Thursday, March 25

As part of school this morning, Aden and Tory each wrote about their experiences in Hawaii.

Tory wrote a persuasive argument for why someone should visit here:

Aden’s writing piece was about his favorite things:

After school and lunch, the four of us hopped in the car and decided to explore the Kona Coast. Andi purchased an audio tour called Shaka Guide — a self-guided audio tour that calls out notable stops as you drive along. We’ve purchased similar audio tours in the past for national parks, and find it to be a great way to learn about an area.

Using GPS, the audio tour pings your location and starts the tour from wherever you are. The first stop the guide called out for us this afternoon was Lekeleke Burial Grounds, a historic Hawaiian burial site for warriors killed during a major battle in 1819. We parked the car along the side of the road and followed the smooth gravel pathway through the stark landscape of lava rock. A family of spunky wild goats passed us on the trail.

The southwest side of the island is so hot in the afternoon, especially standing in a field of black lava. Aden picked up a piece of lava, held it onto his cheek and exclaimed, “Feel this! The lava is so hot!” The rock was almost too hot to hold. Tory commented that she could see the heat rising off the fields of lava surrounding us.

Andi, Tory and Aden positioned themselves by the edge of the cliff and waited for a huge wave to hit the rocks and splash them with cold ocean water. We all got such a kick out of this! Waiting, waiting, waiting and then SPLASH! A quick burst of ocean water rained down from the sky with a loud crash as the water slammed into the rocks.

Back in the car, we followed the Shaka Guide’s audio tour prompt toward the town of Captain Cook. Though Captain James Cook was the first European to land in Hawaii in 1778, this small town gets its name from the first Kona coffee company on the island called Captain Cook Coffee Company which is still in existence today.

Next, we pulled into Big Island Bees — an organic honey farm on the island. With beautiful flowers everywhere blooming year-round, the island of Hawaii is the perfect place to make honey. Our family was warmly welcomed into Big Island Bees and invited to browse around their store learning about the honey making process.

We also got to sample six different honeys produced here — organic Ohi'a Lehua honey, Macadamia Nut honey, and organic Wilelaiki Blossom honey, plus three of their honey varieties that are mixed with dry ingredients — Lehua & cinnamon, Lehua & vanilla bean, and Hawaiian chili pepper honey.

It was hard not to purchase one of everything in their store! Andi and Aden liked the vanilla bean honey best and Tory liked the classic, smooth-tasting macadamia nut honey so we bought a jar of each of those to take home in addition to a honey bar of soap and a package of honey sticks to-go. Big Island Bees also gives tours of their operation but you have to sign up in advance, so Andi and I made a mental note to come back and do the tour before we leave this area of the Big Island.

From there, we continued south along the Napoopoo Road to Kealakekua Bay State Historical Park. This is the site where Captain James Cook first landed in Hawaii in 1778. There’s remnants of a Hikiau Heiau here, which is a Hawaiian religious temple, and also a monument for Captain Cook across the bay. Most people kayak to visit the monument and then snorkel there, but today we were content taking in the view from shore.

Aden has been begging to try the meat of a coconut in Hawaii (I think he got the idea from a kids travel show), so Andi surprised him and bought two fresh coconuts from a guy selling them out of his pickup in the parking lot. Aden was thrilled!

As it turned out, he was less than thrilled to actually consume the coconut. “I didn’t want the coconut water, Dad” Aden said. “I want to eat the coconut meat.” (Which, by the way, he didn’t like either.) Always worth trying something new though!

From Kealakekua Bay State Park, we followed a one-lane road to Pu'uhonua o Honaunau, otherwise known as “Place of Refuge.” Tory’s 4th grade national park pass came in handy here, scoring our family free admission Into the national historic park.

In ancient times, Pu'uhonua o Honaunau was a safe haven for Hawaiians who broke “kapu” laws which were often punishable by death. If lawbreakers could make it to the Puʻuhonua, their crimes were forgiven by a kahuna (priest) and then they could return to their normal life. The grounds were dedicated as a national historic park in 1961 to preserve the sacred site.

Tory and Aden were excited to earn their first Junior Ranger badge in Hawaii, and learn more about what makes this park special. I was particularly proud of Aden for completing his booklet all by himself for the first time! Usually he and Tory work together or I have to spell out every single word for him to write. Today, he sounded out the words and did his own work.

We hopped back into the car and drove to a picnic area within the national park. Andi and I made note to come back here again with the makings of a picnic dinner — it’d be the perfect place to watch the sunset among the swaying palm trees. The four of us spent time wandering around the flat, smooth pahoehoe lava beds looking for sea creatures.