Monday, April 16, 2012

Circling the Island

One of my quilting friends has lived here all her life and never circled the island in one day. So four of us piled into the car and off we went.

From Waimea we drove down the coast and through Kona, taking the scenic route along Alii Drive - already there were surfers in the water and the beaches were full. It happened to be a beautiful sunny day.

Next stop was the Coffee Shack near Kealakekua Bay and Captain Cook for Kona Coffee and pastry. Great views and delicious pastries. Plus a gecko's delight.  They have tiny little dishes sitting on the railing of the lanai filled with what looked like honey for the geckos. There was one little guy who sat their and slurped up his honey the entire time we were eating. You could see his stomach getting bigger.

Then on to the Point of Refuge - a place for ancient Hawaiians who did something forbidden to find sanctuary. It's now a National Park and requires an entrance fee or a pass.





Next stop was South Point - the southernmost point in the US. Narrow road, lots of open farm land with horses, cattle, windmills and occasional houses. We stopped for a photo op and decided not to continue on to the green sand beaches because you need a 4-wheel drive and then a hike to get to the beach.


Mural on the side of the bakery building


From there we were soon at Naalehu - the home of the Punulu'u Sweetbread, which of course we had to bring home. We fit right in with all the other tourists.

Then on to Volcano - we bypassed the park since it was close to 3pm and we hadn't had lunch - and just stopped in the village for food and shopping at Kilauea Kreations. Our intention was to make a few stops in Hilo but by now it was 5pm and the town was closing down so we just breezed by and headed home with a detour to take the scenic drive by Onemoa Bay.  Home again before 7pm.

We need to make this an annual trip so we can go to the places we missed this year!

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