The Big Island

The Big Island of Hawaii is named properly. It’s a heavyweight. The Big Island is larger than the other Hawaiian islands combined and the biggest island in the United States. The benefit of size is an incredibly diverse landscape. Downside is traveling from place to place takes forever.
We stayed in Kailua Kona on the western side of the island, home to the Ironman World Championships. If you’ve ever watched the one hour recap of the race on TV, they make the run and bike course among the lava fields seem gruelling. After seeing the stretch of road they race on, I can confirm that those contestants are insane. It’s completely out in the open with the sun beating down on the pavement and black lava rocks.

We rented a jeep and took advantage by braving the rocky and potholed roads Waipio Valley. Waipio is known as the Valley of the Kings as it used to be the home of the rulers of the Big Island. Unfortunately the sun wasn’t cooperating with us on this visit so it wasn’t  as spectacular as our first visit four years ago, but still an amazing place.

The next day we spent on the east coast, visiting the farmers market in Hilo, found some beautiful "off the beaten path" beaches, and visited the Mauna Loa macadamia nut factory.

That evening we trekked up to the visitors center at Mauna Loa, one of the volcanoes that formed the island. It’s the largest volcano on earth in terms of volume and area covered and last erupted in 1984. We arrived to take in the sunset at the visitors center- 10,000 ft above sea level!

Dana among the volcanic rocks shivering. At 10,000 ft, even in Hawaii it’s cold.