August 1 -- Waterfalls and Shopping and Planes

We had one more day to spend on vacation (really, half a day), so we tried to get as much into it as we could. We started by heading north to Akaka Falls. It was only about 20 minutes north of Hilo, so we decided to take the scenic route there (that's what the sign said!). It was about a 4 mile stretch winding through the rain forest. We stopped several times to take pictures, but there's no way that our camera could capture the tall trees, the dense foliage, the bird calls, the sound of the flowing water, and the beautiful colors.

Akaka Falls was just a little ways outside of Honoma, which is in the middle of former sugar cane plantations. Evidently, these were working plantations until the last few years. The current major agricultural industry in the area is Macadamia nut trees. We read in one of the tourist publications that the park sort of rose like an oasis out of the sugar cane fields. It was a perfect description, especially when we started hiking the trails back to the falls. There were actually two major falls in the park. We took the suggested route and were quite impressed with Kahuna Falls. Hiking past lush plants that we would consider only to be houseplants here, we then came to Akaka Falls, which plummets more than 450 feet to the floor of a green canyon on its way to the ocean. It started to rain, as we have found it does often in Hawaii, but Alan still managed to snap off a few more pictures before leaving.

We stopped and watched some surfing in a bay near Hilo, checked out of our hotel, and returned to Ken's House of Pancakes for brunch/lunch. Since breakfast is Ken's specialty, we had to try it. Alan's French Toast with coconut milk syrup was wonderful, but Joyce swore that her crab omelet was even better.

A quick stop at Hilo Hattie's surprised us with beautiful clothes and decent prices. We had checked our suitcase space, and knew how much space was available, and felt it only appropriate to fill it to the max. We also had just enough time to stop at a discount fabric warehouse, and bought some yardage to allow Joyce to make a copy of the dress she had just purchased at Hilo Hattie's. Be sure to ask her how it's coming along.

We returned the rental car and started the final leg of our journey. First, it was back to Honolulu where we picked up the rest of our luggage from Chris and Donna, who generously took some time from their last day together before Chris is deployed to bring it to the airport for us. From Honolulu, we had an overnight flight back to Chicago by way of Minneapolis. On the first leg of the flight, we were surrounded by a large contingent of high school students from Philadelphia who didn't understand the value of sleeping overnight on the plane. Consequently, we didn't get to sleep either! Alan was finally able to sleep some on the shuttle van from Chicago to Lafayette, but it made for a very long day of sightseeing and traveling.