Driving Miss Karen

A blog about our travel

Most Hawaiian Hawaii: Big Island Hilo Side

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We visited the Hilo (rainy) side of the big island but it really wasn’t rainy at all. In fact, they had not had any rain for over 30 days which is pretty unusual. The rainy side is where a lot of locals live and has quite a different vibe. We stayed with our friends Gary and Paula in their Ohana (family suite). It was really fun re-connecting with them and they showed us so many wonderful sites. You cannot beat going places with locals. It is just wonderful. We really liked this side of the island much better because of the proximity to Mauna Kea and Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. The big island still has multiple active volcanoes and is sill growing during eruptions. It is such an amazing place geologically.

The more rugged east side of the big island was our favorite side. The coast is very rocky or has big cliffs but it is so beautiful
Our awesome friends Gary and Paula have lived in Hawaii for 7+ years
We brought them Malasadas (Portuguese Donuts)
and they let us stay in their beautiful home. I think it was a fair trade 🙂
It was so great to stay with our semi-native friends. Made this part of the trip really special
My favorite observatories the Keck twins
Snowy Sunset on Mauna Kea
One of the many many observatories on Mauna Kea
Our friends have 4-wheel drive so we drove to the top of 13,803′ Mauna Kea. It was around 40 at the the top and there was plenty of snow. Mauna Kea is the tallest mountain (not highest) when measured from base to peak at over 30,000 feet. The views were literally breathtaking and as an astronomy geek I was awed by all the optics up here
Akaka Falls are big and are surrounded by tropical forests
A sea turtle in a tidal lagoon near Hilo
Rainbow falls was a beautiful smaller waterfall
Our friends showed us around Hilo and even took us to their secret sea turtle spot
The old lava tubes are so interesting
After dinner glow viewing at the Rim restaurant where you can watch the glow from the caldera
Lava! I saw Lava!
The highlight of our Hilo side visit was Volcanoes National Park. Seeing lava tubes, dining at the Rim restaurant, and seeing the lava crater at night was awe inspiring. This was the perfect end to our stay on the Hilo side of the big island.

Jose

AKA Alfred

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