The Big Island is formed from 5 volcanoes, the newest of which, Kilauea is the centerpiece of the park. The few areas within the park that aren't covered in lava have lush rainforest vegetation. Check out the size of these ferns.
Here are a couple of craters.
Much of the landscape looks like this; folded, crumpled, piled and stacked lava with scattered trees and shrubbery.
Much of the landscape looks like this; folded, crumpled, piled and stacked lava with scattered trees and shrubbery.
Although the lava's a different color, I was somewhat reminded of Mount St. Helens, which also has an otherworldy feel.
After fueling up the car with gas and ourselves with some dangerously delicious chocolate-covered macadamia nuts, we headed back around the island, stopping in for lunch at the Kona Brewing Company in Kailua-Kona. Kona Brewing has 2 pubs; this is the original and home of the brewery. Here I am enjoying some local suds and sporting what may well be the ugliest shirt on the Big Island.
This is a spot that seems to be popular with locals and tourists alike, the draws being a huge lanai for outdoor dining, good food and, of course, fresh beer from the source. They typically feature a number of tap brews that are exclusive to the pubs.
This is a spot that seems to be popular with locals and tourists alike, the draws being a huge lanai for outdoor dining, good food and, of course, fresh beer from the source. They typically feature a number of tap brews that are exclusive to the pubs. After lunch, we headed up to our home base for the rest of the trip, Kona Village Resort (henceforth to be referred to as KVR). This was once the site of an ancient Hawaiian fishing village, long since wiped away by one of the many rivers of lava that have flowed over the island. Here, on one end of the property, is one of the black sand (crushed up lava) beaches that are scattered around the island.
The whole 82-acre property was once covered with lava, and the resort (intended to be a recreation of the original village) was built largely from scratch, including trucking in all the white sand and tons of plants, plus of course the construction of all the hales (houses).
Here's a peek at what KVR looks like now. It's situated along a small bay.
A fair amount of privacy is provided by the trees and bushes between the hales.
There are a bunch of sea turtles that come to sunbathe on the sand every afternoon.
We made dinner reservations for 7:30 to force us to stay up a little later and hopefully sleep til a more decent hour. Had a couple of nice dry-aged steaks for dinner, then a nightcap of macadamia ice cream. (Note: If you want to put on 5 pounds in a week, delicious half-pound burgers, huge steaks, plentiful suds and macadamia ice cream are a good start. Trust me when I say it's not as hard as it sounds.)
There are a bunch of sea turtles that come to sunbathe on the sand every afternoon.
Heading inland, there is a big lagoon with more hales. Very quiet back here.
The first order of business was of course a refreshing beverage. We hit the Shipwreck Bar (which is in fact the shipwrecked sailboat of the original owner of KVR) and chatted with Sid the bartended, KVR's second longest tenured employee. He started way back in 1972 (with an office like this, I guess he's in no rush to retire).
Sunset view from the deck of our hale.
We made dinner reservations for 7:30 to force us to stay up a little later and hopefully sleep til a more decent hour. Had a couple of nice dry-aged steaks for dinner, then a nightcap of macadamia ice cream. (Note: If you want to put on 5 pounds in a week, delicious half-pound burgers, huge steaks, plentiful suds and macadamia ice cream are a good start. Trust me when I say it's not as hard as it sounds.)
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