We are aware that there is a global pandemic still in effect, but with vaccinations increasing and numbers dropping we had to get out of the house. So, we dressed up Wesley in his pilot’s outfit and off we went to the Big Island of Hawaii!
We found a great deal through Costco Travel that included 3 roundtrip flights, 5 nights in a 4 star Sheraton resort, and a rental car for the entire trip. It was too good to pass up. We were especially lucky when they announced valid vaccination cards were sufficient proof to enter the state without getting a Covid test. The rule changed the DAY we landed!
Cat made small gift bags for the people around us with hand sanitizer, Kit-Kat bars, earplugs, and a little note about Wesley and his first flight – basically a bribe in case Wes was a bummer on the plane. But like everything so far, he was a champ! He was pretty mellow, didn’t really cry, and other than being a little antsy (so is his dad on a 6 hour flight) you would think he was a seasoned traveler. And Mom and Dad got to find out just what it takes to travel with a baby.
We packed his foldable stroller that fits in the overhead, a travel car seat, and loaded up the iPad with children’s cartoons. While we don’t normally let Wes watch screens, we knew it might be necessary to make an exception.
We landed around 11am and went straight to get the rental car. The airport in Kona is tiny – TINY. As we walked out to the curb to catch the rental car shuttle bus we watched the bus drive away just before we could flag it down. I checked the map and found out the rental car pickup was only a 6 minute walk. I did not, however, take into consideration the 85 degree 1,000% humidity that we would endure for those 6 minutes hauling luggage and car seats up and down ramps lined with igneous rock. Cat was not thrilled when we got to the rental place.
We got the car, and first top was Target. In the parking lot of Target we saw chickens, a heron, and a homeless guy. The wildlife was already getting interesting!
Our hotel room wasn’t ready, but didn’t take long to get setup. We sat in the lobby while we waited, and the lobby did not disappoint – very Forgetting Sarah Marshall looking. A bellman brought our stuff to the room while I went to park the car. The bellman mentioned we had a very nice room, and when we got inside it was absolutely confirmed. We had a HUGE balcony that overlooked the ocean on 2 sides. The hotel had 2 pools (adults and kids), but otherwise the amenities were pretty limited due to staffing and Covid. The restaurants weren’t really open, the bar was sort of open, but very limited seating, and this was how it went throughout the trip. It was often tough to find food other than between about 11am and 4pm. Businesses were closed other than limited hours. Because capacity for everything was limited we didn’t even get to go to a luau!
But, we soldiered on. We spent the first night just hanging at the hotel. We picked up BBQ from a truck that I thought was going to be a local type place, and it was unfortunately just regular old BBQ. It was definitely something we could have gotten at home and we were all a little disappointed even though the food was pretty good. Our friend who recently moved to the big island came over to our side with leis and a tequila cocktail to welcome us to Hawaii (I would subsequently wear that lei while we had drinks outside just to smell the flowers). She hung out while we went in the pool for Wesley’s first time swimming.
Day 2 we hit the ground running. The day started with a Mai Tai at like 7am because when we got to the hotel the night before I asked for a drink with an umbrella. Apparently at this hotel the umbrellas are reserved for the morning. I guess in case you need the tiny umbrella to block 1″ of sun? After the drink we grabbed breakfast at a nearby Japanese restaurant, Teshema, because it was one of the few places open early. The service was great, the food was just ok, but the place has tons of history.
Straight from breakfast we drove halfway across the island to go to the Volcano National Park. It did not disappoint! First stop was the gift shop – Cat loves gift shops. She found some little stuff animal finger puppets for Wesley including the Hawaii State Bird; the Nene goose. On the way out of the gift shop Cat said “I would like to see a Nene while we’re here.” We get into the car to drive up to see a lava tube and immediately when we make a right there is a Nene! Not just one, but the whole family including babies! It was pretty incredible. We found good parking and walked down into a lava tube. We saw another short hike to an overlook of a volcano crater, so we switched arms carrying Wes and trekked uphill to see the crater. It was awesome. HUGE. If you see the picture below try to find the people walking on the top of the crater. We didn’t realize they were people until we stopped to look long enough and notice they were moving. We took a bunch of pics of everything because everything is so beautiful.
Exhausted from hiking with a 30 lbs weight named Wesley we went back to the car and on the way back to our hotel hit a black sand beach. The sand is a little painful to walk on, but very interesting. Fun to see how different the black sand is here vs Iceland. The weather is a little different too! While we were walking around we saw a woman come out of the water with full snorkel gear on. Cat had done her research and found out this beach has a colony of sea turtles. We asked the snorkeler if she had seen any and she gladly pointed out the turtles, and as we watched the waves from the beach, we could sea the turtles swimming and playing in the waves.
On our way back to the hotel we were too tired to try and figure out another dinner so we stopped at McDonald’s and got the stuff that you can only get in Hawaii – the local plate with spam and eggs and a saimin soup. They were out of the special pies unfortunately. We saw more chickens in the parking lot of the McDonald’s which Cat pointed out was a dangerous place for them to be loitering, and then brought the food back to the hotel to relax in air conditioning.
Since Wesley goes to be early we knew that we would need to have some booze in the hotel and something to do on the balcony at night. We brought a board game called Little Wordy that is specifically made for 2 players and a couple of movies on her iPad. It wasn’t bad to sit and listen to the waves while we drank champagne and played games.
Day 3 another long drive to the meet our friends half was at Spencer Beach. Before heading out we stopped at Da Poke Shack and picked up a bunch of food for everyone to eat once we met up. It was the best poke Cat and I have ever had. Every single thing was incredible even an hour plus later when we actually got to eat it! It was kind of a long wait to get the food, and they were already starting to run out of stuff, but it was worth all of it.
They call it the Big Island because, well, it’s big! The island is 4,028 sq. miles, which is so big that the other Hawaiian Islands could fit on it nearly twice. So when you drive from one side to the other it takes quite a while. Poor Wesley was VERY tired of car rides by the end of this trip. Since the drive is so long and we have a 1 year old in tow we had to make stops. We found a cute little flea market happening at a church, and we needed water and a bathroom. While we were there we found a Thai woman who had delicious spring rolls and a cool fedora for Wesley! Plus the bathrooms were reasonably clean and the whole thing was outside so Covid safe.
We met up with our friends who had picked up cold beer, and the 5 of us sat at a picnic table and at lunch and had beers. After lunch our friends mentioned that there was a better beach that was just a short walk away. Cat and I agreed and soon found out that their 10 minutes and our 10 minutes weren’t exactly the same thing – again…everything we do includes carrying a 30 pound weight named Wesley. All the same, the walk was cool going through a little bit of jungle and the beach was nice. The water was warm and clear, the sand was very soft, and even though it was a little crowded people were nice enough to share some shade under a tree. I took Wes out into the ocean for a swim, and while I was out swimming on my own he spent his time trying to eat the sand when he wasn’t shoveling it all over Cat.
We finished at the beach and said goodbye to our friends. On the way back to the hotel we stopped and got shaved ice (finally) and found the tourist area that we knew we needed to find. We found a sushi place that ended up being incredible, but the wait was an hour. While we waited we went to about 3 ABC stores that were all within about a mile and got souvenirs to bring back to our friends and family. We picked up the food and ran back to the hotel. We were all starving, but either way the fish was delicious. We are in Hawaii after all. Another day down, another night of playing games, watching an iPad, and drinking on a balcony.
Day 4 and this time we went the rest of the way around to visit our friend at her house. On the drive we got to see so many different types of landscape. There was lush, jungle near the hotel, then we got into almost desert looking terrain with scattered, dry looking trees and goats all over the side of the road. After that we were back into jungle, but different jungle. On the Kona side there are a lot of green plants and vines. Closer to Hilo the jungle is filled with huge eucalyptus trees lining the road. There are still vines and green plants, but way more trees and less vines. When we got to our friends house we fed Wesley a snack of fruit that she thankfully had in her fridge, and then the whole group crammed into our compact SUV to check out Akaka Falls (yes, jokes were made). It was good to see the waterfalls, good to catch up with friends, but we made the mistake of bringing the travel stroller and the path was not made for strollers. It was tons of steps everywhere, so we ended up carrying the stroller AND the baby. We stopped and took tons more pictures, because again, everything is beautiful.
When we left the falls we saw a small coconut and pineapple stand on the side of the road so we stopped and got one of each. Delicious of course, and the guys running the stand were really cool. When we finished drinking the coconut we asked that they cut the fruit. Ours didn’t have too much meat so they chopped open another and gave us the fruit from both.
By now we were all starving and Wes was getting grumpy. We stopped at a little town on the way back towards our friend’s house, but the 3 restaurants there were all closed by the time we got there. We did stop into a little thrift store and I found a first press vinyl of David Bowie’s The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. It was a little bit too expensive, but I’ve got to keep with my tradition of buying a record on vacation, and it wasn’t going to get any better than this. We quick jumped on Yelp and found a place nearby that was open for another 30 minutes or so. We hustled over as quick as we could to get juice and wraps. We get to the window to order and asked for two salmon and two chicken wraps. We were told they were out of everything except turkey. Our friend only eats fish, so she asked if he could make the wrap vegetarian, to which he replied they had some fish left. Then he told us he had enough for 2 fish – one salmon and one fried cod! It was a very weird encounter. The weirdness didn’t stop there, but it’s a story I’d have to tell in person if you want to know. Cat and Wes waited in the car since Wes had fallen asleep on the way to the juice stand.
Finally with food we jammed back to our friends and scarfed down whatever the place had left to give us. The food was pretty plain, but it didn’t matter – it was food.
Back to the hotel and another 45 minute drive.
Day 5 and another day of adventure! We started the day with a coffee tour at Heavenly Hawaiian. We learned a ton about coffee and about Kona. In Kona they don’t really have to do anything to grow coffee. It is exactly the right climate, the right amount of rainfall, the right elevation, and other than dealing with leaf rust they pretty much just leave the trees to grow and pick the cherries when they’re ripe. You can read more about it here, but the taste is definitely exceptional. It lacks a lot of the bitterness and comes out really smooth. It’s not chocolatey or smoky, it’s just really smooth coffee flavor. It’s also pretty expensive.
Our tour guide was cool and definitely had his share of the free coffee. He talked a mile a minute, made tons of jokes including one about me liking Geisha (a type of coffee) to which I fired back “pick on the guy with the Asian wife,” and he even made us a pot of coffee he thought we would like when the tour was finished.
From there we went to eat at Super J’s. Let me start with Super J’s was the best food we had the entire trip. If we had eaten there on the first day I’m sure we would have gone back 3 more times. It’s small with only 2 long tables that look like fold up tables. The chairs are mismatched, the floor is sort of dirty concrete, and there are 2 ladies behind the counter cooking all of the food on a long flat grill. Dishes are piled up on the side, and like everything else they are mismatched plates made of plastic and unsuited silverware. Cat thought we might want to get the food to go because the place looked a little sketchy and she and the baby were both tired. I walked in to check it out and I was greeted by people from the tour we had just taken slinging insults jokingly my way while the ladies behind the counter impatiently asked if I knew what I wanted and whether or not I was staying. I immediately went and collected Cat and Wes from the car.
When we sat down Wes was being super grumpy. He was crying and fussing and really making a lot of noise. We apologized to the woman working and the other table of people. The woman working turned around and said “so what, he’s a baby. We have babies.” We told them we were sorry for the other guests and again the woman replied with “if they don’t like it they can leave.” They even offered their 8 year old niece to take Wesley for a walk, and almost before they finished the sentence we look over to see a small girl with her arms out ready to oblige! We were already having fun, and then the food came. You just kind of get a plate. Everyone gets the plate. It’s a little of this and a little of that. You get some Lau Lau, some pork and cabbage, a little rice, and some macaroni salad. The macaroni salad was the best I’ve ever had, and the Lau Lau just melted in your mouth. They had sauces on the table that we doused the food with and of course the bill was next to nothing. If you go to the big island, and you’re near Kona, if you don’t go to Super J’s you’re missing out on incredible food and a really fun experience. We truly felt like family and the food is made with tons of love.
Before we got back to the hotel Cat had a secret mission that she had been planning for days; collect and extract clippings of a Hawaiian Giant Golden Pothos. We had been eyeing various locations of large plants since about the 2nd day of the trip, so she was prepared. We stopped at Lowes and picked up some shears and made our way to the plant that was most accessible and least likely to be missed. The mission, by the way, was entirely successful.
And that’s it. The next morning we packed up, grabbed a quick breakfast of crepes (that were delicious), and caught the plane home.
It was a much needed vacation, and overall pretty relaxing. Things we learned:
- The Big Island is big and requires a lot of time in the car.
- Babies don’t like being in the car for 2 hours a day everyday for 5 days.
- We will go back when Wesley is older, can swim, and is able to hike on his own. There were too many things we just couldn’t do because he’s so little.
- Lau Lau can be delicious but less so at the Hawaiian place in LA near our house at 8am.
