When we woke up it turned out that Elly's cold was even worse. So another day of mostly taking it easy. After a breakfast of cereal and passion fruits, we decided to visit the foodie mecca (according to our guidebook) of Waimea.
The drive out to Waimea was about an hour and a half of very beautiful countryside. About half way through the drive we started passing Hawaiian ranches, rolling hills covered in grasses. We also started being passed by pickup trucks. It looked and felt a lot more like Colorado than Hawaii.
We made one significant mistake on this day-trip: we left the guidebook at home! When we arrived at Waimea we were completely at a loss for what to do. Waimea is a tiny town. When we asked for directions they were given relative to the town's only stop light. And despite the guidebook's praise, this town was clearly not expecting much tourism. Google to the rescue! Some searching revealed Merriman's as the highest rated restaurant in town, and I recognized Brown's Beach House as something I had highlighted in the guidebook. So we now knew where we were eating, now we just had to figure out how to kill some time.
We found what we figured was the most dense population of interesting storefronts and got out of the car to stroll. We peeked in on gift/novelty shops, and a souvenir shop / art gallery called The Gallery of Great Things. The Gallery was fun and had some interesting things on display but was way out of our price range. There was a hand-carved frog-man about 3 inches high that I thought might be a good gift but the price tag ran over $2,000. So... Sorry Woggy, no frog-man for you.
We had an amusing encounter at one of the gift shops. We were looking around for things that we could bring back home, and Elly was coughing into her elbow occasionally. The gift shop lady became very nosy suddenly, wanting to know where Elly got her cough from, and how long she'd had it, etc. "We take these things very seriously here." she explained. I guess they don't have colds around here? I dunno. Anyway, once the interrogation was over she took a large glass jar off the shelf, reached in, and began sawing off a thumb-sized hunk of the tar-black goop contained within. "This ginger should help with your cold" she explained. Ginger? I'm used to ginger root, powdered ginger, candied or crystalized ginger, but we'd never before encountered this primordial, voodoo gooey lump. It tasted good though, (Elly let me try some) and it did have an immediate (but short) positive impact on Elly's congestion. After that we got iced coffee at The Waimea Coffee Company, which was very good.
1:00 finally rolled around, so we headed back to our car, and then to Merriman's. Everyone at the restaurant was dressed up for Halloween, which was really fun. Our server was Shieldmaiden Éowyn of the Horse Tribe (Lord of the Rings). We started with a pineapple iced tea and a Tahitian limeade ("Tahitian" means "with coconut" in this context) which were both very good. For lunch I had the Ahi poke (poh-KAY) bowl and Elly had a Chinese chicken wrap. They were both very delicious. Poke is a traditional Hawaiian dish that is basically a salad made from seaweed and other vegetables, and cubes of raw, seasoned fish. I highly recommend it, if you ever have the chance to try it. My poke was served with macadamia rice, kim chee (essentially fermented, spicy cole-slaw), and a side salad. For dessert we had a crispy molten chocolate purse. It was a flourless chocolate cake, wrapped in phyllo-dough and baked. It was served with Tahitian vanilla ice cream (Tahitian in this context means "from Tahiti" not "with coconut") and drizzled with sea-salt caramel syrup. Absolutely fantastic!
At the end of our lunch we asked Éowyn what we might be able to do to kill time until dinner. The short answer was "not much," but she recommended we drive 30 minutes to see the Waipi'o Valley Overlook. So onward to Waipi'o Valley! A short way out of Waimea the drive went from ranch country to a dense, towering, seemly ancient forest. The trees lining the road almost completely shut out all sunlight, and they were easily the tallest trees I'd ever seen. We had to stop and get pictures. If you look in the photo you can see how tiny the cars are compared to the narrow, gigantically tall trees. Eventually the road broke through the trees and began following the coastline. Towering trees to our left, and the expansive blue ocean to our right... this was the drive to the overlook, not the overlook itself! We began to suspect that Waimi'o Valley was going to be well worth the trip.
We arrived at the overlook, and it was incredible! We stood near the top of an amazingly tall cliff, looking down into the beautiful, lush farmland below. A river (or stream, had to tell from this height) flowed through the valley and deposited into the ocean. The beach there was an expanse of sand that looked perfect for barefoot walks. There were only two ways into the valley: Four-wheel drive ("All-wheel drive NOT permitted," warned several signs) or on foot. Our little commuter car, Lucy Cruise, was definitely not equipped for the trip. So we began to stomp our way down the incredibly steep road, not so much a walk as a weary-kneed controlled fall. But beautiful! Every few hundred feet into the valley we'd get a completely different view, more beautiful than the last. We are sad to report that we didn't make the entire hike. About half-way down to the bottom we realized 1) this was a much deeper valley than we assumed from the top 2) The trail was going to deposit us deep into the valley, far from the beach 3) We weren't expecting this hike, and so we packed no water 4) Keen sandals, nice as they are, are not entirely appropriate footwear for a hike this challenging. So... we took one last batch of photos and began the uphill climb. Whew! Oh, man, we've been on plenty of hikes in our time, but this was one of the steepest! Certainly not actually the steepest hike I've been on (I think the Eldorado Canyon takes that honor. Its basically ALL steps, straight up the mountain!), but it didn't have any of the steps you'd expect on a climb that steep. It was a road, intended for cars, so we were walking on the balls of our feet walk the entire way.
When we finally arrived back at the car we were hot, and sweaty, and thirsty (so thirsty!). About 9 miles previous to the overlook we had driven through a little town. Our next destination: Gatorade. We enjoyed an air-conditioned drive back to this town, bought something to drink, and looked in on the little shops there. We found several good souvenirs to bring back home. It was nearing sunset as we left town, and the children were turning out in costume to trick-or-treat. It was very cute! If I ever get boring I'll think I'll move back there to die. It seems like a very peaceful place to live.
6:00 reservation at Brown's Beach House. Nothing to report about the drive back, except that it was as beautiful the second time as the first. Brown's Beach House was about 20 minutes outside Waimea, at the Fairmont Orchid resort. The Fairmont was super fakey. Instead of the lush, untamed folliage we've seen everywhere else (even in the hotel and restaurant districts of Kona) it was all watered lawns dotted with evenly-spaced palm trees. Very Walmart/Disney/McDonalds. Yuck. But also wow. The grounds were gorgeous and utterly perfect. I'm glad we're staying in a resort for the last couple days. They seem intensely relaxing, and pampering, and possibly a good transition back to our Regional Transportation Department, Starbucks, King Soopers, Netflix, 9-to-5-at-a-desk lives we'll be returning to. But that's for a later day!
Brown's Beach House was an open-air restaurant overlooking the ocean. Our table was maybe 20 yards from the surf. The food was great! It was definitely in the world of tiny portions and massive tabs, but it was exquisite. We started with an Ahi poke appetizer that was really good, better than Merriman's. The server warned us that the seaweed was a strong flavor, and that several other tables had sent it back because it was overwhelming when you aren't expecting it. We said we were feeling adventurous, bring it on! It wasn't an issue at all. In fact, I'm not really sure what is wrong with those stuffy people. You could definitely taste it, but it wasn't any stronger than your typical sushi. Whiny, stuffy resort people. Sheesh. For entree I had the wild boar rack (amazing!) and Elly had the citrus lavender scented ono. For dessert, I had the tropical fruit ceviche, and Elly had lemongrass pot de creme. They were both very delicious! Mine was a bit weird, but very good. It was a 1/4 inch thick sheet of rich jello-y custard, served with fresh fruit. Dessert came with pineapple short-bread cookies. If you want a fancy meal in Hawaii, I can't imagine anywhere is going to top Brown's. The service was attentive, the view and atmosphere was incredible, the food was delicious, and the cocktails were strong. I can never quite relax at a restaurant that fancy, though. The staff is pristinely polite and attentive, but never friendly. I don't know. Elly and I left very satisfied, but both feeling a bit odd. Maybe it was just the Disney-tamed Resort atmosphere. I dunno. A bit creepy.
One thing that was interesting and cool about the resort was that many cats (we saw at least 5, just between the parking lot and Brown's) roamed the resort freely. One cat, a scrawny gray cat with a torn ear, repeatedly visited our table. This may be in part because Elly let him have several licks of pot de creme from her finger. They seemed accustomed to people, but not entirely socialized like you would expect from a pet. I wonder what the story is there? (But not, apparently, enough to Google it.)
It was an hour or so night-drive back to Kona, then immediately to bed.
Photos
https://plus.google.com/photos/105719328153023565846/albums/5941417399390459825
Wild Boar Rack! hahaha awesome.
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