A trip of a lifetime with Grandma G to Kona and the whole family.
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First some Cochrane photos. I try to take the boys skating a few times a year as they're not super
fond of it and it keeps them understanding that it's important to do.
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Playing with the simulator at the Avro Arrow museum.
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Riding the rails at a playground in Harmony.
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A super-fun playground in Harmony that shows the use of artificial turf on high slopes, something
that's relevant for bike parks too.
Parcour usage at Harmony
Riding bikes with the Campbells
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We went for an end-of-season bike ride with the Campbells to West Bragg. Here are the boys with their
friend Fisher.
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Walter riding around the West Crystal line.
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Henry found a bit of mud and that's where we turned around.
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Graham and Lily show off the tiny bit of sunshine we found on this day.
Lobbing beaver fodder into the creek
Big trip to Kona!
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We had a 4pm flight so we had lots of time to hang out at the airport. Here are the kids checking out what they'd
like to pack for a dinner on the plane. It turned out grilled cheese was the win.
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I thought this was a neat way to get some exercise while charging your devices at the airport.
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Our first night we stayed at the Holiday Inn in Kona to get sorted and since we landed later
at night. Grandma G enjoyed wandering Kailua-Kona and just looking at the random shrubbery.
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We popped into a Farmer's Market in Kona and got to see some new fruits. Here is durian, guava,
and soursop too.
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Looking at souvenirs at the Farmer's Market.
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I think this is hilarious - since the downtown is now busier in Kona, it requires parking in all
lots except at this church where they ask you to 'pray for parking'.
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The boys found a coconut that they wanted to try out.
Watching the lady with a machete open up a coconut
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Finishing chopping off the coconut. There's a LOT of woody cellulose material here that doesn't contribute
to anything productive and makes me think there's a biomass play here.
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The boys and Grandma G trying out fresh coconut. For future reference, they hated it, found it too
gelatinous, and thought the coconut water wasn't very good.
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Henry and I went up the third story of this little commercial area and got a look at the area.
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One of Natalia's favourite stops in the US is Target, which the boys also enjoyed.
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Our first beach to explore was the old Kona airport beach. Here's Grandma G finding the heat
a little bit too much to start at lunchtime.
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Henry checking out the tide pools where we found crabs and fish.
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Henry got his first shave ice of the trip. This was Hawaiian dream I think, something like guava.
Walter is obviously not pleased since he didn't get his yet.
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And now they both have their shave ice! This was a community 'Touch a Truck' event in Kona that
we popped into before lunch at the Kona Brewing Co, which for reference wasn't that great but
was expensive.
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Henry showing us how huge the shower was at our villa.
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Grandma G and I on the largest lanai I've ever seen, or a 'deck' as the rest of the world calls it.
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Natalia and I on our lanai. We stayed at the Kolea at Waikoloa, unit 3E, which was delightful and
very luxurious. They also retail for about $3.2M along with $3K/mth HOA fees. Yikes! See it HERE for future reference.
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Grandma G gave the boys a US $100 bill to spend on souvenirs. Henry is clearly blown away at the
generosity of his Grandma G here.
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Grandma G taking her morning coffee on the lanai. Oceanfront views for sure made this spot a
pretty stellar place to have morning coffee.
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I cut up a soursop for the boys which they really didn't like, but in the spirit of trying
new things, they gave it the old college try. See more on soursop HERE .
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We went out on our beach access to 'A bay', or Anaeho'omalu bay. Here is Walter checking out
some of the lava rock coming down to the beach area. It's pretty neat as there are also
historic freshwater fish ponds here that were used for early aquaculture and still have loads
of fish in them.
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Not sure what kind of fish these are but they might be mullets. See more on Hawaiian
aquaculture HERE .
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Henry checking out the fish, along with hunting for eels.
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Realistically, it doesn't matter WHERE we go, Walter's favourite thing to do is play with sand.
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One of the great features of the Kolea property is free access (or included access I should say) to
use the Hilton Waikoloa's pool and saltwater lagoon amenities. This saltwater lagoon is absolutely
unreal and hard to explain how great it was for kids to be able to enjoy ocean life without worrying
about getting beat up by waves and rough seas. Of course what do the boys want to do - play in the sand.
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It's also a terrific introduction to snorkeling, again without worrying about being washed out to
sea or getting beat up in the waves. Henry DID try snorkeling, even though he struggled with the
masks and breathing and what not.
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Enjoying what ~$150 USD buys you at the resort - a few drinks and a few grilled cheeses.
Good reason to bring your own but neat to try it out.
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When this hotel was built, it was the most expensive resort in the world, complete with ridiculous art
and sculptures like this everywhere.
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Our family at the Hilton lagoon under the human made waterfall.
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Our family at the Hilton sign that my Mom wanted a photo of.
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Having cocktail hour and appies on the lanai was definitely a highlight.
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The boys loved hunting for geckos - this was on our deck.
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One of the other amenities that was well-used was the beach club access, which was a 2 minute walk
to the heated pool and hot tub, along with private access to A bay beach too.
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Grandma G wandering along the rope bridge at the Hilton's pool area.
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Having a spiced rum in a can while we watch the sunset from the beach club.
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Nice portrait of the boys at sunset from the infinity pool. Worth printing for sure.
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One of the best beaches on Kona is at Hapuna Beach State park. Here are the boys playing in the
perfect sand and considering whether or not they want to ride waves with a boogie board.
Jumping waves at Hapuna Beach
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A look at Hapuna Beach with the Westin in the distance. This was one of the original resorts here
in Kona and is still on a perfect piece of beach. This is a paid parking lot, but for $10, it's
pretty affordable.
Walter trying boogie boarding
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Henry trying boogie boarding. Both boys got smashed in the waves a couple of times each, which was
enough to teach them a bit of respect for the ocean, but also that it's a LOT of fun to play in the waves too.
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Ahi tuna steaks for dinner on the massive grill.
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Along with homemade mango salsa too! The pork chops with pineapple salsa were also big hits.
One of the benefits of staying in a vrbo too is the ability to cook for yourself, which is a
big advantage if your kids aren't going to eat like regular people anyway.
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Playing yahtzee, Farkle, and golf with Grandma G were big evening fun times, along with
getting a bit of iPad time, and watching too much Captain Underpants on Netflix.
Chocolate Farm tour in Kona
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Gecko on the ceiling at the Original Hawaiian Chocolate Factory in Kona. We decided to show the boys how
cocoa pods are grown and how chocolate is made. See more on it HERE
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Giant monkey pod tree at the plantation.
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Cocoa pods growing on the side of the trees.
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Cocoa drying in the sun. It's quite a process to take the beans out, clean off the 'puna' or the
white gooey stuff, which then helps to ferment and change the chemistry of the bean, then dry off
in the sun, then get cracked into 'nibs' and then get processed into chocolate.
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Chopping up the cocoa pods for illustration of the process by the owner Bob.
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One of Natalia's requests for this trip was that she got to see and hold a sea horse. Here's Henry with
a tank of them, where they are grown to help manage the black market in sea horse trade. See the
sea horse operation HERE . It wasn't cheap but it was a
unique opportunity to see this.
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A look at some of the fish in the reefs here.
We were able to check out the Mauna Kea beach, which is stellar!
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Walter and Henry playing with the boogie board at Mauna Kea beach. This beach is wonderful but is
very challenging to get a parking spot at. They have only ~20 spots at the Mauna Kea resort for the
general public and the rest goes to their guests. We showed up late afternoon and lucked out as
someone was leaving, but generally this isn't common. Either arrive early or later afternoon or
get dropped off.
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Playing a wave jumping game with the boogie board.
Wave jumping at Mauna Kea beach
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Having fun in the water. The water here was SUPER clear and there was great snorkeling along
the sea wall to the north side. This was as good snorkeling as at Black Rock beach in Maui, albeit
a lot smaller area. Too bad the rooms go for $1400 USD a night.
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Enjoying a picture perfect beach day on a perfect beach. This was the first resort built in
Kona, and you can see why they'd choose this site. Perfect sand and well-protected beach.
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'Cats are the best' according to Henry and Walter.
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We got a random person to take this photo of us with 'Hawaii 2024' written in the sand.
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Grandma G and the boys enjoying the sand at the Mauna Kea beach.
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Grandma G enjoying cocktail hour on the lanai.
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My mom and I with my bike rental from the bike shop at the Queen's shops.
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I rented a road bike and went for a climb up along Mauna Kea volcano. Here's a look at some of the
terrain along the road as you leave Waikoloa beach resort area - it's all lava rock.
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Reasonable shoulder to ride along for this section.
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You can see Haleakala on Maui on a clear day, which I climbed two years ago.
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More goats and the undulating terrain showing signs of earlier volcanism.
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Wild turkeys also chased me around as I fought to find shade along the roadway. This is along the
old Saddle Road which had almost zero shoulder, but also almost zero traffic. Plan to connect this
to form the 'triangle' route at some point if I'm back here. I wound up with a ~75km route and
about 1560m elevation gain, so not bad for vacation riding. See the route HERE .
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A slightly better look at a wild turkey.
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I found solar farms, ranches of goats, horses, cows, and wild turkeys.
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Turn around point as I ran out of water. For future reference, white kids from Canada need more
water and electrolytes to avoid migraines afterwards.
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We spent the afternoon at the Hilton lagoon trolling around in a kayak with the kids. Here's Walter
with me as we went to go find sea turtles.
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Major win was getting Grandma G into the kayak, along with trying out snorkeling too!
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Grandma G and I as she got to see a baby sea turtle near the waterfall area. Walter and I also
saw a few manta rays and we got to see a bucketload of crabs as well.
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The last beach we checked out on this trip was at Waialea, or on the other side of Hapuna Beach.
None of the beaches we went to were more than 15 minutes away, but the upside of this beach was
excellent snorkeling, fun sand to play on, and SHADE as there are trees all over the beach
to give you shade. It was $10/car and $5/person to park here, but it was a great find.
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Henry trying to block the waves from wrecking their sand creations.
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One of the finds of the trip was hot malasadas or donuts, covered with lilikui sugar. This was
parked at the entrance to the beach from the main highway.
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Very happy boys as they crush malasadas filled with Nutella.
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We spent part of the afternoon in Kona helping the boys spend their souvenir money. Here Henry
shows off his towel and his sweet rooster hat.
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A last shave ice taste in Kailua-Kona town. Grandma G is having a haupia-ice cream coconut treat.
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Henry and I enjoying a sunset from the Walmart parking lot in Kona.
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Appy nachos and cocktail hour along with Japanese omiyage blend snacks. This is apparently quite a
social obligation to bring home treats and items for your co-workers and family and friends so it
makes sense why no one vacations in Japan. See more on omiyage HERE .
Volcano day!
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The main reason I had been excited to bring the boys to Kona was to see an active volcano.
While we didn't get to see any lava, we sure did see an active volcano at Kilauea. Check out the
smoking vents from the caldera here.
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This was a cool spot that shows the power of 2100 deg F lava to carve out rock. Grandma G didn't
love the wet surface here but it had been flattened with cement to make it easy to walk through.
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Walter playing with a flashlight in the lava tube.
Walter in a lava tube
BR>
Walter wanted to take a video for his class in the lava tube
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This took a bit of fancy driving in the rain to get a shot, along with convincing another
random tourist to take the photo for us.
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I decided to drive the south route back since it was roughly the same drive time and then we'd get a
chance to enjoy the black sand beach too. The rain followed us down the volcano but the kids still
thought the black sand was cool.
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Henry with black sand at Punaluu black sand beach. He thought the grains were more like the
rubberized pellets they see at some playgrounds.
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Apparently you're not supposed to ride turtles.
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Henry thought this freshwater spring that fed into the ocean was cool. He called it the
'infinite water source' which isn't too far off.
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I *love* this sign at the Black Rock pizza shop in Captain Cook. This is my life motto at work.
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The clown show of repacking suitcases following a daylong driving tour and heading to a night flight.
I'm sure the changing in the parking lot along with suitcases everywhere would make a hilarious
security camera footage reel for someone. It looked like my Mom and Natalia were preparing to
get through a border crossing or something.
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And the adjustment to regular life. For future reference, pack mitts and a toque no matter
how warm it is when you leave as clearing your car off with socks is sub-optimal.
Snorkel photos and videos
I bought a GoPro knock-off before heading to Kona and it wasn't amazing. It did allow
for some cool fish shots, but it's worse that the water-specific camera I had 10 years
ago and the mounts mostly sucked. In future, grab a new water camera if you want fish shots.
Video of the boys playing on the beach at Mauna Kea beach
Video of the boys playing in the water at Mauna Kea beach
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Happy boys having shave ice at King's shops.
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Snorkeling at the lagoon. The new mask designs are great and MUCH better than having something
in your mouth all the time.
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The whole family enjoying Sunset in Kona. It's worth mentioning that this was a last minute
photo in the Walmart parking lot and we convinced some random to take the shot. But it's
one of the only ones we'll get with no sunglasses on!
