Last Day

After another trip to Lava Java for macadamia nut and banana pancakes, we drove out to Mahaiula beach.

Even though our original intention was to walk in a bit further, this beach didn't disappoint. We even saw a sea turtle!

We relaxed and after initial trepidation, Zoe let Chloe dip her in the water




On our way out, I took a good deep whiff of a Noni fruit, but did not smell anything vomit or cheese like

From the beach, we headed South and had lunch at Keoki's (ok, but the ambiance is kind of bizarre) and then to the Place of Refuge. The Place of Refuge was a sanctuary that would grant you, well, refuge if you had violated any of the laws. Since the punishment for violation of the laws was death, you definitely wanted to make it to the place of refuge before judgment/capture. I guess it was kind of like the kid's game Capture the Flag, but instead of going to the jail area, you get strangled to death. Anyway, the park was really beautiful, and the NPS did a good job of setting up exhibits. There was a beautiful outrigger on display


Excellent stone work is something I noticed when we first arrived on the island, and the place of refuge was no exception


From the Puuhonua, we took the parents to Kealakekua Bay, to show them where we had kayaked.

And then up to the exotic fruit tour:

We also stopped at a fruit stand which we later discovered was selling mangoes from Guatemala ... BOOO!

We ended our day with a nice dinner and fabulous sunset view at Huggo's.

Papakolea

This morning we drove to South Point, parked the car, and set out for Papakolea - the green sand beach. According to the guidebook, it's only 2.5 miles each way, but the walk seemed to take forever. I think it's the fairly unchanging scenery and the rutted dusty roads. I wasn't keeping track, but based on the time stamps on the pictures, I think it took us around an hour to walk to the beach. This isn't as bad as it sounds -- we arrived at the beach around five minutes after a couple that had driven the entire way in a Jeep and had left before us.



The sand really is green, and here are a few closeups:



And Zoe's green-sandy exploits:



The beach is quite steep, and the water breaks quickly and with a lot of power, so swimming was not really an option.

After about an hour, more people started showing up and Zoe had had enough, so we started the hike back




The trail head leading down to the beach looked like a Jeep commercial! After another hour of walking, we ended up back at the parking lot. Since we hadn't looked at the time stamps yet, I accidentally sandbagged a few people and told them the hike was 40 minutes. Oops! I talked to two guys who had set up a shave ice-mobile in the lot though, and they told me that there is a guy that shuttles tired people back and forth from the lot for a small fee, so I don't feel as bad.

We stopped at the fruit stand with the awesome pasisonfruit-lemonade, and I bought two awesome white sapote, a bunch of bananas, and a star apple.


The star apple was pretty delciious -- a kind of smooth pudding texture with a sweet, but not cloyingly so, vanilla flavor

kayaking

Today we had some parental babysitting time, so chloe and I headed out to Kealakekua for some kayaking. The guide recommended a guy name Kai, so we called ahead and rented a 'yak (yakking is what usually happens to me on kayaks, so it is an apropos nickname, I think), stuffed our things into a dry bag, and set off. Despite my being useless with a paddle, we made it most of the way across the bay and all of a sudden saw spinner dolphins doing their eponymous trick fifty feet off our starboard bow (Arrrrr, matey). We paddled towards them to get a closer look and sat there for a while observing their antics. I have to say that watching dolphins on TV does not prepare you for seeing a dog size animal jump out of the water while spinning in front of you.

We beached the yak to the left of the Captain Cook obelisk. Earlier, the guy who we rented our boat from seemed to me to take a little bit of delight in telling us where Cap'n Cook was actually killed (twenty or so feet to the West of the monument). He also told us about a nice beach further to the West of the put-in (Arrrrr), which both of us misheard the directions to. As a result, we ended up taking a very long walk over lava and through prickly bushes before we gave up and returned to the mooring (arrr!). Within a minute or so of returning, we discovered the actual trail, and were at the beach in five minutes. Ever since I tasted the sweet milk of victory from a coconut that I had personally harvested and then "opened" with a series of rocks, I have been wanting a repeat experience. Unfortunately, I only had flip flops on, and the coconut trees were tall, so a potentially leg breaking climbing session was out. Instead I opted for the much tried, but seldom successful "throw rocks at coconut" method. After three trees and at least fifty shots on goal, during which time Chloe started mockingly calling me "Coconut Max", I hit the jackpot: I hit the little feeder vine to a cluster of three, yes THREE (in your face, CZ!) nuts, which all dropped to the ground simultaneously, and was accompanied by what was in retrospect a slightly monkey-like dance of victory and joy. Next came the coconut opening, which involved a lot of rock banging.

The milk was way sweeter than the sour milk we got at Punalu'u (not the dude's fault -- I'm just sayin!), and we ate all of the coconut rind. Excellent. I would crush on Survivor.
We headed back to the anchorage (arrrrrr) for a little ghetto skin diving (using swim goggles instead of a mask and fins) and checked out the truly incredible variety of marine life. Unfortunately, I managed to put a big gash in my foot and was subsequently tracking blood everywhere like an old sea dog wounded in a skirmish with buccaneers. Also, I discovered that what I thought were particularly stubborn rocks in my flip flops were actually 2 cm long sharp as a m#$%#$ucker thorns that were stabbing me in the soles of my feet. And there were at least twenty of them -- I have no idea what kind of crazy plant makes them, or why they end up poking perfectly normal to the plane of the shoe, but there you go.


We successfully got the yak out into the open ocean (ok, into the protected bay) without flipping it or us over, and then started the journey back to the harbor. I showed more of my 100%-on-full-speed-ahead-you-dogs-for-five-minutes-then-ten-minute-rest technique, and we eventually made it back to the dock. There was a traffic jam there, but hey -- my policy is to politely obey the dock hands. This is especially true when they are like 250 pounds and covered in tats. After a quick fruit stand stop, we drove up the road and stopped at an awesome display of exotic fruit trees. They had all kinds of trees-- most of which were fruiting. Some examples were many unusual looking bananas, Cape Gooseberries, A HUGE soursop tree with football sized soursops, A gigantic cherimoya, Durian, etc etc. Very cool. I also learned the name of the tree I have been seeing everywhere on the island -- Noni! The fruit look pretty disgusting, and it turns out that they have an unpleasant odor when ripe. In fact, they are sometimes called "vomit fruit". I think I'll pass on this one. I am adventurous with fruit, but I draw the line at vomit fruit.

We had an excellent sushi meal at Sushi Shiono, and then collapsed at home. I got chloe to try to superglue my foot gash shut, but unfortunately ended up with her finger superglued together and to my toe. In case you are wondering, yes, you can use superglue to repair wounds, and it works amazingly well in some cases.

amnio results ok!!

White Sand Beach

This morning we drove to the white sand beach North of the airport for more baby-at-the-beach time. This beach was much more to our and Zoe's liking, and was absolutely gorgeous, with fine white sand interleaved between outcrops of jet black lava. Oh, and unlike the freezing cold upwelling at Punalu'u, this beach had really warm water.

Here's Zoe in a castle that we built



By the end of our stay at the beach, Zoe had been "breaded" in sand, which stuck to her because of the liberal coating of sunscreen that we had dipped her in. Despite the warm water, she did not enjoy being rinsed in the surf in the slightest.

Next came more driving -- this time along the belt road to get to Hilo for lunch at Puka Puka: mmm Ono pitas. After a quick stop at a book store and coin shop, we headed to Big Island Candies, which was fun. Chloe and I bought some of their excellent chocolate dipped shortbread.

Next came more driving (surprise!) to Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park, where we walked through a lava tube

and checked out the view from the Hilena Pali Overlook

The crater rim was closed to driving and hiking.

It was getting late, so we grabbed dinner at the Hana Hou Bakery Restaurant, where we all had the Ono, and I fortified my driving reserves with a giant slice of caramel macadamia nut cream pie. It's supposedly the southernmost restaurant in the US!

Punalu'u

We had a leisurely and delicious breakfast at Lava Java in Kona (where a sparrow shat on my shorts), and then set out south on the 11. It took a few hours to get to Punalu'u beach, and I was kind of disappointed when we arrived. It's pretty heavily built up and even has a concession stand on the beach: quite different from our beloved "secret beach". We fought the crowds to set up baby shop on the black sand for a while. Zoe didn't seem to enjoy it very much, but she gamely played, and washed down her crackers down with a few mouthfuls of sand


We bought a coconut which had been split by a local guy. He uses a gigantic machete which had been cobbled together from part of a mill blade. There was to be no haggling about the price on this item.

From Punalu'u, we drove (yes, lots of driving! It is the BIG island, after all) to South Point -- the southernmost part of the United States. We were scoping out the trail head to the Green Sand beach, but ended up at the cliffs with canoe hoists (NE of the actual South point). The water was very calm, and it looked like jumping into the water would be really fun. Actually, it looks like deep water soloing would be a total blast there. There's a shelf of rock under a lot of the cliff band, so choosing a spot would be critical. I shot a few medium format frames from one of the cliffs, and watched a kid jump from the cliffs as I was setting up.

It really is a beautiful place with a lot of history. I would love to spend a few days out there at some point. Chloe is the one with the Basque fisherpersons blood, so I'll let her catch the fish while I deep water solo -- sound good, CZ?!

Along the way home, we stopped at a fruit stand that sold soursop!

It turned out to be unripe, but it was very cool to see this sold at a roadside stand, reports of atypical Parkinson's disease from annona notwithstanding (I find those reports unconvincing, in any case).

Kona, Hilo

We started the day with a visit to the Aloha Angel Cafe, which has delicious french toast with coconut and macadamia nuts. As mentioned earlier, Zoe's newest hobby is to go running through and out of the restaurant, so we usually get to know the surroundings of the restaurant pretty well. Aloha Angel has two very cool things about it: a bush with hundreds of beautiful Gold Dust Day Geckos, and a gigantic mango tree. Here's one of the little geckos:

From breakfast, we drove South on route 11 and stopped near Captain Cook at the Greenwell Farms, where Zoe made friends with a cat



The tour is well worth the time, and includes a detailed and excellent description of the history of the farm, the coffee making process, and a tour of the various fruit trees that they grow.



After a brief stop to buy plumeria leis for chloe and gail, we drove south along the belt highway.
We continued on to Hilo, where we checked out the Farmers' market, and bought Papaya, Apple Bananas, macadamia nuts, papaya jam and some salad greens.

We also stopped at the Two Ladies mochi shop:

which makes the best mochi that I have had anywhere.

mochi

Big Island

After our abortive Oahu trip a few weeks ago, we made it to the plane with plenty of time. Zoe was actually a pretty good traveler, and after a short layover on Oahu, we landed at Kona. Car rental and finding the condo were easy, and after a short rest, we had an early dinner at Teshima, which was excellent. Kenji's sashimi plate, while lacking variety, was fabulous. I'm not a big fan of maguro usually, but this was better than most hamachi I have tasted. Also, my tempura was so good that I didn't have even a trace of fried food guilt. Zoe really enjoyed the locally produced tofu with ginger and onions.


Back at the condo, I noticed that the landscapers had used Natal Plums as ground cover. To my embarrassment, in my many years at the Salk, I walked by tons of those things without ever tasting them. This time, I selected a ripe looking fruit and bit into it, despite the fact that it was exuding a disturbing white latex of some kind. The verdict? Kind of tasty, but not fantastic.

ahh

my first ride longer than six or so miles on the new bike

zoe passport

went to apply for Zoe's passport

it's a boy!!!

Taras, Katie and Lucy!

Taras, Katie and Lucy came over for some grilling today. It was ultra cute to see the little ones interact. I think Zoe is still not 100% ready to play with other kids, based on her clingyness, but she seems to be getting better. I showed off my new flip mini HD to taras: I predict that he will soon have one of his own.

The quest for tires

After a refreshing night's sleep, we all headed to breakfast in Dutch Flat, only to find that neither the Oddfellows nor the Hotel were serving breakfast! Catastrophe! We drove to Colfax instead and went to Mom's Kitchen, which was good, but not Oddfellows-deep-fried-bacon good. None of the tire places were open either, which was nice. We called around and discovered that the closest tire place was Roseville/Rockin, which is pretty far, but better than limping all the way back to the bay area. After discovering that Costco and the evil Wal*Mart did not have our tires in stock, we eventually ended up at Sears after fifteen minutes of circling the city sized Westfield Galleria mall. We had lunch at Il Fornaio, and then wandered around the mall for hours waiting for our car to be ready. When we finally got the call to pick up the car, I asked what had caused the flat, and it turned out to be a pretty large rock, which had somehow made it INTO the tire. I was too tired to quiz the tire guys on how it got in there