This is my favorite coastal picture from the Big Island.

Wow ~ Al and I are getting ready to fly out of Hilo to Honolulu airport where we will catch our Aloha Airlines flight to Kauai. So we bid Aloha to the Big Island of Hawaii and thanks for checking in on our Blog. Please check in and travel with us on the island of Kauai.

Above, is a traditional Hawaiian Luau Plate that we bought at TEX Drive-In in Honoka'a. We were not sure as to how the Hawaiian food would be at a place called Tex Drive-in but it was quite acceptable. Now, Al loves Saimin which is a bowl of noodles in a very fishy broth but it is not my favorite so I had this delightful Luau Plate. It comes with the traditional piece of Spam, a slice of Portugeese sausage, Teriyaki Beef, Egg Foo Yung, 2 Chicken drummettes and rice....needless to say he helped me finish mine.

Please notice the man behind Al as he covered his face when I took this picture. I didn't realize that until I looked at the picture later. Wonder if he is 'wanted' or just shy?

Year's ago Al stayed here at the Honoka'a Club Hotel. It is still in business and charges around $78.00 night. The picture on the left is their Lobby. There was a restaurant in the building but is no longer in business. Definitely another old Hawaiian Hotel which he loves.

Banyan Drive in Hilo is one of the prettiest roads in the city. It weaves through huge Banyan trees that obviously have been there for a long time.

At the top is the trunk of a Banyan tree. Love the texture in this one.

An old Hawaiian tradition is to throw your lei in the ocean and someday you will return. I did this on our Honeymoon and "guess what?.....we returned". Well, I did it again and therefore we should, one day, go back to these beautiful Islands of Hawaii.

This is the huge ship that we could see through the trees from our Hotel parking lot. Decided to check it out. Geesh... I wonder if the ship our RV friends will be taking to Mexico next month will be this big?

Please notice the man inside the laundramat. This is Al ~ he believes in traveling light so we each only took a carry on, therefore, we had to do our laundry before we got to Kauai. We did meet this local couple that had some Rambutan's and said a good friend gives them the fruit and asked us if we would like some... Of course, we said yes and said "Mahalo". We had a fun time talking with them. They run a booth at the Farmer's Market but had taken the day off to do their laundry too. Told us to stop by the next day and they would give us more Rambutan's ~ but we didn't make it.

We kept seeing lots of trees (obviously planted) and finally we asked what they were and why they were 'everywhere'.

The answer to that is around 1988 or so, all the sugar cane fields were cut down and sold off. Believe me when Molly was there in the 1980's that there were sugar cane fields everywhere. They needed something that would take the place of those sugar canes and came up with Eucalyptus trees and now there are fields and fields of Eucalyptus trees.

One of the fun things we would run into would be a group of Hawaiian kids playing in the surf and many times there would be surfers, especially if there were some big waves around.

Where there is a "Shave Ice" stand (which there are many), Al just has to stop. We saw this stand at a little mini-mart where Al got his 'fix'. It was a very good stop as this lady knew Joe's family one of my Hawaiian friends. Joe and Gloria were the bestest friends of Molly's ~ Gloria was born and raised in Waipahu, Oahu and Joe was born and raised on the Big Island around the town of Pepeekeo (Pepe e key o). Unfortunately Joe and Gloria have both passed away, but Joe still has family living in the area. This lady knew his brothers and sisters and Joe's nephew Leslie and his wife Danelle. Joe, Gloria and our friend, Shirley all went to Hawaii in 1987 where we attended Joe's grand niece's high school graduation Luau with the Kahlua Pig, Lomi Salmon, Lau Lau, traditional Macaroni Salad, and all the other trimming's. It was one party for me to remember. The pig was a wild boar that was caught and was one of many kept in a pen and fed for an eventual Luau meal. They were in the pen in the back yard. I would include those pictures but it wasn't from this trip and too long ago.

We stopped at the "Lava Tree State Park" and walked the 1/2 mile path passing numerous trees that had been engulfed

by the hot flowing lava. When the lava dried it left the poor sad tree covered in lava. Yikes what a way to go!!

There also numerous fissure's that were created during the lava flow and signs warned people to stay on the path due to unstable ground. Some of the fissures were pretty deep.

Wow what a great 'narrow winding road!!! The overhead branches were wonderful and we were completely surrounded... That was one great 'tunnel'....

This was the best 'quick snapshot' I got while traveling down a steep, narrow road built on the side of a mountain on our way to the now ghost town of Laupahoehoe.

Laupahoehoe (Lap a hoy hoy) was the site of the

http://starbulletin.com/97/03/31/news/story4.html

We visited the site of this horrendous Tsunami and checked out the Monument built in memory of all the people who died and were lost.

Check out an article above from the Star Bulletin.

This is looking directly out to sea at the exact spot where the Tsunami hit at Laupahoehoe ~ and there are picnic tables and they allow tent camping. It is a beautiful spot with a tragic history.

We stopped to check out this man's Wood Shoppe which was along one of the back roads. One of our neighbors at home makes pens, pencils, letter openers, etc. out of different woods. He asked that if we found any native wood could we bring it back for him? So, inside the Wood Shoppe we met this man who makes weapons, knives, animals, birds, fish, and whatever out of Milo, Ohia, Koa and other natural Hawaiian woods. We bought a bag of a variety of wood for our neighbor. This is his house and his shop is out at the road. He was a very nice man with 'lots of story'~~

I sure wish that the actual size of these avocado's could be seen....They were gigantic. The pit was the result of a dog's love of avocado's. It was unbelieveable watching a black lab attack this avocado.. I tried to get a good picture of this but everytime I got close enough for a picture the dog would grab the avocado and run away. Then I would follow, sneak up again and boom ~ the dog grabs the avocado again and runs away. It was quite hysterical as I have never seen a dog devour an avocado...

These 2 small homes are just past the lava and on the rim of Kalapana. This wonderful town was right at the edge of Black Sands Beach and was definitely a tight knit community. The beach is behind the mound of lava. The town sure did have one heck of a gorgeous view and is a huge loss. Pele' has her reasons.

Star of the Sea Painted Church

This little adorable church was located in the town of Kalapana, Hawaii.....but when the lava started to get closer to Kalapana the town's people moved the church to this safer site. As you look at the pictures of the inside of this beautiful Painted Church you will see why they saved this church. This particular lava flow buried the town of Kalapana, buried Queen's Bath and wiped out the famous Black Sand Beach.

http://starbulletin.com/2003/01/01/news/story9.html

This beautiful little church was definitely worth saving and one wonders about the path of the lava that day.

This little "darling" was also visiting the Painted Church with his father and older brother. I said to him "how old are you?", he said back to me "How old are YOU?" I said I am 62 years old and that is when he stuck out his tongue and said to me "You are OLD". I said back to him "well, one day you will be 62 years old too so what will you do then?" He stuck out his tongue again so I had to ask if I could get a picture of him to show all my friends and family....he gave me the ol' 'stick out tongue' again.....................................

Forgot to ask where he lived!!!