Leg 1-i ko mākou ala!!





Leg 1: Rochester, NY to Hawaii (BTW-don't know where the prices came from.  Map quest added them in.  Disregard)


And my apologies. no matter where I place the pics, they go to the bottom of the text when I publish! I can't figure out how to change that. If you are just interested in the pictures you can scroll to the bottom.

February 8^th-9^th YIKES! We were just crawling into bed at 9 o’clock since we were expecting to leave for the airport at 4:30, when I got an alert on my phone that our flight was CANCELLED due to weather in Chicago! Nooooo!! United was no help in finding another flight that would get us out soon so Lou cancelled and spent a couple hours finding us another flight. We drove to buffalo bright and early where my brother drove us to the airport and then thankfully kept our car. We flew to Kennedy, LA, then Hilo, arriving just one hour later than originally planned. About 24hrs door to door. We weren’t able to sit together from NY to LA but had empty seats to Hilo so were able to lay down. Arrived in Paradise!  

If you are planning to go to Hawaii, you’ve got to get the guide books by Andrew doughty. We found them right on! And entertaining as well!

February 9-12^th Hilo.  We picked Hilo so we would be close to the Volcano National Park.  Temps while in Hilo-mid 70’s

2/10  We did some short hikes.  Rainbow falls, Wai’ale  Falls, Kaumana Cave. All worth seeing.  If you go to the cave, bring a good flash light. Cell phone flash light is not good enough. We walked in a park on Bandon drive. A good intro taste of paradise! We spent the afternoon at the Hawaii tropical botanical gardens. Definitely worth seeing!

2/11 Volcano National Park. We hiked the Kilauea Ike trail which circled the rim of Kilauea Ike and took us through lush rain forests and down to the still-steaming crater floor. The decent/ascent was about 400ft with some steps and switchbacks, equivalent to climbing down and up a 40 story building.  The trail is rated moderate. The crater floor was like being on the surface of the moon! Just incredible! We took a short break then hiked the Kilauea Iki. This trail crossed massive lava fields with gaping fissures. This hike was rated moderate and included a ¼ mile steep climb. This hike tells the story of one of the longest known rift zone eruptions. Fascinating! And beyond beautiful! The trail across the lava flows were marked by AHU (stacked rocks). So much better than signs or markers! We admit to getting off the path several times and some retracing our paths looking for the last AHU. There were several times when the sulfur smells stung our throat. We crossed several steaming fissures. There was a light rain for the last 20 minutes of our hike. Altogether we hiked about 10 miles. Not bad considering I had twisted my ankle the night before! (don’t ask!)

If you come to The Big Island, don’t miss the Botanical Gardens and the National Volcano Park. (bring your national parks pass if you have one!)

If you are looking for places to eat in Hilo:

Ken’s House of Pancakes (ironically everything was good except the pancakes)

Hilo Bay Café. (a bit upscale.  Good food. Great view)

Sombat’s Fresh Thai Cuisine (small place. good food.  If more people show up, they whipped out a card table and squeezed it in!)

We stayed at a VRBO called Legacy Suite.  We give it a soft 3. There was definitely enough room but no amenities. (no soap/shampoo or hair dryer! YIKES!) There were 5 private rooms in the upstairs home of a Japanese family. Before taking a shower you had to let the water run about 10 minutes before you got any hot water! We are so spoiled!! We were in room 1 and had a private patio with a view of the koi pond and the ocean.

On Monday we moved to Kona on the other side of the island. The drive is scenic! The temps and sunshine increase as you go. We stayed at the king Kamehameha Marriott. Great room. Beautiful pool. Steps from a small but beautiful beach. Lou was able to get some open water swims in (and dream of earning his Kona iron man tattoo!) lots of great sun, swimming, shopping, restaurants, people watching, and relaxing. The last day here was rainy off and on and we spent it relaxing and taking a drive along the beautiful coast. Every restaurant we ate at was good but ill mention one that had good food but was a bit quirky. Privateers’s Cove on Lucia St. The owner sat right down at the table with us and explained his story and rules. He and one other person wait on you, cook, serve, clean-up.  All meat is served rare or medium rare.  If you want it another way go somewhere else.  If you don’t like kids, police or the military, get out.  He donates the profits from his specials to a different branch of service each week. No alcohol but he owns the distillery next door so you are welcome to go over and bring it back. So basically the food was good… and the guys were “entertaining”. By the way, if you want a beverage, get up and get it yourself. They are busy cooking your food!

Leaving for Maui in the morning!