Big Island Day 1 - Part 1

Get ready for a photo dump!

We covered a lot of ground in our first day.  

We set our alarms for 6:30am. We drove around the north end to the east side to Hilo. We had to do a lot of things in one day in order to beat the rain expected later this week and also prevent backtracking.  The Hilo side is way more lush and rainy than the Kona side.  I instantly fell in love with Hilo. Our first stop was  Umauma Falls
a 3 tiered waterfall. It was closed.. 

We got a few quick pics of what we could see and moved on. 

The next waterfall stop Akaka Falls did not disappoint! It was gorgeous!

The guides there were so friendly and talkative. They knocked off a few bucks for all of us,  it was like $5 per person but only charged us for 4 people.  There was a loop around the park with 2 falls and so many beautiful views. The girls saw gekkos and lizards on tons of flowers and trees. The colors of the flowers are so unique, amazing, and everywhere!

As we left Akaka, the girls saw a sign for cuddling baby cows for $20. It was cow therapy. Instead we pulled off and bought a fresh coconut and pineapple. They called it a Hurricane, it came with fresh sugarcane infused in lime and lilaqoui (passionfruit).

They claimed that coconut milk is great for reducing blood pressure, but Adam couldn't drink more than a few sips. I got a few more in,  but Kinley and Brin downed it. Then they cut it up and cut out the meat,  added it to a bag of fresh pineapple and the rest of the sugarcane. We decided to take it home and make smooties out of it. 

We loaded up again and moved on to our next destination - lunch! 

To be continued.