Hi Everyone:

My husband got back early this morning from our first trip to Hawaii and the Big Island and we had a wonderful time. Here's my thoughts on the trip--I'm very excited to share this with you since we had such a wonderful time and advice from this board was VERY helpful:

Day 1: We flew LAX-HNL-KOA on American and Hawaiian airlines and the flights were perfect. We left the day before Thanksgiving and assumed everything would be a mad house, but that wasnt the case. When we arrived in Kona we were immediately charmed by their open air airport. My husband took the shuttle to the Alamo rental office while I waited for the bags and we were in our room at the Hapuna Beach Prince by 2:00 PM. It was a delightful way to begin a trip! By the way, we rented a SUV via Priceline and ended up with a Trailblazer--we really enjoyed this car!

We booked an oceanview room at the Hapuna and received a wonderful room on the 7th floor near the elevators/lobby. The view from the room was just lovely and included both the ocean and the pool. I agree with what most say about the Hapuna being very stark, but I still thought it was quite lovely and warm. I loved that valet parking and beach chairs were free!

We ate dinner at Cafe Pesto since it was close to the hotel and really enjoyed our meal--so much that we went back for dinner a second time and lunch before we went to the airport. We shared the luau pizza which was very yummy and the crab cake appetizer. Very good passion fruit iced tea as well. Warm apple cobbler ala mode for dessert.

Day 2: This was Thanksgiving Day so we knew many shops and restaurants would be closed for the holiday. We decided to drive up Kohala Mountain Road (Highway 250) to Hawi and then on to the Pololu Lookout. What a pretty drive! It was cloudy out so we didnt get any really great views down to the coast, but the farmland scenery was amazing as was the view of the coastline at Pololu. On the way back we took Highway 270 and stopped at the Puukohola Heiau which was was worth the stop to learn about Big Island history.

We continued on Queen K Highway to Kona and strolled along Alii Dr. My husband bought a few great t-shirts at the ABC Store in Kona and we got supplies for the rest of the week. I thought Kona was a great little beach town, but I enjoyed staying in the Kohala Resort area better.

For Thanksgiving Dinner we ate at Merriman's in Waimea--it was fabulous! The dinner was a set menu for $44 per person that included appetizer, soup or salad, entree, and dessert. I had the traditional turkey and my husband had the filet and both were great. We really enjoyed this restaurant and from what we saw in the dark knew we were were going to love Waimea--such beautiful countryside!

Day 3:

This was our day to go to the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park! We left the hotel around 7:30 AM and took the northern route through Hilo. We stopped at Waipio Lookout (and got some great pictures) as well as Akaka Falls, both of which were beautiful! I loved how the Hilo side of the island was so tropical--the diversity of the Big Island is just amazing and is something I really enjoyed. We took the 4-mile Scenic Drive and stopped at What's Shakin for smoothies and sandwiches. Great fruity smoothies! We ate the sandwiches when we got to the park around 12:00.

We drove the Crater Rim Drive, stopping at all the sites and hiking out to the various lookout points. We really enjoyed the Devastation Trail to Kilauea Iki Crater--I dont think words can describe this area very well. Visiting the park was definitely the highlight of our trip! Around 3:00 we drove out to the Chain of Craters Road and walked out past where the lava crossed the road to the edge of the ocean. We had a great view of the steam plume where the lava was entering the ocean--to see new land being formed like that was amazing! When we returned to our car we drove slowly back to Volcano Village and had dinner at Thai Thai. Very good thai food--spring rolls, thai iced tea, pad thai, fried rice, etc. Just what we needed after a long day and not very expensive either! We drove back to the Hapuna via the southern route and it was pouring rain most of the way! We got back to the hotel by 9:30ish and were exhausted but really enjoyed everything about this day!

Enjoying your report! I am planning my 1st Big Island trip so I am looking forward to hearing more! Just curious,,,I have considered skipping out on family & friends over Thanksgiving for a Hawaii trip but so far been put off by the flack I am afraid I would get; did you encounter any wierd reactions from those "left behind?"

Mary--no, it wasnt wierd for us to "skip out" on family and friends for the holiday, but we have really small families that arent really into the holidays very much--we're trying to start new holiday traditions for when we have a family of our own!

Day 4:

This morning we drove south of Kona and explored the many small coffee towns near Honaunau and Captain Cook. We stopped at both Greenwell Coffee and Bayview Coffee Farms. Very good tasting coffee! We didnt get to take a formal tour of either farm, but we we did get to walk among the facilities by ourselves. We bought a few pounds from each place for my dad who is a big coffee drinker and tasted many of the flavors. The views from this area of the island are beautiful!

Next stop---Place of Refuge--so peaceful and serene! There were several turtles beaching themselves on the sand and they were so beautiful. We took silly pictures next to the tiki statues. It was so hot this day and I really wanted to jump in the water with all the other snorklers, but...and this sounds funny I know...I have problems with getting water in my ears....so we enjoyed watching the turtles from the sand.

We had lunch at the Kona Inn--great ocean view and we had the place pretty much to ourselves. Normally I would be weary of this, but the food was great. I had a wonderful ceasar salad with fresh ahi. There were people parasailing in the water which was fun to watch!

We spent the afternoon at the beach and pool at the Hapuna--so beautiful. Dinner was at Bamboo Restaurant in Hawi. I enjoyed the food and the atmosphere, but it was expensive. The live music they have on Friday and Saturdays nights was great. Nice way to relax at the end of the day.

Day 5:

We spent most of this day "beach hopping" and checking out some of the other Kohala area beaches. We really liked A-bay (can't pronounce the real name) by the Marriott! My husband likes to boggie board so we also spent more time at Hapuna since the waves were pretty good there almost every day.

Dinner was Cafe Pesto again--I had the Volcano Mist salad and crab cakes and my husband had the pepperoni classico pizza. Like I said before, we really like this restaurant. We dont have many small, family owned restaurants where we live in Southern California. At the Harbor Gallery next door, I bought a beautiful turtle made out of recycled aluminum for my backyard. Yay!

Day 6:

We decided that we wanted to drive back to Hilo today via Waimea so we could do some more shopping and visit some of the places we missed the first time. I mentioned this before, but I really like Waimea--I think Im just a country girl at heart! Plus the shopping here is great! We also went to the Hawaiian Tropical Botanical Gardens too-a little steep at $15/person, but we enjoyed looking at the beautiful flowers. Just remember to bring bug spray!! My husband and I commute to LA everyday so we enjoyed the beautiful drive to and from the hotel. In fact, driving everywhere on the island was wonderful--everyone has the aloha spirit!

We had dinner at Merriman's Market Cafe in the King's Shops. Very good food in very good atmosphere. I had great shrimp kabobs and chocolate cake!

Day 7:

Time to go home! The Hapuna gave us a late checkout of 2:00 PM which was very nice of them. We enjoyed one last breakfast at the Ocean Terrace and relaxed on the beach until checkout time. Then, we had lunch at Cafe Pesto (I know, I know--but I promise the food is very good and much cheaper than the resort area!) and headed to get gas at Costco before we dropped the rental off at the airport. Again, we had perfect flights home.

All in all, WE LOVE THE BIG ISLAND. I would love to go back someday, but my husband and I have promised that we will not go back somewhere until we have been to all of the other places we want to go, Paris, Greece, etc etc etc. But, the Big Island will always have a special place in my heart!

Please let me know if you have any questions!

glad to hear you enjoyed "my island" and especially the hilo side. it often gets overlooked but well worth the drive from kona/kohala!
ALOHA

Bump--hope someone else can make good use of my review...

Great report, I'm planning a trip to BI so this report is a good find. That's interesting you saw Akaka Falls in the same day as VNP. We had thought of a day trip to Hilo to see the falls and the botannical gardens, then a seperate day trip to VNP. But instead we might just follow your plan and skip the botannical gardens. You said you took the northern route going and the southern route coming back to VNP? Which is better, or should we make the circle like you did?

Hi there,

I think one day for Hilo and the waterfalls and one day for VNP is acually a great idea. It allows you to spend more time in each area--I know there are a few things we missed since we were a little rushed. If you are staying in the Kohala resort area then I suggest you take the northern route since it's closer and it is also a beautiful drive. If you take the southern route coming back, it's slower since the road is quite curvey, but I think it's better than backtracking into Hilo.

If you take the southern route to VNP, you can stop at the Black Sand Beach, which is something we missed--by the time we passed it on the way home from VNP it was already dark. Have fun!

Let me know if you have more questions!

Actually we will be staying just south of Kona. Maybe we'll do the northerly route to Hilo one day, then the southerly route to VNP on another day.

Lord have mercy, P M. The birthday thread has been shut down. Sometimes I just wonder...