![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Today is our first transit day. We move from our Bamboo House in the rainforest in the north of the island to a more normative (but huge) family house down south of Hilo on the East Coast.
It's a somewhat exhausting day, because we're on the road for I don't even know how many hours. Six? Eight? Because we have a check-out of 10.30 and then a check-in of 4.00. (And we leave early.)
We start the day returning to the Waipio Lookout and are delighted that the sun's come out. We can see the valley and the beach and the mountains (but not the river) quite clearly. It's nice that it cleared up just in time.
Most of the day is spent hunting waterfalls on the road down to Hilo.
There are quite a few visible from the highway. Every mile or two we hit a bridge and when we do, we look inland and as often as not there's a beautiful waterfall.
We stop at some muddy little park between the 20 and 19 mile marks. I'm not sure of its name, and it was mostly neglected, but nonetheless we enjoy seeing the river there.
The highlight is the Akaka Falls State Park. There's someone standing at the entrance, showing you how to use a machine to pay a fee of $1/person, which feels pretty scammy. But I guess state parks are different here. Then we're walking on a big loop.
I've loved being in rain forest rooms, like the one in the Conservatory of Flowers in Golden Gate Park. But this is the first time I've ever been in a huge outside rain forest area that just keeps going and going. It was awesome to see a lot of the same flora, but in its natural environment.
There are again countless falls, two big and lots small. The big Akaka Falls is the highlight. It's 440+ feet and absolutely awe-inspiring.
(Sadly Kimberly of the broken foot and hand isn't able to join us on this walk, which includes lots of steps, including 15 stories of rise, but I bore her with pictures. Which don't really translate the awe.)
We're in Hilo by noon, for lunch. We eat at an excellent Italian place there. Then Jared has learned of a mochi bakery, which we visit. It has an impressive selection and we taste some samples that are good. I get a "brownie" mochi, a marshmellow mochi, and a white-chocolate-and-something mochi. Haven't eaten them yet.
There's one more waterfall to see, the Rainbow Waterfall. There are no rainbows to be seen because it's once again gray and wet, but it's impressive, and we get pretty up close and personal to this one, which is cool.
Bonus Stop! We suddenly turn into the Mauna Loa macadamia factory.
But it's a bit disappointing: pretty much a tourist trap.
There's a "self-guided" factory tour, which is just three video screens, only two of which are working. And part of the catwork is taped off. And there's no one in the chocolate making area. But we do at least get to see people playing with nuts in the main factory.
The main thing at the site is a store where there's everything from actual macadamia nut bags to nut jewelry. There are samples, but they're offered stingily and listlessly. Nonetheless, I discover they have Maui Onion macadamias which are quite good. (The dark chocolate isn't bad either, but why not just have the nuts or just the dark chocolate?)
We arrive at our newest residence at 3.30 or so. It's half-an-hour early, but Mary verifies we can go in.
Kimberly and I get the master bedroom again, as the room most likely to be easily accessible given her foot. This one has a shower, thankfully (our Bamboo House bathroom didn't!) and the shower even has a seat which will make it possible for Kimberly to use without problem.
Meanwhile, we have a dream of watching Muana on Netflix tonight, but the house's HDMI connector is broken. After half-an-hour of struggle with a knife, Jared manages to get it straightened out. So there will probably be Hawaiian singing tonight after dinner.
It's a somewhat exhausting day, because we're on the road for I don't even know how many hours. Six? Eight? Because we have a check-out of 10.30 and then a check-in of 4.00. (And we leave early.)
We start the day returning to the Waipio Lookout and are delighted that the sun's come out. We can see the valley and the beach and the mountains (but not the river) quite clearly. It's nice that it cleared up just in time.
Most of the day is spent hunting waterfalls on the road down to Hilo.
There are quite a few visible from the highway. Every mile or two we hit a bridge and when we do, we look inland and as often as not there's a beautiful waterfall.
We stop at some muddy little park between the 20 and 19 mile marks. I'm not sure of its name, and it was mostly neglected, but nonetheless we enjoy seeing the river there.
The highlight is the Akaka Falls State Park. There's someone standing at the entrance, showing you how to use a machine to pay a fee of $1/person, which feels pretty scammy. But I guess state parks are different here. Then we're walking on a big loop.
I've loved being in rain forest rooms, like the one in the Conservatory of Flowers in Golden Gate Park. But this is the first time I've ever been in a huge outside rain forest area that just keeps going and going. It was awesome to see a lot of the same flora, but in its natural environment.
There are again countless falls, two big and lots small. The big Akaka Falls is the highlight. It's 440+ feet and absolutely awe-inspiring.
(Sadly Kimberly of the broken foot and hand isn't able to join us on this walk, which includes lots of steps, including 15 stories of rise, but I bore her with pictures. Which don't really translate the awe.)
We're in Hilo by noon, for lunch. We eat at an excellent Italian place there. Then Jared has learned of a mochi bakery, which we visit. It has an impressive selection and we taste some samples that are good. I get a "brownie" mochi, a marshmellow mochi, and a white-chocolate-and-something mochi. Haven't eaten them yet.
There's one more waterfall to see, the Rainbow Waterfall. There are no rainbows to be seen because it's once again gray and wet, but it's impressive, and we get pretty up close and personal to this one, which is cool.
Bonus Stop! We suddenly turn into the Mauna Loa macadamia factory.
But it's a bit disappointing: pretty much a tourist trap.
There's a "self-guided" factory tour, which is just three video screens, only two of which are working. And part of the catwork is taped off. And there's no one in the chocolate making area. But we do at least get to see people playing with nuts in the main factory.
The main thing at the site is a store where there's everything from actual macadamia nut bags to nut jewelry. There are samples, but they're offered stingily and listlessly. Nonetheless, I discover they have Maui Onion macadamias which are quite good. (The dark chocolate isn't bad either, but why not just have the nuts or just the dark chocolate?)
We arrive at our newest residence at 3.30 or so. It's half-an-hour early, but Mary verifies we can go in.
Kimberly and I get the master bedroom again, as the room most likely to be easily accessible given her foot. This one has a shower, thankfully (our Bamboo House bathroom didn't!) and the shower even has a seat which will make it possible for Kimberly to use without problem.
Meanwhile, we have a dream of watching Muana on Netflix tonight, but the house's HDMI connector is broken. After half-an-hour of struggle with a knife, Jared manages to get it straightened out. So there will probably be Hawaiian singing tonight after dinner.