Things To See On The Hawaii Belt Road
I just read a well-written article in a year old copy of National Geographic Traveler (I am a little behind in my literature review), January/February 2007, called ”Hot on Hawaii’s Trail”. The author, Robert W. Bone lives in Oahu and took a ride from the Kona airport, around a part of the lava covered Big Island on a 221-mile Hawaii Belt Road trip and offered glimpses of some of the following sites to put on your list of “things to see”.Mokuaikaua Church (75-5713 Alii Drive: The first Christian Missionary Church on the IslandHulihee Palace (75-5718—across the street from the Church): A MuseumAhuena Heiau (75-5660 Palani Drive: Shrine from whence King Kamehameha took over the Island and unified the Hawaiian Islands in the early 19th C.Kona Coffee Living History Farm: near town of Captain Cook at mile marker 110): [try a sample of Great Kona Coffee and it will be hard to drink “just regular coffee” in the future]Kealakekua Bay: Monument Site where Captain Cook was stabbed to death in 1779 [we will be visiting this site from the Sea when we go snorkeling—as this is a national maritime protected coral reef zone and will be one of our planned additional travel for those of you who want to see Hawaii from Sea side and below]Painted Church (84-5140 Painted Church road)—Belgium priest painted the interior to resemble an European CathedralPuuhonua O Honuanau National Historical Park (remnants of a Hawaiian Royal residence and a sacred place of refuge and location o petroglyphs)Punalu’u Bake Shop (for those of us who occasionally get hungry when we travel) [95-3642 Hamalahoa Hwy]Hawaii volcanoes National park: We will organize a bus trip to this magnificent park area at some time during our convention weekAkaka Falls state park: 442 foot falls and surrounding rain forests (we will also include this as part of our bus trip around the Island0Waipio Valley: 4 wheel drive escorted trips in the 850 feet deep valley (we can make arrangements for you-Toby and I did this on an early trip and it was exhilarating)Town of Waimea (also called Kamuela—or Samuel) where you can get a great breakfast at the Paniolo Restaurant and shop at some of the antique shops as well as stock-up at the modern super markets. There is a wonderful eccentric museum at Kamuela and hopefully it will still be open to the public when we get there in 2009.Hawi:–a small town at the top of the Island—book store, friendly local restaurants and antique shops).There are many smaller roads off the main highways and they deserve exploration—it is very difficult to get lost.Bone recommends visiting the following URLs to get additional information about the areas mentioned in his article:www.bigisland.orgwww.kona-kohala.comwww.downtownhilo.comwww.kamuela.comWe have been to the Islands many times, and a number of Bone’s suggestions are new to us and will be visited on our next excursion in 2008.Aloha, Toby and Bill