February 24, 2022…Big Island

 As we took our last trip into Hilo, we thought we knew the town pretty well since we have made several trips into and around this county seat, but after today we can say we have finally come to know this unusual town more than just the Hilo facade.  We climbed above the city and drove through neighborhoods, peeking at their elementary, intermediate and high schools in session, as well as their hospital, library and macadamia nut farm.

The first day we were on the sea side of Hilo, enjoying Banyan Drive, it was raining so hard that we didn’t get to walk through the Japanese Garden that is in the Lili’uokalani Gardens.  So we enjoyed it this morning.  

This is a little island called Coconut Island which is now a park but was once a place of healing called Moku Ola, Island of Life. Apparently the thing back then was if you were ill, you were to swim around the island three times.  I don’t know if that healed the sick, but it sure would have cut down on some fake illnesses.

We watched some brave jumpers and divers who seemed to enjoy the healing waters for fun.

Then we drove west of town to Rainbow Falls  a few miles away and up the mountain.

It gets its name when the morning sun filters through the mist generated by an 80 foot waterfall creating rainbows.  However, we stayed a little too long at the park because we missed the morning rainbows 🌈.  It was still a beautiful waterfall!

They say sometimes there is so much water that falls over, that one cannot see the cave behind the falls.  Not today! 

After exploring Boiling Pots and the University of Hawaii-Hilo, we went into town and found our little eatery, Saucy Dogs for another meal of delicious hot dogs, took them back to the Japanese gardens, found a picnic table and enjoyed our meal watching more jumpers and divers .