyes enough to make a sale. There was an actual farmer’s market area and we wandered over there to see what we could find. Richard needed to snag a few things for dinner and Ross and I decided some fresh fruit might be nice for tomorrow’s breakfast. We found a mango, papaya, and two star fruit. 

With all our goods acquired, Richard and Cindy were going to head back to their house while Ross and I wanted to find a quick bite. We had seen a place called The Booch Bar online, that looked good, so we had Richard and Cindy drop us off. We could have walked the quarter mile, but they insisted. 

At the Booch Bar we ordered a flight of 4 kombuchas; Ginger, Hibiscus, Elderflower, and Root Beer flavored. All were good! The Ginger was both of our favorites. We also ordered two tacos with lentil/walnut chorizo. They were spectacular! It was just the right amount of food to hold us over before dinner at the Novy house. 

We still had a little time to burn, so we wandered round and found a shop that also had a tea room. We decided to stop in and sit down for a small pot of tea. The room was very peaceful! We ordered one hot tea, a Moroccan Mint and one cold tea, a local Mamaki tea. Both were tasty, but the mint tea was the winner. By the time we were done sipping tea, it was time to head to the Novy’s for dinner.

We encountered our first “traffic jam” of the trip. Nothing too crazy, but it did delay our arrival by about 15 minutes. After a 45 minute drive, we arrived at the Novy house. Lori, Richard’s mom was cooking up a storm for all of us. It smelled delicious! The menu included BBQ Beyond Meatballs, stir fry veggies, roasted chicken peas, pineapple rice, salad with a pineapple vinaigrette, and chocolate chip cookies. It was so good and too much food! We wandered outside on the rock cliffs and once again enjoyed the views both before and after dinner. We also took a walk after dinner down the street. We found a cute one-eyed cat and dog (and its owner) that wanted all the attention. With our bellies and hearts full, it was time for Ross and I to head to our hotel. 

View from the Novy House

We were in for one surprise as the intersection to the main road we needed to get to was blocked by a bunch of emergency vehicles. We took a short detour and were back to our hotel in about 30 minutes. 

Our room is on a corner with a wrap around balcony. We cracked the balcony doors and just listened to the ocean crashing on the shore. It was just the right temperature and it lulled the both of us right to sleep. Another wonderful day in Hawaii! Tomorrow we’re off to Oahu!

View from our Hilo room

Stats of the day:

Steps: 14,836

Birds added to the life list: 4

Best bird name of the day: Ruddy Turnstone