Entries Tagged as 'big island'

KOA – Kona International Airport

March 30th, 2011 · 1 Comment


Lark Grey Dimond-Cates: Hula Kahiko (more on artist)


Lark Grey Dimond-Cates: Hula Kahiko (more on sculpture)

Leaving Hawaii. Sigh. Depressing day. I took a bunch of photos in the Kona airport, which is puny. I like the sculptures above. The movement. They’re beautiful.

I took this 28-second video of the airport. You’ll hear me say it’s the entire airport, but it’s only half. We were in the area with gates 6-10, but there is a second part that has gates 1-5. Still…. 28 seconds to view half of the whole airport is pretty crazy.


People walking off the plane, people waiting to board that same plane.


Kona Airport – Gate 9


Walking on the runway to board the plane.


Looking back at the aiport.


Runway


Hawaiian Airlines


POG and a book about Kiluea

Finally, a few last photos from the Honolulu airport, where we had a short layover. Dallas told me he was going to the bathroom so I went into a store. I thought he was taking a while in the bathroom and started to text him when he walked up with a surprise lei for me! That’s one way to brighten my day! So awesome. I wore it all the way home to Chicago.


Day brightened with surprise lei!

Finally, we ate lunch in the Honolulu airport at Kona Brewing.


Lunch at Kona Brewery in HNL

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Sansei Seafood & Sushi

March 29th, 2011 · No Comments

For our last dinner in Hawaii we met up with Cory, Chris, Danny and Caroline for dinner at Sansei. This is one of our favorite Waikiki restaurants. We even had gone to dinner there earlier in the trip. We were hoping that the Big Island restaurant would be as good as the Waikiki one, and it was. We gorged on all of our usual favorites as well as trying some new things. Dallas enjoyed a Japanese beer called Koshihikari Echigo. Us ladies were drinking lychee martinis. They were so delicious. I was on my third one when this happened:


Photo by Cory

I took a few sips and was going to eat my lychee when i noticed something in it. I thought it was part of a pit and was going to pick it out, when I noticed it was a bee!!!! After Cory took a few photos, our waitress was quick to apologize and brought out a complimentary replacement for the drink. So crazy!

Great dinner, though. I was sad that it was the last dinner of our trip, but we went out in style. I was so stuffed, and kind of drunk, by the end of that night!

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Queens’ Marketplace Hula Demonstration

March 29th, 2011 · No Comments

After a long day driving around the Big Island, we rested for a while before driving down to Waikoloa to meet up for dinner. When we arrived, we were a little early, so we watched this hula demonstration at the central pavilion in the outdoor Queens’ Marketplace. I wasn’t sure what the demonstration was, but I found two calendar listings (1, 2) online:

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Na Lehua E Liko No Kawailani (Hula Halau)
Queens’ MarketPlace
6–7:30pm

Hula tells Hawaii’s story with the graceful hands of talented dancers, some trained from childhood in this intricate ancient art of dance and chant. At the Queens’ MarketPlace Coronation Pavilion, we invite island halau (troupes) young and old, to take the stage and share their skills, from the ancient kahiko to modern auana style.

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I think they have a performance every week. Kind of neat. For the performance we saw, the kids cycled out and wore different costumes. I think they were demonstrating different cultures or time periods, but we didn’t really stick around too long to get the entire gist of it.

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Driving Around The Big Island

March 29th, 2011 · 4 Comments


Hilo


Hilo

That day we ended up driving around the entire Big Island. If you’ve been to other Hawaiian islands but not this one, you might not think it’s a big deal, but the Big Island is twice the size of all the other Hawaiian islands combined. With a land mass of 4,028 square miles, it’s about as big as Connecticut. It is 92 miles long and 76 miles wide…. and still growing..

The photos and video above were taken on our drive, going to Hawaiian Volcanoes National Park, then northeast to Hilo, and then back up to our resort on the northwest side of the island.

I was happy to see that as we drove south from Kona over to the park and then up to Hilo, and north up the coast on the eastern side of the island, that the environment was much more lush and tropical. In fact, with 126 – 200 inches of rainfall every year, Hilo is the wettest city in the United States and one of the wettest in the world. This is such a stark contrast to the Kohala Coast, where our resort was situated.

I read that the Big Island is the most ecologically diverse of the islands. The environments there range from desert plains to rain forests to snowcapped mountains. It’s said that there are 13 climatic regions on earth and the Big Island has all but two, the Arctic and the Saharan. It was a long drive that day, but we broke it up and I was glad to be able to see so much of the Big Island.


View Big Island Drive in a larger map

Sources: aloha-hawaii.com, About.com, Wikipedia, NY Times.

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Cafe 100

March 28th, 2011 · 2 Comments

Dallas and keep up with a few Hawaii food blogs while we’re on the mainland and I’d heard of Cafe 100 in Hilo on a blog called Big Island Grinds (1, 2, 3). It’s a cheap local spot that’s quick. Just what we were looking for. And it got great reviews on Yelp, which we were reading in the car on the way there. So, we met up with Kilo and Ku’ulei there. I’d met Kilo before at the Kamehameha Schools Class of ’94 reunion, but I’d never met Ku’ulei. She also went to Kamehameha Schools but wasn’t at the reunion. She brought her 8-month-old son, Luka, who was the cutest!

I’ve read online that some think that the loco moco was invented at Cafe 100. Others say it was at Lincoln Grill. Whichever it is, Cafe 100 has to have the most loco moco version: 17! And all priced between $2.49 and $5.25.

When we walked up, I wasn’t sure what to expect. You order at a counter and get your food there. Then it’s all covered outside picnic table-style seating. Lots of old timer regulars, it seemed.

The signs illustrating each of the different kinds of loco moco were adorable.

Just to try something new I got the portugeuse sausage loco. I liked it good enough, but what I really like about loco moco is getting everything in one bite.. breaking up the hamburger and the eggs and mixing them in with the gravy and rice. The portugeuse sausage doesn’t really break up, but it was still good.

Dallas got the super moco, which was made with two eggs, a hamburger patty, spam, portuguese sausage, rice, and potato mac salad. Ku’ulei stayed with the regular loco moco and Kilo got the double loco.

A quick lunch, Kilo had to get back to work and we had to get back on the road, but it was great to see friends while we were on the Big Island.

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