Thursday, August 11, 2011
Today we flew to Hilo on the Big Island. Late last night Michelle discovered that Go!Mukulele, one of the two, big Hawaiian airlines, had changed our flights from noon to 8:30am without notifying us. So we were up this morning at 6am, and in a mad panic, got our stuff organized and packed. We arrived at the Honolulu airport on time, and realized that most of the other passengers on our flight were members of organized tours: Polynesian Adventures and others. We blamed them for the flight change.
When our plane took off, it was about 90 degrees and sunny as usual in Honolulu, but as we approached Hilo, we began descending into a thick blanket of clouds. It was eerie. When we landed it was cloudy and raining. We would later learn that Hilo is one of the rainiest places in the US, while Kona, on the opposite side of the Big Island, is one of the driest.
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| Michelle with our rental Jeep Wrangler |
We picked up our Jeep Wrangler at the airport and were off to our hotel to drop off our luggage. From there we drove up the Hilo coast to the
Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden in Papaikou. After we parked the Jeep, we stopped at the Gift shop, where we picked up some badly needed insect repellant wipes (these turned out to be surprisingly effective, as Michelle, who usually attracts mosquitoes like white on rice, didn't get bitten once).
We then descended the steep wooden walkway, into the botanical garden. We were in awe, surrounded by hundreds of colorful plants and flowers. We saw wild bananas, red ginger, crab claws, birds of paradise, orchids, and many, many others whose names we don't know. We took about 200 pictures - many of which we posted in our
Botanical Garden Gallery.
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| Wooden walkway in Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden |
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| Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden |
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| Michelle getting her tikki on. |
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| This flower is the size of Jerry's head |
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Michelle with some crab claws at the Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden
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| The $5.25 Kilauea Moco lunch plate at Cafe100 in Hilo. |
On our way back, we stopped at
Cafe100, recommended in our Big Island Lonely Planet Guide. This is a carry-out lunch place, although there is some covered outdoor seating available. It turned out to be a great recommendation. The food was cheap and the amounts were obscene. Jerry got the Kilauea Moco lunch plate, which consists of, get ready, a slice of spam, three Portuguese sausages, a sliced up hot dog, red bean chili, coleslaw, macaroni salad, and gravy on a bed of white rice, and finaly topped off with two fried eggs. Yikes. All of this was $5.25. Michelle played it smart and got a mini Chili Moco.
After our meal, we checked in to the Hilo Hawaiian Hotel. It turned out to be a disappointment. Clad in late 80's decor, the hotel was old and dingy. However, there weren't too many other options in Hilo, so we settled for this one. At least they had a laundromat on the premises so that Michelle could some laundry while Jerry slept off his sunburn. Michelle then bought some coconut M&Ms out of the laundry room vending machine for "dinner" --- they were everything she hoped they would be.
