Big Relaxation on The Big Island

This year, my parents invited my sister and I to join them in Hawaii! Growing up in Seattle, I feel like Hawaii is the default vacation destination to escape the rain, so I’ve been lucky to have gone several times growing up. This trip was to the Big Island, which I hadn’t been to since summer 2018.

We stayed on the Kona side of the island, and the temperature only ranged from about 70 to 85.  We didn’t have an itinerary. I went to the pool and read pretty much every day. I like having busy trips where you walk 10 miles a day and don’t really relax, so this is the vacation I didn’t know I needed.

 

My parents were there for about 3 weeks, and I booked my trip for 10 days. My grandparents flew down with my parents and were there for the first half of my trip. I flew from LA to Kona on July 4th. It’s an easy 5.5-hour flight, which is only a little longer than a flight to New York. After I got there,  my dad and I hung out at the pool bar and I tried my first lava flow. I got it non-alcoholic and it was truly a frozen slushie dessert. Then we drove around the little town and saw a rainbow!

The next day, my mom, my grandparents, and I went to the big Hilton hotel, took the tram, and walked around a little bit. There’s a big lagoon with fish and turtles, as well as a dolphin area that never ceases to entertain me. 

Later, we also went to the Hamakua Macadamia Nut Company Visitor Center and learned about macadamia nut processing. We also got to try samples of savory and sweet macadamia nuts.  Sarah arrived later in the day.

Every morning, my family needs coffee. There was a Starbucks nearby, but our favorite place was Island Vintage Coffee. I loved their ice blended chai! For lunch, we got some poke and even Dad liked it! His favorite was the sunset poke from Hale I’a Da Fish House. They do tend to run out of fish and poke, so definitely grab some in the morning for later. 

Saturday night, my grandparents booked us VIP (!) tickets to a luau at the Fairmont Orchid up the road. We got to sit at a table right in front of the stage area and got some extra appetizers. There were some activities before the dinner started and we all got some temporary tattoos. Dinner was buffet-style and included smoked kalua pork, poke, poi, and taro rolls. Dessert was pineapple upside-down cake, chocolate lava cake, banana bread, coconut cream haupia, and fruit salad. 

The hula dancing and performances were lovely and told the story of the island, with people coming over from Polynesia. After dark, there was a fire dancer.

On Sunday, we took a drive and stopped at Pololu Valley Lookout and then grabbed lunch at Bamboo Restaurant & Gallery in the small town of Hawi. The food was just alright.

After, we drove back to the condo. It was pretty to see the lush landscape of the island, and we stopped for photos along Kohala Mountain Road for a view of the coast.

There weren’t a lot of restaurants near us and my parents were in Hawaii for two weeks, so they went to Costco and got a bunch of groceries. One night we had steak night and played games.

I was WFH (working from Hawaii) Monday and Tuesday. Although the wifi connection was slightly unstable, it wasn’t too bad. With the time change, I was working from 6 am to 2 pm and had my afternoons free to go to the pool. 

I was officially on vacation on Wednesday. That morning, we went to the Manuela Malasada Company food truck and learned that the opening time is more of an estimate (8:30 could mean 8:45 am). There was a line forming and I admit I spent $30 on 6 of these doughy treats for our family. We got malasadas filled with different fruit jellies (passionfruit, guava, mango, raspberry), cookie butter, and chocolate. Honestly, every time I try malasadas, I am never wowed, but they were good. I just don’t think they’re worth waiting more than 10 minutes in line for.

The next day, we visited Kona town and walked around. We saw the official swim start of the Ironman Triathlon World Championship. The shops were mainly on one street, Ali’i Drive, but there were some restaurants and shops tucked up side streets. Island Ono Loa Grill’s big sign caught our attention and we decided to try the 8th-best cheeseburger for lunch. The place was very unassuming and just looked like your typical fast-food burger place, but everything was delicious! I don’t think you could go wrong.

For a sweet treat, later we went to Journey Cafe, another gem tucked away up the street. It’s a plant-based restaurant and we got an acai and macadamia nut swirl dairy-free ice cream. It was light and refreshing, and possibly one of the best bites of the whole trip.

We also drove to the St. Benedict Catholic Church, also known as the Painted Church. It was so little and cute and free to enter. 

Friday was our biggest adventure day. First we stopped in Hilo at Suisan Fish Market for some poke. They had all sorts of poke, from salmon to ahi to hamachi. It was overwhelming, but the guy let us sample some. 

Then, we headed into Hawaii Volcanoes National Park! I can’t believe I’ve visited five national parks this year! First, we stopped at Kilauea Visitor Center. It was pretty crowded around noon. From there, we walked the half-mile along the Crater Rim trail to Thurston Lava Tube, which was a very good idea, because it looked pretty impossible to find parking. The lava tube was really cool. It was way colder inside and it was wet. 

Then, we drove to Kealakomo Lookout. It was extremely windy, but it felt nice since it was 80 degrees outside. 

The Holei Sea Arch was pretty crowded, but the road was closed to cars, so everyone had to park along the road and walk in. It was also pretty windy down here.  The arch was kind of far away, so it was hard to get good photos, you just had to be there (or bring a zoom lens).

Next, we drove into Naalehu and stopped at Punalu’u Bake Shop, the southernmost bakery in the US. We grabbed some coffee ice cream, guava sweetbread rolls, and more malasadas since it was nearing closing time and they were 50% off. I think the vanilla cream ones were better than the malasadas from Manuela Malasada. 

Lastly, we went to a beach that was close to the Southern-most tip of the island (and therefore the US). Overall, it was over 300 miles of driving and we went around most of the island. The Big Island is indeed quite big.

Saturday was my last full day in Hawaii and we went to Anaeho’omalu Beach. The Big Island is known for adventures, while Maui is more known for its beaches, with fine white sand. This beach had coarse, rocky sand, and it was very windy, so it kind of hurt to lay out on the sand, so we didn’t last very long.

For my final dinner, we went to Merriman’s in Waimea. It’s one of the nicest restaurants on the island and we made a reservation about 5 days earlier. It’s a farm-to-table restaurant and has fresh Hawaiian dishes. We started with the kalua pig sweet onion quesadilla, poke mix plate, and beet salad. Then, we all got different entrees of fish, lamb, and beef.  For dessert, we got the chocolate pouch and a bread pudding. My mom liked it so much that they went back for lunch the next week! 

This was a great week and a half in Hawaii with the fam. There’s still so much to explore in Hawaii. Next time, I want to go back to Honolulu and explore Oahu!

Google Map of everywhere we went:

RECOMMENDED READING:
30 Hour Arizona Road Trip: Grand Canyon, Horseshoe Bend & Sedona

Mid-Winter Break with Mom: LA, OC, and Las Vegas!

Sarah’s Food-Filled Week in LA