We didn't have any specific plans for the day, so we pulled out out handy dandy guidebook for ideas. It ended up leading us back to Hilo.
Our first stop for the day was the Mauna Loa nut factory. It didn't involve a whole lot- you could peek through the windows along a catwalk outside the building and watch the various stages of nut processing. The main attraction was really the big giftshop with every variety of macadamia nut products that the company makes. We bought a variety box and some macadamia nut Hershey's kisses.
We decided to check out a little area nearby called Rainbow Falls. After we parked the car, we walked over to an observation railing along a set of stairs. It overlooked a very nice though not spectacular waterfall. Supposedly it produced a lot of rainbows, but I didn't see any evidence of them.
The other thing we noticed at Rainbow Falls was big busloads of Japanese tourists. We saw bunches of these groups as opposed to the Kona side where we mostly saw Japanese families touring on their own.
Our guidebook brought us next to a little zoo known as Pana'ewa Rainforest Zoo and Gardens. It was so quiet that at first we weren't even sure if they were open. There was no charge to get in so we walked through the entry and explored.
The zoo really felt more like a bird sanctuary than a zoo. We passed many different sorts of birds including macaws and the rare endangered state bird, the Hawaiian goose or Ne'ne'. There were signs protecting them throughout the islands, but the only time we saw them was in captivity.
There was one major non-bird occupant- a white Bengal tiger named Namaste. He had a huge play area in which we had a round of spot the tiger. He moved constantly from one side of the enclosure to the other, occasionally trekking through the edge of the water. We struggled to get a good picture since he kept moving in and out of view and was quite a distance from us.
After exploring the zoo, we read about an astronomy center in Hilo called 'Imiloa and decided to make that our next stop. Unfortunately, we failed to read the part about the center being closed on Mondays.... So once we arrived at the empty building, we had another place to add to our list of things to remember to return to next time.
We found our way to a big Japanese garden. It featured a beautiful view with lots of traditional ponds with stone bridges, gazebos, and -oddly enough- lots of cats. One tree had a couple adorable kittens poking out from little hideaways in the trunk.
We walked across a footbridge to Coconut Island, a small island with some small, sandy enclosures in which one could wade. I took my shoes off for a moment and stuck my feet in, but there were lots of rocky edges everywhere.
My guidebook had one particular suggestion that really perked my interest- Big Island Candies! It's a huge sweet shop where you can watch shortbread cookies being made behind glass. But the best part was that aisles were filled with free samples- I was in heaven! Chocolate, brownies, cookies, all different flavors! Yum. One of the women working there even brought over samples of chocolate with bits of potato chip mixed in after s he heard me talking about how much I liked that combination.
They had some other more unusual combinations. I wasn't brave enough to try the chocolate dipped squid.... We came home with varieties of chocolate goodies- yes, the potato chip flavor was among them.
For dinner that evening, we chose a local favorite called Ken's House of Pancakes. They did have many scrumptious sounding pancake combos, but I went for another plate lunch type dish. I chose a chili cheese loco moco- rice, Angus patty, chili, and cheese piled together in a big bowl. These Hawaiians sure know how to eat!
We weren't sure how we wanted to spend the rest of the evening. We settled on returning to the overlook at Volcano Park- the same area in which we had stood before daylight the morning before. As the sun went down, we saw the glow return. I also quickly discovered why Derek had preferred to go there in the morning- there were large groups of people including what sounded like a noisy group of students. And I couldn't believe the number of people trying to take flash pictures! Eventually the chaos died down. Derek was even able to use a time delayed exposure to get both of us in the picture with a glowing volcano in the background.
We chit-chatted with a nice family- a mom, a dad, and their seven year old daughter who really seemed to enjoy being there. This was one time that I really regretted only bringing one pair of long pants. They were still wet and muddy from the day before so I was stuck in my capris and had to deal with the cold. But otherwise, it was really neat being out there in the dark. I even heard ceremonial Hawaiian chanting sounding off from some unknown point in the distance.
