Hawaii: Chapter 6 - Hilo & Beyond

Hilo, once hoped to be the "Honolulu of the Big Island" is now a little town trying to fill a big cities shoes. It's actually a gorgeous location. Very different from Kona. If Kona is built into the slopes of Mauna Loa dropping into the sea, then Hilo is built into the rainforests on the flatter slopes of Mauna Kea. I believe the statistic is roughly 175 inches of rainfall a year...
Despite all this rainfall, the Big Island is still in a draught, as seen in these photographs taken of Rainbow Falls, just on the outskirts of Hilo. A once roaring falls is now just a trickle. Originally named because you could see the full spectrum of light in the misty rainbows this falls would create....

One of the gorgeous parts of Hilo was the way life was intertwined with the forest. This park within town had some amazing Banyan Trees.

I love the way the branches reach in all directions. For scale to the enormousness of these tree's, you can see Gretchen in the foreground near the "trunk".

Ok, so sometimes we choose to do the doorky tourist thing; but hey, when in Hawaii, why not stop and check out the Macadamia Nut factory, right?
This picture was taken for Beth. We found an awesome NOAA Underwater Ecology museum in Hilo.

Hilo, as seen from "Pineapple Island".

Gorgeous Hibiscus Flower.
The best beach on the Big Island (according to the guide book).

Sea turtles.

Doing my best Don Johnson impression chillin in the open air airport lounge.
We were sad to say goodbye to the big island, but the nonstop travelers we are, ready to check out another one of the Hawaiian Island. On to Oahu.

Bye bye Kona Coast.