Saturday lilikoi festival in HPP

Heading to the first annual Lilikoi festival in Hawaiian Paradise Park. We are a little late in arriving and miss the taste testing.  But we do get a piece of the pie and it is Ono!  We hear some interesting music and purchase a couple of items from the venders.  I get a book on gardening and have the author sign it.  Thinking of making a video to leave in our vacation rental titled. "I bought it at the market, now how the heck do I eat it!"  I will need Jake's help to make this video for sure. We drove through HPP and looked at the Whitman home we stayed at in 2009 with Tim & Polly, Margie & Tim. It looks the same from the outside but I know they have remolded inside. It is contingent at 515,000.  After stopping at a garage sale, didn't buy anything, we head back to our VR. We rest, walk, talk to the people, then go into Pahoa to eat supper at a Mexican restaurant.

Friday in the tidal pools.

Taking a break from house hunting, we head to Kapoho.  We drive the old government road with the jeep. It was beautiful and heading out to Champagne Pond, quite rough, but not like the 6 mile to the sea road. We were one of only 2 vehicles and the only one which made it to the pond.  The water was warm, not too salty but we didn't see any turtles and not a ton of fish.  Then we went to vacation land and the Waipao Pools. Here, we weren't disappointed, but saw lots of fish and some coral.  The water is cooler and much saltier here.  It is easier to float and a bigger area to explore.  Such fun, and we really want to share this with our family. After snorkeling we head on down the Red Road to the end (because of the lava flow in the 1990's) We stop at Isaac Hale to rinse off the salt water. Indigo was weaving palms under the shelter when we pulled in. When we went to leave, we found a hat and a basket on the hood of our car.  We went back and talked to him, he does live near and he doesn't surf anymore, he had an encounter with a shark. He was real friendly and I will look him up when it comes time to decorate the Hale because he makes cool wall hanging baskets. We miss stopping at Kehena but did drive around the subdivisions there. Last stop was Kalapana, we got supper, pulled pork, baked beans. We checked on lava tours, but Pele is resting, we were told. We will check back online to see if she wakes up!  It is dark as we head back and I can hear the coqui.

Hale Thursday

Today we look at 3 more houses and drive by one.  The houses are further back from the ocean and nothing really grabs our interest.  There is one which was very nice but the neighborhood was rather rough.  Location really is important for using it as a vacation rental.  We drive back into Hilo to return the car and pick up the jeep. We stop to check on surf lessons at a rental place. The lessons would be given at Honolii Beach.  We pick up the jeep and the gal gives us an upgrade to a 4 door for no extra charge!!  We then drive around Hilo and try to stop at the Trib but it closed at 4:30.  We drive to Honolii and watch the surfers for awhile and decide we won't try surfing here.  The entrance to the water is over lava rock and I don't think we could carry our board and make it. Maybe we will try on the West Side.  We head up the coast for a ways and drive through some neighborhoods.  We have a better idea of the style of housing in Hilo and feel it wouldn't work for us.  We eat at Café Pesto, ordering pizza and volcano salad.  It was good, especially the salad.  We are entertained by Rupert Tripp and I happened to know who he is because I have a CD of his music. 

Wednesday is Hilo day

We wake up early to get ready to head to Hilo. First is the Palace Theatre to see a cultural presentation Hawaiiana.  It is a downtown theatre which has been restored. Built in the 1920's.  The organ was in pieces in the attics and when the Honolulu theatre was demolished they send their organ pipes to Hilo. The organs were used in the time of silent movies. A couple did a talk story with the man accompaniment on different pipes. The stories were handed down and also taught by Hula.  Because it is near Halloween, the stories were a bit scary.  We also watched a short movie about the Menehune.  After the presentation the counter girl came to me a gave me a poster left over from the Hilo Film Festival. I had asked for something from the festival which ended the previous night, but she said she didn't have anything.  So it was a surprise when she found the poster and gave it to me for free. We then went to the farm market, crafts and venders too.  We bought a few items. We drove around Hilo and found Dennis's office, he would be our lender.  We found the library and took some pictures for Mandy. Next, we drove out to the beaches to check them out, then we headed back to the hale to make mahimahi on the grill and salad and pineapple for supper.