Hilo

Last time Michael and I were in Kona we never made it over to the Hilo side. We’d planned to do it a few times but always got a late start to the day and it’s a LONG drive.

Since we were staying in Waikoloa Village (about 45 minutes north of the downtown Kona area) we were slightly closer to Hilo. Wednesday morning we got up and had a quick breakfast and then hit the road.

The drive is long but interesting. We took the Saddle Road to the highway that goes by Mauna Kea . There were lava beds, rolling hills, interesting trees, goats, and the protestor’s camp.

The first stop was Carlsmith Beach Park. Logan did really good on the drive over there (about 90 minutes or so) and we wanted him to run around a bit.

It was a beautiful park with tidepools and little swimming holes. It would have been a great place to swim and explore!

Hilo can be pretty rainy. My parents stayed in Hilo for a week before we arrived and they said it rained pretty much every day. We got lucky and it was perfect weather the day we went there!

We made a quick stop at Walmart and then met the rest of the group at Akaka Falls. It was a really pretty drive!

I love Hawaiian flowers. They were so pretty.

The hike was really cool. It was two waterfalls on a loop. Easy and pretty safe for a toddler. Logan liked it a lot.

Then we went to downtown Hilo and had lunch at Jackie Rey’s Ohana Grill. It was DELICIOUS!

I got the fish of the day, Mahi Mahi, in a sweet and spicy sauce on rice with a delicious salad. The food was so good. Everyone had a great lunch.

By this time it was way past Logan’s nap time, he was getting tired and cranky and we had a long drive back so we decided to head back to the house instead of going to the Volcano Park with everyone else. (They did a hike at the Volcano park that was 3.5 miles long and kinda steep and then had dinner in Hilo at a Vietnamese restaurant, not sure which one but they said the food was outstanding.)

Logan slept the entire drive home. Perfect!

We went back to A-Bay beach for about an hour and I swam some laps and played with Logan and then we went home for dinner and an early bedtime. We were ALL tired!