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05-07-2010, 11:27 PM | #1 |
What?
Drives: 2007 Yaris LB Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Safety Harbor, FL
Posts: 1,006
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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. |
05-08-2010, 12:02 AM | #2 |
やりすぎだ~
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So funny! 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.
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05-08-2010, 12:11 AM | #3 | |
Drives: 2010 Yaris "5-door" Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: Upper Waiakea Forest Reserve
Posts: 170
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Quote:
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. |
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05-08-2010, 12:04 AM | #4 |
Drives: 2010 Yaris "5-door" Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: Upper Waiakea Forest Reserve
Posts: 170
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At least you've got something worthwhile to do at work, then. ;) (oops, look busy the boss is coming...!)
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05-08-2010, 12:25 AM | #5 | |
Drives: 2010 Yaris "5-door" Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: Upper Waiakea Forest Reserve
Posts: 170
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Quote:
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. |
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05-08-2010, 01:41 AM | #6 | |
Drives: 2010 Yaris "5-door" Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: Upper Waiakea Forest Reserve
Posts: 170
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Quote:
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...) Last edited by bkrownd; 05-08-2010 at 01:57 AM. |
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05-08-2010, 12:53 AM | #7 |
What?
Drives: 2007 Yaris LB Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Safety Harbor, FL
Posts: 1,006
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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! |
05-08-2010, 01:54 AM | #8 |
Drives: 2010 Yaris "5-door" Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: Upper Waiakea Forest Reserve
Posts: 170
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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.
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05-08-2010, 12:37 PM | #9 |
What?
Drives: 2007 Yaris LB Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Safety Harbor, FL
Posts: 1,006
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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! |
05-10-2010, 10:27 AM | #10 |
What?
Drives: 2007 Yaris LB Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Safety Harbor, FL
Posts: 1,006
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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! |
05-12-2010, 02:15 AM | #11 |
Learn to Relax
Drives: 2007, Meteorite, LB Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: Anaheim, CA
Posts: 2,070
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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.
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05-12-2010, 02:21 AM | #12 | |
Super Moderator
Drives: Yaris 2DR LB 07, MT, Abs. Red Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: San Francisco Bay Area
Posts: 5,155
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Quote:
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! Last edited by tomato; 05-12-2010 at 02:33 AM. |
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05-14-2010, 05:58 PM | #13 | |
DAT'S RIGHT I GOTz 2
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Quote:
"yaris-me is coming home to OAHU" cause that where your actually going that way everyone else won't assume things
__________________
Last edited by OTA'sTOY; 05-14-2010 at 06:23 PM. |
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05-12-2010, 03:02 AM | #14 |
やりすぎだ~
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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! Required attire: t-shirt, shorts and slippers (flip-flops, sandals - I don't know what you call it in the "mainland"). haha! j/k |
05-12-2010, 01:42 PM | #15 |
yarisme MUST be a chick. lmao
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05-12-2010, 03:01 PM | #16 |
Super Moderator
Drives: Yaris 2DR LB 07, MT, Abs. Red Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: San Francisco Bay Area
Posts: 5,155
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^ gee thanks
another joke? |
05-14-2010, 06:45 PM | #17 |
Drives: 2010 Yaris "5-door" Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: Upper Waiakea Forest Reserve
Posts: 170
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<threadjack>
<pile-on> Loren brought us some nice weather! Thanks dude! </pile-on> </threadjack> <edit>weather has been oscillating between nice and suck, actually...depends on the wind direction, I guess.</edit> Last edited by bkrownd; 05-21-2010 at 02:54 AM. |
05-23-2010, 03:45 PM | #18 |
What?
Drives: 2007 Yaris LB Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Safety Harbor, FL
Posts: 1,006
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No inside joke, dunno what's up.
Had a fantastic time on the island of Hawaii. Aloha and mahalo to all! |
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