Today was a travel day, driving to Kona from Volcano. It was a beautiful drive past coffee and macadamia plantations, lava fields and flowering trees on the ocean. . We had to find a lodging because I did not make any reservations for these last two days. There was actually not a problem finding a place. The KonaTiki was recommended by one of the ladies at Volcano Inn. It’s a cute little hotel right right out of the 50’s, just on the edge of town, very simple, no phones, no TV and the couple who run it are so nice. The ocean is right outside my lanai door. Andre and I watched the sunset from their patio/swimming pool area then walked to town for dinner. The restaurant was on the sand, dancing and music included. We loved the people watching and the fish tacos. Every night we have been lulled to sleep with different sounds, frogs in Hilo, rain in Volcano, drumming from the Kava bar in Naalehu and tonight in Kona by the crashing surf.

The pics are “Hawaiian Sunset” “Coffee Drying in the Sun” and “Hubbas Restaurant”

Saturday and we started out with a lovely breakfast overlooking the garden. We started our day with a drive to The Puna area, the south coast, very jungely and local. We went for a morning swim in a hot springs pool called Alahani. Remember the place Jess? It was heaven. Our goal for the day was to go up Mauna Kea to see the Keck telescope, this is 12,000 Ft above sea level. I was a bit nervous but we had our 4-wheel drive vehicle for the trip.
We stopped at the Lava tree State Park and looked at the sculptural formations that remain after the lava flow covered trees and cooled. Stopping in Pahoa was like going to Bolinas in 60’s. They call it the outlaw town. Unfortunately, lava is flowing into parts of the town. Not a good place to buy real estate.
We wandered around Hilo until time to drive up the mountain, a long drive but we wanted to catch a talk at the visitor center by an astronomer at 6. We made it to the visitor center at 9000 ft. where we had to acclimate for 1/2 hour before driving up to the summit. There was a big protest going on there. The native Hawaiians are protesting the building of another telescope on their sacred mountain. It’s not only the age old argument of religion against science but the desecration of Hawaiian lands and culture. They can’t seem to agree. 12 people were arrested

Friday for blocking the road.
We drove the 8 miles UP to the top, me hanging on for dear life. Once up there, it was spectacular. We were above the rain and clouds below. On the way down we drove into a huge rainstorm. Whatzzat?
Back down to sea level. What a day!

After checking out of the hotel and finding some great Hawaiian coffee, we took off for Naalehu, Patty’s Motel and the Green Sand Beach.  Green sand is formed from a crystal called olivine, that precipitates out of lava rock. The beach, one of two in the world, was literally green, in a beautiful cove. My geologist will attest to it. We hiked 3 miles (6 round trip) to the beach over lava roads, next to the crashing surf. It was a great day and Andre was thrilled to actually see it.  This area is the southernmost point in the U.S. We are in totally rural Hawaii.  There is not much in the town except churches, a couple of restaurants, a kava shop and a Hawaiian bread bakery that we will check out tomorrow on our way to Volcano.