Hawaii, the Big Island – Part 11

Friday. Our last full day of vacation. Forecast: rain.

Looking at our options, we decided to take an easy drive to check out the north side of the island. Carrie’s folks had been through the small town of Hawi soon after we’d arrived and had recommended it. Since relaxing on a sunny beach wasn’t an option, off we went.

The day had started off grey and cloudy. We got our first few drops of rain on the windshield shortly after we passed the small harbor and the shave ice place we’d previously visited. The coastal terrain was still lava fields and dry grasses for the most part, but as we progressed north things started to green up.

Within fifteen minutes later, we’d reached the northernmost part of our island visit as the road curved east towards Hawi. We were still a couple of miles from the northern shore, and the rain had slowly picked up.

As we approached Hawi, I pulled over to let some cars pass so I could get a photo of an older building. There was a benchmark here too – a church steeple – and I quickly got my photos. Then I noticed that there was a geocache right nearby, less than a hundred feet away, so I went looking for that. The rain was steady now but not bad, and the weather was still warm so it wasn’t unpleasant to be out getting soaked in the tropical shower. I was able to locate the cache after a minute or two (a fake rock designed to hide house keys) even though it blended into its surroundings very well. I signed the logsheet and hopped back into the car for the drive around Hawi.

Looking for a geocache in the tropical rain in Hawi.

Hawi turned out to be a very small town, with a few businesses along the main road. Some of the buildings had false fronts like you see in buildings from the old west. We were looking for a lunch stop and had identified a few likely-looking eateries as we drove past, but before we knew it we were through the town! In another minute or so, we’d reached an even smaller town named Kapaau. We slowed to look at a couple of cafes and other stores but then I blinked and we were past that town as well.

Along the main drag in Hawi

Carrie said there would surely be more options, but I was skeptical. Sure enough within a minute or two we’d decided to turn around and drive back.

Kapaau

I parked at SammyD’s, a roadside restaurant that had a long covered patio. About this time, a genuine downpour had begun and water was running across the road in streams. We ducked into the restaurant and quickly placed our orders at the order window, where we could see people going about their work in the kitchen. The food that we saw looked good, and we grabbed an outside table while the food was being prepared.

Because we’d arrived right around noon, and because it was obviously a popular local spot where people had called in their orders, we had a long wait for our meals. For the next half hour or so we watched the heavy rain come down from the comfort of the covered porch, and the parking and other tables filled up. It was clear by this point that we were the only tourists in the place, which was fine with me. Some interesting locals characters were also at the outside tables and pretty much everyone seemed to know each other.

When the food finally arrived, it was brought out by what I took to be the owners. They were very friendly and made sure we had everything we needed. It was immediately apparent why the food had taken so long: the burger (mine) and fish (Carrie and Allison’s) were obviously prepared with great care and in a way more like home cooking than food cooked with speed in mind. My burger was one of the best I’ve ever had, and the fish had fine reviews as well. Not only did it seem like a genuine family – ohana – place, but even as tourists passing through they made us feel welcome as part of it. I couldn’t have hoped for a better lunch experience.

As we left Kapaau for the second time, we passed the original King Kamehameha statue in front of what I thought was a small schoolhouse, but turned out to be a community center building. The painted statue had originally been lost in a shipwreck near the Falklands, but was salvaged and later turned up in Stanley where the captain of the wrecked ship spotted and bought it, and it eventually ended up here, near Kamehameha’s birthplace.

The surroundings had once again become very lush and tropical, with tall trees and massive fronds. We passed old tin-roofed homes, some brightly painted, and they had a wonderful charm. The rain couldn’t quite make up is mind and it varied from very light to very heavy, and everything between. It was a very pleasant drive though, a perfect backroad even if it was the main road through this area. I savored the drive and our remaining time in this place.

Tropical backroad

Soon we saw a sign for a coastal park and took the side road north in that direction. Several young locals in lifted, battered old Toyota pickups blasted by in the opposite direction, chewing up the soggy roadside grass as they enjoyed the puddles. The small road wound past several houses, the old stone ruins of an old mill, and then a small, old cemetery which looked very Japanese in style. Soon the road ended at a small bay where more of those beautiful, light-blue waves were crashing against the rocky shore. We got out and looked around the small park for a while before moving on again.

Keokea Beach Park

Back on the main road, as it twisted along we passed a very colorful building that was set back from the road. It was a very old Japanese society, Buddhists if I’m remembering correctly. The buildings along this road had enough personality that I was having a lot of fun checking them all out.

Within a mile and a half of having returned to the main road, it ended. We’d arrived at a parking area and what appeared to be a very nice overlook, although we mostly saw fog, clouds, rain, and water running across the road. Unfortunately (from my perspective, anyway) a rain hike was out of the question, so we turned around and backtracked to Hawi before heading south on Kohala Mountain Road.

This led us through some nice wooded areas and more ranch lands, before coming out on the mountainside and things had returned to the sparse lava rock look again. There were actually a lot of cactus to be be seen at times. Eventually we found ourselves in Waimea again, where we spent some time looking through a few shops before heading back. I introduced Carrie and Allison to the shave ice place I’d visited several days ago and now I found out they had excellent ice cream too.

The lady at the shave ice place told me about the high school girl she’d been talking to when we got there. It seems the girl was an exchange student from Pakistan. When I said she’d obviously hit the Exchange Student Lottery Jackpot, the lady laughed and agreed, but also said the girl had no idea how lucky she was. Apparently they’d had a hard time convincing her that the entire U.S. wasn’t like Hawaii.

That night we went out for dinner to a “Macaroni Grill” restaurant. The food was reasonably good, but my steak was very tough and our waitress was unusually bad. The whole place had an air of over-hype to it, but it was obviously a popular place and was very busy that night.

It hadn’t been an especially noteworthy day in the vacation, but it was still a good vacation day. We enjoyed a final evening on the lanai and got things somewhat in order for the next day’s departure. There was a lot of chitchat that night about what it would be like to live in Hawaii.

Next: The exciting (not!) conclusion!