la vie en rose

We stayed Saturday night in Hilo, at the Wild Ginger Inn. We had no idea what we were in for. When we pulled up, the hotel was dark. The owner told us that he has to keep the lights off for a certain amount of time at night in order to hide from the termites. J was a little wary of the place, but I thought it was charming; besides, we were just staying for 1 night and the price was good. The Inn used to be a plantation boarding house and turned into a hotel in the 50's. It hasn't been updated since, although it was very clean and freshly painted. It is surrounded by banana trees filled with exotic birds, so we felt like we were sleeping in the jungle. I'm glad that I took some sleeping pills!

Monday morning we explored the sights around Hilo, starting at Rainbow Falls. A crowded tour bus stop (J thinks my calling is to be a tour guide for old people), this is where Kamehameha the Great buried his father. If the sun was out, we would have seen a rainbow. Pretty even when it's cloudy.

Next stop - Boiling Pots. The water flows down from Peepee Falls (Peh-eh-peh-eh, you dork) into these pools made from lava rock. When the water's really going it looks like it's boiling.


Kaumana Cave was next (we were following a route in our guidebook), when we realized that another couple, in a rented Caliber, was using the same guidebook we were.

Kaumana Cave is a lava tube and the forest around it is so lush and beautiful.

The light at the end of the tunnel.

Back through Hilo town on our way toward Puna, the southeast part of the island. Hilo is a great little town - old storefronts, painted bright colors and a little bit rusty. Perfect!


A tsunami tore through Hilo in 1946, and again in 1960. The one in 1960 devastated the waterfront and killed 61 people. This clock was all that was left standing, stopped at 1:04am, the time that the 1st wave hit.

A picture of what originally surrounded the clock.

A picture of the destruction along Banyan Drive (between the clock and Hilo Bay).

As we headed out to Puna, we stopped at the Lava Tree National Park. Lava trees are formed when the tree is super wet, so the lava cools around it (instead of incinerating it). The tree dies, leaving the impression of its bark in the lava.

Looking up inside of one.

Around the park there are huge fissures in the ground, so there are no pets allowed. Kids, well, that's a different story.


And this is where our camera battery ran out.

Once I get the disposable camera back from Target, I will post the rest of our day.