Coming to Hawaii

[yaris-me]

I'm coming home for a week, May 7 to 13. I'll be in the Pearl City area. If anyone wants to meet, let me know.:thumbsup:

[yarisugi]

You have friends/relatives in Pearl City?

[yaris-me]

Friends and relatives.

[PETERPOOP]

are you a boy or a girl? lol

[Loren]

Right behind you! I'll be there from May 12-20, but will be staying in the Hilo area on the big island.

[bkrownd]

Right behind you! I'll be there from May 12-20, but will be staying in the Hilo area on the big island.

I see that you are keen to get far away from Sun and tourists. ;) Congrats on bypassing the trendy artsy hamlets and beachy plastic mega-resorts, and heading straight for the real thing. :respekt: Your cholesterol will rise like a rocket within hours of landing at the home of moco loco, spam musubi and fried-gristle bentos. (heh, kind of like going to the state fair...)

Unfortunately you'll miss our famous rainy season. Nothing is more snooze-inducing than the "WOOOOOSH!" of a passing squall on thousands of corrugated roofs, and that gentle cool breeze it pushes in front of it, followed by a restful drip-drip-drip sound. You can sleep all day long here in the rainy season (under thick blankets). May and June can get pretty dry, before July brings a little blip of wetness again.

Car break-ins are common here, so leave it spotless inside and with the empty glove compartment open. Sitting on broken glass is a bit of a bummer.

You are probably already well-acquainted with lizards on the wall and centipedes. Please don't bring any Florida critters to add to the menagerie. :cool:

[Loren]

Yep, we're going to HI to see those things uniquely Hawaiian. Tourist traps and beaches? We've got those here! Volcanos, desolate lava fields, mountains and seaside cliffs... we don't have stuff like that.

We're on the "rainy side" of the island, but we're hoping it won't be TOO wet.

My wife has scoped out lots of places to go, things to see and do... and food to eat. But, if you know of any places on the big island that we're not likely to have found on the internet, we'd love to hear about them! Maybe we can hook up for dinner some evening?

[yaris-me]

are you a boy or a girl? lol

I'm a man. You're not my type, unless you have a Vagina.

[yaris-me]

Right behind you! I'll be there from May 12-20, but will be staying in the Hilo area on the big island.

Hamakua has always been my favorite area. I thought that if I had money I would retire between Waimea and Hamakua.

[Loren]

Hamakua has always been my favorite area. I thought that if I had money I would retire between Waimea and Hamakua.
We plan to spend some time in that area. If the weather cooperates, we may even venture down into Waipio Valley.

[yaris-me]

We plan to spend some time in that area. If the weather cooperates, we may even venture down into Waipio Valley.

Have a nice vacation.:thumbsup:

[nemelek]

Right behind you! I'll be there from May 12-20, but will be staying in the Hilo area on the big island.

We were there for our 10th wedding anniversary on March 1st. Hilo was too wet and Kona coast was too dry. However, I loved it. If I were to buy a second home anywhere in the US, the Big Island would be my choice.

Because astronomy is a huge passion of mine, seeing the telescopes was well worth the trip.

Have a great time.

[fujiwaru]

I'm coming home for a week, May 7 to 13. I'll be in the Pearl City area. If anyone wants to meet, let me know.:thumbsup:

woohh!! thats my last week of school for me since I'm a senior and just about to graduate! XD The 13 is my last day of school :biggrin:

[bkrownd]

But, if you know of any places on the big island that we're not likely to have found on the internet, we'd love to hear about them!

I spend all my time in the wilderness, doing fairly esoteric wilderness things. I can give you info on places that are not near the coast. I don't ever get near the coast - I'm very busy up there on the mountainsides. :smoking:

Unfortunately there aren't many restaurants here that I like - only a couple unassuming places in Hilo like Miyo's. I'm not much into eating out these days. An interesting read about the local food options is www.bigislandgrinds.com

[bkrownd]

Right behind you! I'll be there from May 12-20, but will be staying in the Hilo area on the big island.

Can you smell the vog already?? Weather is stabilizing a bit recently...

[Loren]

Dude, I've become totally worthless at work, obsessed with this trip. My wife is even worse, she's like a little kid waiting to go to Disneyland! Good thing we're leaving Wednesday.

We've got a handful of "must do" things and a long list of possibilities for anywhere that we happen to find ourselves on the island, but we're mostly going to try to take a casual "island" approach and just take it as it comes. If you know of any really cool places inland that don't require 4WD to get to, lemme know. I think most of the inland stuff we're doing is waterfall-related except for a trek up to Mauna Kea.

Might rent a 4WD for a day or two to hit the summit of Mauna Kea if we deem it worthwhile, plus a couple other out-of-the-way places down south I'd like to see. But, with the horror stories I've read about people getting screwed over for "damage" from the rental companies, I'm leaning toward skipping that. Again... taking it as it comes. If it seems like the thing to do, we'll do it!

Hey, here's a question for you... we're going to be on the island for 9 days, but only one weekend. What high-traffic areas should we try to hit on that weekend to avoid crowds as much as possible? Read somewhere that weekends are dead in a lot of places because people tend to arrive on Monday and leave on Friday. Is that true? If so, I was thinking we should probably hit the busy Kona area on the weekend... but the wildcard is, what if the locals spend their weekend time there, and it's actually LESS busy during the week? I just don't know. Thoughts?

So far, we know we're devoting Thursday to seeking lava. (starting the day with a boat tour, and most of the rest of the day exploring the area east of the current lava flow) Friday, Cathy wants to do some Vanilla farm lunch thing and we'll roam the area north of Hilo taking in waterfalls and botanical gardens and whatever. Nothing beyond that is set in stone.

[yarisugi]

Dude, I've become totally worthless at work, obsessed with this trip. My wife is even worse, she's like a little kid waiting to go to Disneyland! Good thing we're leaving Wednesday.
So funny! :laugh: Sorry, I don't know much about Hawaii, but lava is flowing like a second-day period - and onto paved roads so they moved the view area(s) further back to avoid any injuries.

[bkrownd]

Dude, I've become totally worthless at work, obsessed with this trip.

At least you've got something worthwhile to do at work, then. ;) (oops, look busy the boss is coming...!)

[bkrownd]

So funny! :laugh: Sorry, I don't know much about Hawaii, but lava is flowing like a second-day period - and onto paved roads so they moved the view area(s) further back to avoid any injuries.

Lava is good - we need the lava to keep flowing to clean up Puna... <ducking>

Injuries, no. It's fairly harmless until it comes into contact with water or vegetation. I've heard that since viewing moved from the national park to the county side there have been more lawyers...uh, restrictions involved in the lava viewing setup. I haven't been since the stream switched to the county side.

[bkrownd]

Hey, here's a question for you... we're going to be on the island for 9 days, but only one weekend. What high-traffic areas should we try to hit on that weekend to avoid crowds as much as possible?

Well, I think of "high-traffic" as the morning and afternoon rush hours in Hilo. 3 blocks of mind-bendingly slow traffic. Since I don't do the "normal" things here, I never encounter crowds. Seriously, I get the hell out of town early in the morning and head up the mountainside where few others roam, returning after sunset when Hilo has already shut down. If there is more than one hunter per square mile it's a "crowded" day for me. I can tell you a lot about the remote wilderness, I really don't know much about what happens on the coast. :iono:

Kona is well outside of my experience. I haven't been there in years since unfortunately wilderness access is very difficult over there due to their land use history.

If you're at a B&B you might ask the owners for info, since they'll be in tune with that kind of thing. At hotels they have the usual hospitality people.

[Loren]

Yeah, we're at a B&B just mauka of Hilo. (that's one of like four Hawaiian words I've managed to remember...)

Only 4 days and 14 hours on a plane to go!

[LtNoogie]

are you a boy or a girl? lol

Hey Peter, be a pal and loan Charles your Yaris while he's there. He's a cool dude. Besides, you still have your big truck to drive around.:smile:

[bkrownd]

We've got a handful of "must do" things and a long list of possibilities for anywhere that we happen to find ourselves on the island, but we're mostly going to try to take a casual "island" approach and just take it as it comes. If you know of any really cool places inland that don't require 4WD to get to, lemme know. I think most of the inland stuff we're doing is waterfall-related except for a trek up to Mauna Kea.

I hesitate to recommend things to people because most would think my interests tend towards the extremely esoteric. Cool inland places to me are humble and mysterious wilderness, rather than grand vistas - they might not be your cup of tea, and the best are the kind of thing where you pull off the side of the road and duck through some bushes to follow an obscure hunting trail. There are some "official" public trails off of Saddle Road, but the unofficial ones are much better. (Beware there has been a rash of car break-ins on Saddle Road over the last year.) http://www.pbase.com/bkrownd/hawaii_wilderness

The highway through Ka'u from Volcano to Na'alehu has the most wide-open scenery on the island. You don't really stop anywhere - you just get big old eyefuls of Mauna Loa and Kilauea. Saddle Road and Kohala Mountain Road are the other two big scenery roads. (All that grass you see along each of these roads is ranch pasture that was once forest, which is how Hawai'i got to be The Extinction Capitol of The World, yippee.)

The lower section of Mauna Loa Strip Road through Kipuka Puaulu (foot trail) and Kipuka Ki up to the cattleguard is nice. It has a tall (for Hawai'i) remnant koa-manele forest. The view from the top of Strip Road is "nice", but the time it takes to get there might be prohibitive and the weather doesn't always cooperate with the view.

I always thought that in good weather the view from the Mauna Loa Weather Observatory on the North slope of Mauna Loa was better than the summit of Mauna Kea, but since I work on Mauna Kea that's been same-old-same-old to me for many years. The actual summit of Mauna Loa blows the doors off of Mauna Kea, but you'd have to trek a few hours from the weather observatory to get there because they didn't bother to pave the road all the way to the summit. (Which reminds me, since I have a new car I can go up to the summit of Mauna Loa again...the old corolla doesn't start too well above 9500 feet these days)

IMO, the lookout over Pololu Valley is more interesting than that of Waipio Valley.

Before I moved here I liked Kohala Mountain Road, from Hawi to Waimea (in that particular direction). I used to like it in large part because it didn't look anything like Hawai'i. Anyhow, tourists like it because there are no trees to block the views - the cattle trampled and ate the forests away. (Since I became familiar with the real native wilderness here I now can only see it as a sad display of the desolation caused by cattle ranching...)

[bkrownd]

Yeah, we're at a B&B just mauka of Hilo. (that's one of like four Hawaiian words I've managed to remember...)

The street names caused me problems for the first month or two I was here, until I got the hang of the smaller word parts the names are made of. I had a hard time remembering Kanoelehua or Lanikaula or Kalanianaole or Kawailani at first - I bet some new people run red lights and rear-end other cars just trying to read our street signs.

[Loren]

Great stuff, BK! Some of the stuff you mentioned is stuff we were already doing (like Pololu as well as Waipio) or had already heard of, but I'll review again and see what I need to add to the list.

I initially wanted to go to the summit of Mauna Loa "just because it's there" (went on a "high pointing" trip with my son about 5 years ago, hit the highest points in FL, AL, GA, TN and I think SC all on one 3-day road trip in a Miata... good times!), but I couldn't get my wife excited about the long crappy road, and then the long crappy hike at ~13,000 feet. Her adventurousness has limits!

[PETERPOOP]

Hey Peter, be a pal and loan Charles your Yaris while he's there. He's a cool dude. Besides, you still have your big truck to drive around.:smile:

lol

[yaris-me]

Hey Peter, be a pal and loan Charles your Yaris while he's there. He's a cool dude. Besides, you still have your big truck to drive around.:smile:

Long, where have you been? Haven't seen you in a While. I'm really enjoying my trip so far. Have visited with a lot family.

I can't believe how bkrownd and Loren have jacked this thread for there own selfish use. I guess that's Loren's style.

[Loren]

If you're not serious, you left out the smiley.

If you are serious... I'm terribly sorry to have offended you by discussing "coming to Hawaii" in a topic entitled "coming to Hawaii" among my Yaris friends on a public forum.

Glad you're enjoying your trip!

[yaris-me]

If you're not serious, you left out the smiley.

If you are serious... I'm terribly sorry to have offended you by discussing "coming to Hawaii" in a topic entitled "coming to Hawaii" among my Yaris friends on a public forum.

Glad you're enjoying your trip!

You have no class and have shown it by assuming "coming to Hawaii" meant you. Be a man and own up instead of trying for an excuse. Here's your smiley.:smile:

[tomato]

You have no class and have shown it by assuming "coming to Hawaii" meant you. Be a man and own up instead of trying for an excuse. Here's your smiley.:smile:

WTF?!!! Either there is an inside joke somewhere that I'm not getting, or this is a completely inappropriate comment. :rolleyes:

If you wanted to have a private conversation about Hawaii with another member, why don't you msg them privately then? How rude.

Unbelievable. This better be some kind of inside joke or an apology is in order here.

subscribed!

[yarisugi]

WTF is right. Where's the Aloha? Geez.

Loren and yaris-me, I hope you both have a wonderful time in Hawaii.
No matter what island(s) you guys are on, lots of good food and looks like lots of sunshine for the days ahead.
Spend lots of money and help the economy! :biggrin:
Required attire: t-shirt, shorts and slippers (flip-flops, sandals - I don't know what you call it in the "mainland"). haha! j/k

[PETERPOOP]

yarisme MUST be a chick. lmao

[tomato]

^ gee thanks :rolleyes:

another joke?

[OTA'sTOY]

You have no class and have shown it by assuming "coming to Hawaii" meant you. Be a man and own up instead of trying for an excuse. Here's your smiley.:smile:

then you should have called this:

"yaris-me is coming home to OAHU":biggrin:

cause that where your actually going
that way everyone else won't assume things:confused:

[bkrownd]

<threadjack>
<pile-on>
Loren brought us some nice weather! :thumbup: Thanks dude!
</pile-on>
</threadjack>

<edit>weather has been oscillating between nice and suck, actually...depends on the wind direction, I guess.</edit>

[Loren]

No inside joke, dunno what's up.

Had a fantastic time on the island of Hawaii. Aloha and mahalo to all!

[yarisugi]

Glad you had a good time, Loren. I bet you didn't get to go to all the places you wanted to, right? At least the weather was pretty good.

[Loren]

We got to most of our "must see" places, but there were definitely a lot of places we didn't get to and things we didn't do. South point and the green sand beach were part of what we missed due to road construction the day we went down there. But, that's a good thing... I'm sure the road needed it!

It really is a "big island"! I'm in love with the area from North Hilo to Waipio. The view of the ocean from 1000-1500 feet up on the hillside is simply majestic!

[PETERPOOP]

glad to hear you enjoyed your trip!