Day 17 & 18 - Overnight in Hilo

Yesterday, we got the car packed up and were on the road by 8:30, heading over to Hilo, which is on the east (windward) side of the island.  We have been to Hilo before, but this is the first time we we've taken the "Saddle Road," which is the most direct route between the two sides of the island.  It took about 1 hour and 45 minutes for the trip. 

At one time the Saddle Road, which runs along the "saddle" between Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa, was so bad that car rental companies would not allow their customers to drive over it.  But now it is an excellent smoothly paved 2-lane, 55 mph, highway with passing lanes.  That is until you get about 10 miles from Hilo, then it is a narrower twisted 2-lane road.

After stopping at McDonald's for a comfort stop, we headed few miles north of Hilo to the Plantation Museum in Papai'kou.  This museum just celebrated its first anniversary in its new location and it is a very interesting collection of memorabilia from the sugar cane plantation days.  The last sugar cane plantation ceased operation in the mid-1990s, but the history of sugar cane on the Big Island goes back to the mid-1800s, and workers were imported from a variety of different countries over the decades to work in the cane fields, including China, Japan, Philippines, and even the US.  The demise of sugar in Hawaii was caused by the increasing cost of labor, water (sugar requires tons of it), and cheaper beet sugar; however, some sugar cane is still grown and processed on Maui.  We had an interesting visit with the two men who operate the museum, especially Ron who spent quite a lot of time with us.  He is especially interested in showing today's kids the toys that the plantation kids had like buttons on string, cat's cradle, and the wooden ball attached to an cup by string where you try to toss the ball and catch it in the cup.  Actually, we have seen several keiki around here with those.

At Ron's recommendation we had lunch at Ponds in Hilo, which just happened to be across the street from our hotel.  It is built out over a pond filled with koi and from our window-side table we were able to watch the koi and a couple of turtles while we ate lunch.  Every now and then, someone would throw fish food into the pond and there would be a feeding frenzy. I had a good hamburger with garlic fries, and Mom, Katie & Margie had seafood pasta and everyone enjoyed their lunch.  Afterwards, we checked in to the hotel.

Hilo has a mysterious system of one-way streets, which when complicated by road construction, makes it difficult to get around, so it seemed like I was always back-tracking and having to turn around, but we managed to find our way to a quilt shop downtown.  Fabric Sensations is a nice shop with a very nice owner, and we spent quite a lot of time there visiting, and spending some money.  We then went into a couple of galleries and did some more talking.  Everyone loves to "talk story" or shoot the breeze in Hawaii, and that's what makes this such a fun place to visit.  Every place you go is enhanced by the friendly people you meet.

I took mai-tai fixings with us, so we enjoyed those back at the hotel.  Hilo Seaside Hotel is a very nice Hawaiian family-owned hotel.  It's an older facility, but well maintained and super clean.  Our rooms were on the ground floor and we had a key to the back door, making it easy for Mom.  We faced the pool and were under the flight path from the airport, but during the night it was very quiet and we had the best shower we've had since leaving home (the showers here in the condo suffer due to lack of water pressure, but we manage).  For dinner last night, we went back to Ponds and had pu-pus and dessert.  The pu-pus (appetisers) were so-so, but the dessert was good.

This morning we went to Ken's Pancake House for macadamia nut pancakes with coconut and lilikoi syrup.  So good.  Then we went to the big Hilo market.  Craft people on one side of the street and farmer's market on the other side.  There was a woman doing chair massages, so I treated both Mom & I to one - $10 for 15 minutes (one of the true bargains of Hawaii).  Felt so good.  After the market, we found Kilauea Kreations, another quilt shop.  Very nice shop with another very nice proprietor.

We had seen an article in one of the local magazines about Two Lady's Kitchen where they make mochi, a pounded sweet rice confection.  As we were driving along we spotted it and stopped.  I went in and stood in line for about 20 minutes before I was able to get some.  It is very popular here and I guess they sell out just about every day.  Mom & Katie don't care much for it, but Margaret & I like it, so I guess that leaves more for us.  For lunch we went to Lucy's Taqueria, another popular local spot.  It is owned by the people we rented from last year on Oahu and Lucy is their daughter, so that is how we heard about it.  We had a good lunch - the biggest chimichanga I've ever seen.

We originally had planned to go back to Kona driving around the south end of the island, but we decided to spend more time in Hilo, so instead we went back over the Saddle Road, which is quicker.  We went up to Rainbow Falls and Boiling Pots (water churning over rocks), before heading back over the saddle.  At Boiling Pots we watched some people skinny-dipping (I got pictures, which I'll share privately...). It was so foggy on the east side of the mountains that I could barely see more than 2 or 3 car lengths ahead.  But once we reached the crest and started down the west side it cleared off and it was an easier drive.  We got back to the condo in less than 2 hours.

Because Hilo is on the windward side of the island they get a lot of rain, which makes everything lush and green. We lucked out and got only a few sprinkles.  We also enjoyed the slightly cooler temperatures over there, but I still think I like this dryer side of the island better.