Saturday in Hilo: Farmers market, BJ Penn, waterfalls!
Saturday was our last full day in Hilo. Our top priority here was to see the Volcano Park, which we accomplished in spades. But it's funny: while this was supposed to be a prelude to our "real" vacation on Maui, Hilo was a gigantic pleasant surprise and I'd come back here in a heartbeat. It's beautiful here, uncrowded and not overtly touristy.
It's funny, too, because a lot of people tried to warn us off coming to Hilo, saying that we should stay on the Kona side of the island because Hilo is too rainy and ... well, too rainy. But in four days here we never got rained on once. Admittedly, August is the second driest month of the year, but the weather was quite good - sometimes overcast and a little windy once in a while but no complaints. And no downpours. At least on us.
Saturday is Farmers Market day in Hilo so we headed off there first thing.
It was a lot smaller than I was expecting. However we picked up some delicious orange-pineapple jam and Nicole bought herself 2 mangos - a fruit she learned to love in Mexico and now wants all the time.
From the farmers market it was a short drive over to BJ Penn's gym. Oh yes.
The staff member at the front desk was super accommodating and asked if we wanted to head to the basement to see the octagon. Heck yes!
It was quite the geeky thrill to be in BJ's gym. The man himself was on the mainland, which isn't surprising considering there's a UFC show today.
After that, it was off to Big Island Candies.
We didn't really buy a lot there but they had samples galore so we ate a fair bit.
And then it was 10 o'clock. Yup. We'd managed to accomplish all that in a little over an hour.
So, with lots of time left in the day, we went to Akaka Falls. Beautiful!
Now we're eating lunch. The rest of the day will be swimming and packing as we head to Maui tomorrow.
Tomorrow: Umm... Maui. I just said that. And maybe a baseball game.
It's funny, too, because a lot of people tried to warn us off coming to Hilo, saying that we should stay on the Kona side of the island because Hilo is too rainy and ... well, too rainy. But in four days here we never got rained on once. Admittedly, August is the second driest month of the year, but the weather was quite good - sometimes overcast and a little windy once in a while but no complaints. And no downpours. At least on us.
Saturday is Farmers Market day in Hilo so we headed off there first thing.
It was a lot smaller than I was expecting. However we picked up some delicious orange-pineapple jam and Nicole bought herself 2 mangos - a fruit she learned to love in Mexico and now wants all the time.
From the farmers market it was a short drive over to BJ Penn's gym. Oh yes.
The staff member at the front desk was super accommodating and asked if we wanted to head to the basement to see the octagon. Heck yes!
It was quite the geeky thrill to be in BJ's gym. The man himself was on the mainland, which isn't surprising considering there's a UFC show today.
After that, it was off to Big Island Candies.
We didn't really buy a lot there but they had samples galore so we ate a fair bit.
And then it was 10 o'clock. Yup. We'd managed to accomplish all that in a little over an hour.
So, with lots of time left in the day, we went to Akaka Falls. Beautiful!
Now we're eating lunch. The rest of the day will be swimming and packing as we head to Maui tomorrow.
Tomorrow: Umm... Maui. I just said that. And maybe a baseball game.
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