So, I guess I’ll pick up where Misty left off, somewhere in the middle of the Pacific. As we were flying standby, we ended up in the very last seat on the last aft row on the port side of an A330 bound for Hawaii. This wasn’t such a bad thing though, as I think we we’re with others also flying standby which seemed to be mostly employees of Hawaiian Air. They seemed to know the drill, didn’t whine, and didn’t start panting when we hit a bit of turbulence. The flight ended uneventfully as did our next little flight across the islands to Hilo on the Big Island. The rest of our travel day went pretty smoothly after our little hiccup at LAX and we finished the day at a neat little restaurant / bar named Pineapple’s before checking into our quaint, little hotel. Monday morning we headed north around the island stopping by Akaka Falls and Rainbow Falls. We made a short detour through an impromptu “Scenic Route” which ended up including a short hike down to the coast before heading to Hawaiian Vanilla Company for a tour of their operation (which includes Vanilla Bean ice cream). I’m pretty sure this is the reason Misty made this happen as she’s never been that interested in orchid horticulture. So, after dropping that bit of knowledge, did you know vanilla is an orchid? I did not as I can’t say it’s ever a crop I’ve really ever thought of attempting to home grow. I’m pretty sure you’d have to be a bit of a masochist to attempt to make a living growing this stuff, as it seems to be like most orchids, temperamental at best. I feel like our tour guide’s (and also the owner of the farm) motto, “There’s those that have killed an orchid, and those that are lying about never killing an orchid” is probably more true than those that haven’t attempted keeping an orchid alive might believe. The tour was very informative and seeing their innovations at the greenhouse I was pretty impressed with their operation and would highly recommend the tour if you have any interest in the growing or culinary uses of vanilla. After the tour, we started to wind our way around the north end of the island, counter clockwise stopping by the Pololu Valley lookout to see the sheer cliffs plunging into the ocean. They seemed a bit too high to make a good diving board, so we refrained, took a few photos and pushed south-ish. We managed to make a stop by Tex Diner in Honokaa for a taste of a malasada which proved to be worthwhile! These are like fruit filled hybrid if a donut and a sopapilla had a baby that are a breakfast (or late afternoon) staple here. I believe they are Portuguese as are several other parts of the local cuisine. As we started to toy with the idea of finding a hotel for the evening we soon found out that Kona is a bit more developed (read: more expensive) than the east side of the island. We managed to miss a perfectly good sunset by just minutes at one of the state parks, so we proceeded to our now booked fancy resort in twilight. As we arrived at the Hilton Grand something resort it was apparent this was not just a hotel. The resort reminded me of something akin to those huge places in Destin with condos, buffet lines, designer clothing stores where you can buy all your name brand crap, and perfectly manicured landscaping. This place was awesome and it was starting to make me feel physically ill. You see, I’d probably rather sleep in a tent than stay in one of these places. I really don’t want to sound like a brat about it, but it feels like being on a pre-planned vacation tour bus, admittedly a ridiculously nice bus, but a place where you’re going to get the same experience as everyone else, like it or not. There’s not chance here, you’ll do all the same tourist stuff, eat the same food, and pay the same price. Repeatable, expected outcomes every single time you visit. These are things I hold in great regard running a business, but have no time or desire to have when on vacation. I feel like this place is great for those that want to relax and not have any issues with their vacation. I know this sounds odd to be complaining about, and I wouldn’t attempt to steer anyone away from this place if it was the type of place you wanted to vacation, but it’s not for me. I feel like this is the romcom where the girl chooses some loose cannon over the guy who “has it together” and also has her life planned for her as well. There’s definitely value in the unknown. I did actually have one unexpected moment here though, I was somewhere out in the middle of their golf course sometime around midnight attempting to take a few photos of the stars and the sprinkler system popped on and had me running across the course like an idiot attempting to keep a camera, mounted on a tripod dry. One spot I will say was actually pretty neat at this place was their lagoon where you can swim and still see smaller sea creatures including sea turtles and a ton of different Tangs swimming around right at the resort. Well, enough of my whining, I think I’ll let Misty take over from here….
Travel · January 18, 2018
