It is day 5 and we had a nice relaxing adventure in Hilo!
We traveled to the Hilo’s farmer’s market that they have every Saturday. Here we got to see part of the Hawaiian culture. We got to taste some tasty fruit including papaya, rambutan, lychee, and coconut! They also had amazing art and jewelry. It was so nice to talk to the locals.
By Kaden’s suggestion, some of us tried some Hawaiian barbecue at L&L, a Hawaiian restaurant chain. If you ever go there, I highly recommend getting the mini plates over the regular plates because everyone has leftovers.
Having very full stomachs we traveled up the saddle road which is the fastest way across the island. We stopped at Kipuka Pu’u Huluhulu and we were lucky enough that we had such a clear view. Kipuka Pu’u Huluhulu is a cinder cone called the hairy hill and a sacred place for many Hawaiians. It is surrounded by 1843 and 1935 lava flows. In the years Professor Knapp came to Hawaii, this was the clearest view she had seen. I was surprised how windy it was. You can see how much our hair was blowing in the picture below. We were able to see Mauna Kea, Moana Loa, and Hualālai from Kipuka Pu’u Huluhulu. There were also a lot of wild mountain goats and sheep!
The best part of the day was driving up to 9,000 ft to see the 2022 and 2023 Mauna Loa lava flows. Look at these amazing A’a flows! Fun fact these flows block the road including access to the Mauna Loa NOAA observatories.
-Becca Goldman