Visiting the Big Island, Part One

I recently visited the Big Island for the first time. I knew it would be different than Maui (which I visited for a friends' wedding in 2003) but I didn't realize how different. It was great!

I should first say that when I was waiting for my flight out of LAX, I had a lot of time to kill. I begrudgingly decided to buy something from Starbucks. As I waited in the queue none other than Arianna Huffington joined the line! I was about to say something to her when a guy in a suit walks up to say hello. They know each other... I try my best to appear disinterested but can't help overhearing something about how he was on stage at the Oscars and his cellphone was vibrating in his pocket... He looked familiar and it took me a minute to think of what Oscar he would have won... a technical achievement? I would be away from internet access for a week and had only my brain cells to help me figure it out... then I remembered: he was Lawrence Bender, producer of An Inconvenient Truth. The two of them did seem elitist (snobby might be a better word), but I guess that's a celebrity thing and I won't hold it against them. Bender has produced _all_ of Quentin Tarantino's films, and Arianna, well, you probably already know about her.

Moving on!

I took a flight from LAX to Oakland, then a flight from Oakland to Hilo. We left Oakland at 7:30 at night... hoping to sleep, I downed a GT and slept for a few hours. Arriving in Hilo was awesome. The airport is tiny and it was warm and rainy and you could already hear the coqui frogs.

On this map, you can scroll down and find the city of Hilo, which is on the east side of the island. But if you scroll down further (following highway 130) you will find your way to Pahoa (what I like to call the Bolinas of Hawaii) and further down you will get to Puna Beach Palisades where my aunt lives. Near my aunt's house is Kahena Beach, a black sand beach and one of very few swimmable areas. There is also a place we called "The Lookout" It's on the map as "the lookout" but I don't know what its real name is. The Lookout was my favorite place. Here are some pics:


Looking Northeastish, toward California.


Looking Southeastish, toward Central America.


After leaving The Lookout, we walked back to my aunt's house and came across some flowers that lined her neighbor's yard:





Here are some photos of my aunt's house, from the street (Oliana Street, to be specific):


The back of the house, from Oliana Street.


Another shot of the house. The little white thing is a scarecrow my aunt erected. That scarecrow really dropped the ball.

More to come... xo