Our resort (the Marriott Waikoloa Beach) offers a few “cultural” activities, including the “Nēnē and Native Plants” walk we took this morning. Our guide, Pua, took us around the hotel and showed us places they are trying to preserve or plant native species, like this ti plant.

There were a lot of non-native species too, giving me an excuse to include yet another hibiscus photo in the blog.

We didn’t see any nēnē, but Pua showed us pictures which demonstrated their kinship to the Canadian goose.

Pua took us to the luau pit, where the crew was getting ready for tonight’s luau. They’d spent a couple of hours burning kiawe (Hawaiian mesquite) to charcoal, and now they were ready to add the pig and other meat, then turn the whole thing into a giant pressure cooker where the food would cook for several hours.

It’s always good to see professionals at work.

After the tour, we set out to explore the northern end of the island, beginning with a stop in Waimea (known to the USPS as “Kamuela“), home to the Parker Ranch and the Paniolo Heritage Center, where we stopped to enjoy their mid-week farmers’ market and visit the Nā Wahine Holo Lio Paʻu Museum, honoring the history of the region’s pa‘u riders.

We had hoped to have lunch at Merriman’s Restaurant, but they were closed for renovation, so we did the next best thing and ate at Village Burger in the Parker Ranch Center. They use local beef and lamb, and I really enjoyed my burger.

We drove about 20 miles up Kohala Mountain Road to the little town of Hawi, which used to be a major hub of the Kohala Sugar company. These days, its main street is lined with art galleries, restaurants, and craft shops – we had dessert at Our Founding Farmers, a “farm-to-scoop” ice cream shop. It was an interesting experience – as soon as we walked in, the owner asked us if we had any allergies and proceeded to give us tastings of about half of their flavors! All were delicious, but I could only have two – I finally chose Lilikoi with Chocolate Chocolate Chocolate. Highly recommended if you’re in the area.

The next town down the road is Kapaau, home of the original King Kamehameha Statue.

Kamehameha’s birthplace is a few miles away, but we decided against going there and drove back to the resort so we’d have some time before going to a magic show later this evening.

We passed the Pu’ukoholā Heiau National Historic Site on the way home and decided to stop, but we only went to the Visitor Center because the winds were too strong for us to go to the actual heiau (they were notified of a Red Flag Alert while we were there)!

We didn’t get to go to the magic show, either – tonight’s performance was rescheduled for Friday evening. We consoled ourselves with foofy drinks and quesadillas at Aloha Wine Bar.

This morning, we explored the area near our hotel, beginning with the King’s Trail (part of the Ala Kahakai National Historic Trail), which led us to the southern part of the Puakō Petroglyph area (the area extends north for a mile or so beyond what we explored). There are ancient (pre-European contact) petroglyphs, some from the 19th Century (with Latin, Greek, and Cyrillic lettering, reflecting the changes in culture), and even a few modern smiley faces (sigh).

The part of the trail we visited adjoins a golf course, and nēnē have set up shop there.

After the trail, we had lunch at Kona Brewing Company; the beers they serve there are all locally-brewed, unlike the ones you can buy on the mainland (brewed by Anheiser-Busch breweries on the mainland). Then we continued south so I could taste and buy Kona coffee (and chocolate-covered macadamia nuts) at Greenwell Farms. We could have taken a tour, but we’d done that last year – and we wanted to have more time to see one of the botanical gardens in the Captain Cook area before going back to the resort.

We chose Paleaku Gardens Peace Sanctuary; it was not your standard botanical garden, though it did have many wonderful flowers and plants to enjoy, along with a view of the Pacific. They also have a variety of shrines devoted to many world religions, a Galaxy Garden (it was too big to take a photo of the whole thing), and they even sell Kona coffee from their neighbor a few hundred yards up the road, Kona Lisa Coffee. We spent nearly two hours there and could have stayed longer if they’d let us…recommended!

I’d originally planned to leave the garden by 3:30 so we could stop at the Donkey Balls Store before they closed for the day, but the garden was much too nice to leave before it closed, so I’d resigned myself to missing out – but when we drove past the store, the door was still open and there was even a parking spot available in front. We now have two bags of Donkey Balls to sustain us until our next trip to Hawaii.

Tonight’s foofy drinks were part of our complete dinner at Roy’s Waikoloa; we got there in time for the Sunset Prix Fixe special (only $58/person for a three-course meal). Everything was good, but the Chocolate Decadence was the star!