We first headed back to the Mauna Loa macadamia nut farm to attempt an actual visit sans rain. You can take a self-guided tour of part of their manufacturing and packaging process, but more importantly, there is a sample bar with every kind of macadamia nut they sell. A free sample bar people! And they are totally fine with and actually encouraging of you trying them all. At least once. Did I mention how fantastic this place is? =)
There were several beaches we wanted to visit, so we headed to the first one which was very kid friendly. It was basically protected from the big waves and current by some lava rocks, which made it ideal for snorkeling. I think Emma could have gone all day! She never stopped. I don't think she put her feet down once the entire time. At one point she turned around and there was a sea turtle right there. She decided we needed to follow it for awhile.
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| Emma's sea turtle friend. |
Right next to this protected area was a beach where the waves were crashing. It was just so beautiful.
Then we headed down the road to another beach park. This one did not disappoint. Very beautiful grounds with more amazing views. This one was a black sand beach though, which I loved!
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| Emma being silly because of the sign, pretending she had been hit by a falling coconut. |
After we were done at the beach we didn't have a specific plan as to what to do, so we just started to drive around and stumbled upon a fantastic park. We walked around Liliuokalani Park for quite awhile. This park had several cute little bridges and some wonderful trees. Along one side of the park was a road called Banyan Drive, where many large Banyan trees line the road, each one planted in honor of a celebrity, often done by the person themselves in a ceremony. They started planting the saplings in the early 1930s. There are trees in honor of US Presidents and other politicians, movie stars and directors, adventurers, religious leaders, and notable Hawaiians. The names include Franklin D Roosevelt, Richard Nixon, Cecil B DeMille, Amelia Earhart, and Heber J Grant, among others.
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| Some of the paths were a little flooded due to all the recent rain. |
After all this swimming and wandering around we were in great need of something refreshing. And since we hadn't had lunch yet, we thought Jamba Juice sounded great. Emma certainly enjoyed hers!
We checked into our hotel, and putted around relaxing a bit before going out to grab some dinner. Then we headed up Mauna Kea to the Visitors Station there where you can do some stargazing. This is what the Institute for Astronomy of the University of Hawaii said about Mauna Kea:
"Mauna Kea is unique as an astronomical observing site. The atmosphere above the mountain is extremely dry -- which is important in measuring infrared and submillimeter radiation from celestial sources - and cloud-free, so that the proportion of clear nights is among the highest in the world. The exceptional stability of the atmosphere above Mauna Kea permits more detailed studies than are possible elsewhere, while its distance from city lights and a strong island-wide lighting ordinance ensure an extremely dark sky, allowing observation of the faintest galaxies that lie at the very edge of the observable Universe. A tropical inversion cloud layer about 600 meters (2,000 ft) thick, well below the summit, isolates the upper atmosphere from the lower moist maritime air and ensures that the summit skies are pure, dry, and free from atmospheric pollutants."No wonder the sky was so clear on our first night on the island as we drove across Saddle Road to get to Kona! You can enjoy stargazing at the station every night. This is a little lower than the observatories at the summit, which would be great to see, but they have some further restrictions that wouldn't allow Emma to go (she's too young). But the visitors station had several huge telescopes we could use as well as a stargazing program run by the staff where they point out and talk about all the bright constellations and bright objects visible the night you're there. The telescopes are pointed at various objects in the night sky, including open clusters, globular clusters, double stars, nebulae, planets, galaxies and supernova remnants. And visitors can make requests if there are other things they'd like to see and learn about. The station is at 9,300 ft elevation, and it gets really cold up there as you view the stars. Inside the station they have warm clothing you can buy if needed. We had brought a few things and were okay, but we thought it would be fun to have a snuggly warm blanket from Hawaii. Seems like an odd souvenir. We loved snuggling under it though while watching the sky.
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| On our way up to the visitor station. |
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| The sunset on our way was glorious! |
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| Again, without a tripod, our camera wouldn't be able to get a very good shot of the stargazing, but I wanted you to see the telescopes and the station. The station was lit by red lights that wouldn't interfere with our seeing the stars. It was a really great setup. (This picture and the next two: Credit: Mauna Kea Visitor Information Station) |
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