Hilo Bound

We went to Kings View Cafe for breakfast because while we were picking up the ice cream yesterday Scott had seen that they served Loco Mocos. Wakana ordered a Loco Moco Bowl, Scott had eggs, rice, & Portuguese sausage with a side order waffle, Aunty Daisy had the Mama's French Toast, and I had the Pololu Breakfast Pizza. Everything was good.

Pre-breakfast photo, when we are all not hippo.

Wakana with Loco Moco Bowl.

Scott with eggs, rice, Portuguese sausage, and waffle.

Aunty Daisy saying, "I can't eat all of that." She finished 3/4 of the Mama's French Toast.

Pololu Breakfast Pizza.

Thank you note from one of the many Japanese tourists that come to see the Kamehameha statue.

Because the weather was clear, we took the Kohala Mountain Road. There is one official view point along the road; we stopped to take photos. From this view point you can see Mauna Kea, Mauna Loa, Hualalai, and the Kawaihae Harbor.

Aunty Daisy with Mauna Loa directly behind her, Hualalai to the right, and the westerly edge of Mauna Kea at the far left.

I took a photo of Wakana taking a photo of Scott taking a selfie! The summit of Hualalai is directly behind Wakana's phone.

Wakana, Aunty Daisy, & Scott. Kawaihae is in the background to the left.

In Waimea, we stopped to see the statue of Ikua Purdy that was erected to honor the paniolo. The base of the statue also shows all the brands that you might see on cattle on the Big Island.

A few of the many brands from the ranches on the island.

The statue is in the Parker Ranch Center where the stop signs don't say stop; they say Whoa. The Food Court had beautiful chairs, a big fireplace, books to read for the Waimea Reads initiative, paintings of life on Parker Ranch, and cowboy & cowgirl restrooms.

Furniture in the food court.

Fireplace in the food court with the Parker Ranch Center logo.

In Honoka'a we stopped at Tex Drive In; Scott & Wakana decided to try a mango-filled malasada. It was delicious!


We got to Aunty Doris & Uncle Tom's house right at 12 noon as planned. We followed them to the Sunlight Restaurant, where we met up with Gail & Larry. On the way there we realized there was a Gold Dust Day Gecko crawling around on the back of Uncle Tom's car.


We had a great time catching up on what has happened in the decades since we have seen each other. Although we had explained during the last few minutes and as we arrived that we were going to Aunty Doris & Uncle Tom's house, Aunty Daisy was surprised to see them. She has had many 'surprises' during this visit, all of them good ones. Doris it the oldest of the Hilo cousins, Gail is the youngest; there are 9 others in between them.

L to R: Aunty Doris, Gail, & her husband Larry.

L to R: Wakana, Scott, Aunty Daisy, & Uncle Tom.

Shrimp Egg entree.

Mix Plate.

We headed back to Papaikou to visit the Hawai'i Plantation Museum before it closed at 3 pm; we made it in with about 45 minutes to spare. Aunty Daisy found her father's name in an annual report for the Kohala Sugar Company. Several displays showed where Halawa Camp was located.

Finding her father's name in the 1963 Kohala Sugar Company annual report.

The final day for Honomu.

We then went to pay our respects to Grandma's parents (Aunty Daisy's maternal grandparents, my maternal great-grandparents) at the Alae Cemetery.

I dropped them off at the Hilo Airport right on time, 2 hours before their plane was boarding. Tonight they will stay with Aunty Judy and tomorrow we will all get together for dinner.

I took the Saddle Road/Inouye Highway back to Waimea, then took the 'Akoni Pule Highway back to Hawi. It was about 7 when I got home; I filled up the cat food bowl because it was empty; I wasn't sure if it was a mongoose coming during the day or a cat at night. I kept an eye on it and it looks like at least one of the cats is back; most of the food was gone after an hour.


I ate some of the leftovers from last night; I will be giving Jessie the 2 other plate lunches that we didn't finish. I also had a piece of pie with ice cream for dessert. While cleaning up I found some cookies, pistachios, & cashews that Wakana had forgotten. I texted her & told her I would bring them tomorrow; she said to just eat them. I decided not to do that so I could have a good weigh-in and not be hippo ...  that's the code word that Scott & Wakana use about the consequences of indiscriminate eating.

Hippo helper!

This is what my Solar Helix looks like now; just the LED lights on the back of the PV panel. Since I just use the light indirectly it doesn't matter to me that there is no housing to hide the PV panel.

The little white spots are refraction off of the LifeProof case.

Happy Birthday to Malaea & Thi!