We flew out of Honolulu to Kona, which is on the leeward (west) side of the big island. The airport is hilarious! We're actually standing 'in' the terminal. Kona gets so little rain they don't need to enclose the terminal. Keep this weather in mind. As you'll see, NOTHING in Hawaii is predictable.
The Hertz counter was around the corner, and I decided to get something nice. For a little while at least. Here's a hint.
Mustang convertible? Well, close. More like a Shelby GT-H. A little more under the hood here. 325 hp and 330 ft-lbs. It hits 100 with ease.
This is the view most people get. And it's a rental! Unfortunately, the big island's roads aren't nearly as friendly as Oahu's. So I only had this for two days before switching to a more practical vehicle, but more on that later.
The first thing we did on Tuesday was head down for a coffee mill tour. Kona is famous for its high quality coffee. Most places that sell Kona coffee sell a blend of 10% or so. Here you get the real deal. Kona's coffee is so renowned because of the soil (volcanic base) and the altitude (up to 3500 ft).
This mill, Bayview Farms (near Honaunau on the map), was a small operation, but was really cool to see. Here's a large vat of beans getting ready to be spread on the drying beds.
The spiders like the coffee too!
After the coffee we headed up the coast to the Greenwell Ethnobotanical Gardens. But before that we passed the Surfin' Ass Coffee Shop, which sell Donkey Balls! They're like Moose Droppings for the Caribou fans.
The gardens feature plants that the native Hawaians used in daily life.
And hibiscus too.
In Kona, we found a Scandinavian store.
Another glorious sunset.
Wednesday I got the more practical transportation. This one does not do 100 that I am aware of. We did make use of all it's capabilities OFF road, however. Here we are about 3500 ft above sea level, only 20 miles or so from our resort.
The view is naturally spectacular. There was some haze this day. The town nearby, Waimea, seemed to have rain 24/7. Every time we drove thru (which was often) it was pouring.
Then we headed up to Hawi, which is near an ancient temple of human sacrifice as well as King Kamehameha's birthplace. 
Before those locations, we went to the Polulu lookout. This is on the rainy side of the island, but is beautiful. It's a long drive out there, and we wanted to hike down to the beach below.
But it had been raining all day, so the path looked like this. This picture does not depict the slope. It was pretty steep. We can do it! 
Well, I couldn't. I landed square on my knees and elbow, covered in mud. Scrapes, bruises, and a broken ego ensued. At the trailhead everyone got a good chuckle. I did better than another guy, though. He bit it only three steps in. I at least made it 500 feet down the trail...
Another view of the valley.
Then we decided to try the temple. On the map, this is at Upolu Point, in the far north. The road in the picture below is the best it was. It quickly turned to mud with large pools. We braved about 1/2 a mile before chickening out. We decided to give it a few days to dry out (maybe). We did get the jeep nice a dirty, though!
There's also a wind farm at Upolu Point. This foreshadows a trip of the near future (well, past now).
Heading back to the resort, we got this picture of Mauna Kea. If you look close, you might be able to make out a few of the telescopes and observation posts.
Everyday I was simply stunned by the natural beauty of this place.
At this point I'm going to take a minute to complain. See, the big island, while using the term 'big', really isn't all that large. Yes, it's the largest island in the U.S. at over 4000 sq miles. But it's only 90 miles across. The problem lies in that there is no way to drive across the island. You've always got to drive around the island. So while our hotel was only 52 miles from Hilo in a straight line, it was 70 miles and 2 hours to drive it. There are no 4 lane freeways on this island.Thursday the 13th we drove over to Hilo to check it out. Like I said above, not a short drive. Kelsey wanted to checkout a garden and Banyan Dr. It's a road full of Banyan trees planted by famous people.
The trees were mostly planted in the 30's, with some exceptions. Who was famous then? Not people who are still famous, that's who! Although we did find a number of recognizable names. In addition to those below, Sen Nixon and Amelia Earhart had planted trees.
Next it was to the Oriental style gardens.
This is right on the Hilo coast. They've been hit by a number of tsunamis in the past, this tree marking the height of some of the tidal surges. The top one is a 26 foot wave from 1946!
Friday we tried for the southern most point of the U.S., Ke Lae. This is another long drive from our hotel, along a narrow road in the middle of nowhere. Sounds great, huh? Actually, I thought it was really cool. I really enjoy getting out to the remote places on the island, places others probably wouldn't go to.
This is the presumed location of the first Polynesians landing in Hawaii. They've found artifacts as far back as 200 AD. For reference, Captain Cook didn't 'discover' Hawaii until the 1780s.
It's a somewhat barren and remote area. It was originally ranching land, and the point had facilities for ranchers to load cattle into boats. All that remains today are the foundations.There are some wind farms here too. This is the brand new wind farm, only going online in March of this year.
It replaced an older farm, which had fallen into disrepair. Seeing these massive fans, missing blades and all rusted was really cool. I'm really taken by how temporary the things we build on this planet can be. And seeing nature reclaim what we build (and then forget about) facinates me. What will be of these units in another 50 years?
This is from a lookout about 20 miles from the South Point. It's an a'a lava flow. There are two kinds of lava flows: a'a and pahoehoe. The only real difference is the viscosity of the lava and what they look like when they solidify. A'a is craggly and pahoehoe is smooth.
Saturday we decided to go snorkeling. The catamaran is the Sea Smoke, originally commissioned as a racing boat by James Arness of Gunsmoke fame.
Below, in red, is a friendly sea urchin. The black ones are not so friendly.
Kelsey freaks out as it's moving on her hand!
Another underwater pic. Most of the pictures from the underwater camera are of not so good quality. I blame myself.
After the snorkeling, we decided to try and summit the Upolu Point sites again. And again, the road is pure mud and pools of water. Luckily, the Jeep had a 4-Low range, and I was brave (or stupid). The water was nearly to the doors, but we made it thru!We had a hard time finding the Mo'okini Heiau, but had little trouble finding Kamehameha's birthplace. It was pretty unspectacular.
We continued west, even though the heiau should have been east. Here a little crab warms in the setting sun.
Like I said before, I'm enthralled with old machinery and where it lands. This area was also farmland, and here was a discarded gear from long ago.
Eventually, we headed back and stumbled upon the temple. It was cleverly hidden on our initial approach.
This is where human sacrifice was first practiced on the island. And it's remained an important site to this day.
Someone had left an offering recently.
Heading back, we stopped in Hawi for dinner. We ate at the Bamboo restaurant. If you're in the area, I'd highly recommend it. Fairly priced, and they use almost completely locally grown ingredients. Sunday brought us to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. I'll get the disappointing news out of the way: there were no lava flows to see. The only eruption currently occurring is in a remote location, and only accessible via helicopter.
This is the Kilauea caldera. It was pretty hazy in the morning, which patches of rain.
The ranger was playing native instruments, including a nose flute!
Here you see Kilauea crater, inside of the caldera. The only difference between a crater and a caldera is size. Over a mile in diameter makes it a caldera. Under a mile is a crater.
Some steam vents. Notice the yellow color to some of the rocks.
An offering to Pele, goddess of fire. She currently resides in Kilauea caldera.
We drove down the Chain of Craters road, which was cutoff in a 2003 lava flow. Road closed is right.
On Monday, we had to come back to the cold of Minnesota. But we left a marker in the lava fields.
I do have to say that this was probably the best vacation I've ever had. The length of time helped, but the variety of things to do and see was really amazing. I'd easily go back, although I'd probably want to see some of the other islands too. For anyone who visits the Big Island, make it easy on yourself, and stay on both sides. Driving from Kona to Hilo is no fun. And if you want to explore more than the hotel pool, it makes sense to get a 4x4. It was absolutely necessary once, and we could have used it more, but chose to hike.
