Posts Tagged ‘The Big Island’

There is so much fun on tap at the Waikoloa Beach Resort on The Big Island of Hawai’i that they host two fantastic Fourth of July Celebrations.  There is the 19^th Great Rubber Duckie Race at the Kings’ Shops, and the Family 4^th Extravaganza at the Waikoloa Bowl at the Queens’ Gardens.

At The Waikoloa Bowl the excitement begins at 10AM.  From 10am-9:30pm catch a ride on the Zoo Choo Train, the cost of train rides are $2/child. All proceeds from train rides benefit The Hawaii Island Food Basket!  Throughout the day feast on Popcorn, Cotton Candy, Shaved Ice, and other traditional treats.

Face painters will splash rainbows and other fun items upon children’s faces & hands, balloon artists will twist latex into fantastical shapes.  There will be a magic show some time during the event and other entertainment surprises.  From 6-8pm (Gates open at 5 pm) at the Waikoloa Bowl at Queens’ Gardens, enjoy Jimmy Mac & the Kool Kats in concert.

This is an alcohol free event perfect for families and those who simply prefer celebrating with a clear head.  Beach chairs and mats are encouraged, do not forget the sunscreen, but please no coolers.  At 8PM a fireworks display will wow the crowd.  Scope out their site for more info and video from past events.  Celebrate the Fourth with a Family Friendly Fun Fest at the Waikoloa Resort at the delightful Waikoloa Bowl at Queens’ Gardens July 4^th 2010.

Those who wish to celebrate The Fourth of July all day and into the night would be wise to escape to The Big Island which hosts multiple events at different times.  One of the earliest is in the fun Volcano Village on Sunday July 4^th 2010 at 9AM.

A parade of antique cars, fire trucks, floats, the (endangered) Hawai’i County Band, bicycles, horses & animals many of them in costume (!), colorful floats and various civic & service organizations on foot set out from the Volcano Post Office traveling a half mile along Old Volcano Road to Cooper Community Center.

Spend the rest of the morning on into the afternoon celebrating with a craft fair, musical entertainment, food vendors, games, a dunking booth, there will be opportunities to score cool prizes and an over all atmosphere of fun in this small but dynamic community.   The celebration wraps up at 12Noon allowing one to catch more parades and fun on the Kona and Hilo coasts of The Big Island of Hawai’i.

Kailua-Kona on The Big Island of Hawai’i celebrates Independence Day with a stellar Parade that rolls out from Kona Kekua’okalani Gym promptly at 5:30PM Sunday July 4^th 2010 traveling along the Kuakini Hwy route to Palani Road onto Ali’i Drive to the Coconut Grove Marketplace.

Senator Daniel K Inouye has been honored to serve as Grand Marshal for 2010, a salute to his heroism and service to Hawai’i, more than 60 entries have been announced, marching bands, colorful floats, civic groups, service organizations all will be represented presenting a colorful sight for the thousands along the parade route.

The sponsors of this event would like to note: “We are honored to have Senator Daniel K. Inouye as our Grand Marshal for the 2010 Kailua-Kona Independence Day Parade. Senator Inouye is not only Hawaii’s senior United States Senator; he is a true American Hero. During WWII, Senator Inouye served as a member of the highly acclaimed all-Japanese ancestry 442 Infantry Regimental Combat Team, also known as the Go For Broke Regiment. The story of his heroism is remarkable.

He was gravely wounded in the abdomen and thigh, and lost his right arm to an enemy hand grenade. He was in the hospital for over one year. Senator Inouye became our State’s first United States Congressman at Statehood in 1959. He began serving in the United States Senate in 1962 and is currently in his eighth term.  He’s the second most senior Senator, and is chairman of the very powerful Senate Appropriations Committee. Senator Inouye will be joined by his wife, Irene Hirano Inouye.””

The parade wraps up with a traditional fireworks extravaganza over Kailua Bay around 8:30PM.  For more info and fabulous photos & graphics scope out http://www.konaparades.com/Welcome.html

International Jazz Ukulele Artist Benny Chong headlines this one of a kind event at the Aloha Theatre, 79-7384 Mamalahoa Hwy. Kainaliu, The Big Island of Hawai’i, accompanied by University of Hawai’i Professor of Music Byron Yasui on Bass, at 7PM on Friday January 22 2010.

Benny Chong was once the guitarist for the famed Ali’i s the band that backed up Don Ho, a self taught musician widely respected by his peers, Benny Chong first picked up & plucked away on a ukulele when he was eleven years old, only to put away the instrument nine years later.  After a thirty five year hiatus, Professor Yasui reintroduced Chong to the ukulele in 2000, requesting Chong be one of four artists in ‘The Art of Solo Ukulele’ a concert series that rekindled Chong’s interest leading to a CD and a Public Television Special.

Chong’s CD ‘Ukulele Jazz’ is a rarity, an eclectic mix of Jazz standards, pop favorites and musical musings marking Chong as a truly original Jazz & Ukulele Artist.  The opening act is a Big Island favorite, “Mili Nanea” featuring Randy Lorenzo, Darrel Aquino, and Christy Lassiter.”

Tickets are $25 presale or $30 at the door, open seating. Tickets available at apachawaii.org, Aloha Theatre Cafe from 7am-2pm, or at the door 1 hour prior to showtime. Or, call 808-959-8869.

Sunday January 17 2010 everyone is invited to stroll through Kailua Village on the Big Island of Hawai’i from 1 PM to 6PM, check out the many stores & restaurants, musicians & artists, and then at 4PM take a beach chair or mat to the south lawn of the historic Hulihe’e Palace sit and enjoy a free Hawai’i’an music concert  by the Merrie Monarchs men’s glee club with the Hawaii County Band, presented by the Daughters of Hawaii.

Special kama’aina pricing at participating restaurants & merchants. For more info about the Village Stroll, email hulihee@ilhawaii.net. For info about the Village Stroll, call 808-936-9202, email dorlenechao@yahoo.com or visit www.kvbid.org.

With so much going on this weekend in Kona you should check out some flights and spend the long weekend in the land of coffee.

It is tough to ignore the siren call of The Big Island of Hawai’i especially when one hears that legendary Cowboy Poet Joe Herrington will be sharing his home spun tales at the Kailua-Kona Public Library (75-138HualalaiRoad Kailua-Kona, HI 96740) on Saturday January 16 2010 from 2 to 3PM.  Joe Herrington is the genuine article, a real Texas cowboy born in age “before television had assaulted the young imagination.” 

Herrington learned his craft from his Grandfather and his Uncle Jack, discovering that he could create a World where “I could safely go wherever I wanted to go, be whatever I wanted to be, or conquer any evil and always win.”  Herrington has numerous recordings to his credit, written a novel Tekoa, and is welcome at festivals across the Globe.  One should scope out Joe’s website for information about how you can get more of his tales.

This event is free and truly will be a one of a kind experience for many who have not experienced the thrill of listening to a genuine Cowboy Poet.  For more information, call 331-1781, email folk@folkhawaii.com or visit www.folkhawaii.com.

The winter surf season on the northern shores of Hawaii’s islands continues to be in the great to greater category with the Vans Triple Crown of Surfing, the Eddie Aikau Big Wave Invitational, and more exceptional free surf competitions having some of the best waves in years.

Well, it isn’t planning to stop anytime soon. 25 – 30 foot faces are expected on the North Shores of the Hawaiian islands with the western shores seeing as high as 20 foot faces. These wave heights are right on the edge of closing out places like the Banzai Pipeline and making Waimea Bay on Oahu and Jaws on Maui having some great turnouts.

Hopefully you’ll be able to make it, but if you aren’t, you can enjoy these videos from previous large north swells that came late in 2009. Videos of Jaws on Maui and video from the epic day at Waimea Bay for the Eddie Aikau.

On the heels of the Honolulu’s own Petwalk earlier this month, the Hawaii Island Humane Society’s Annual Halloween Pet Walk is scheduled for Saturday, October 31 in Kailua Village, with registration beginning at 8 a.m.

The event encourages pet owners to walk from Hale Halewai to Kailua Pier and back and then enjoy contests and prizes. The three walkers who raise the most pledge money will receive prizes. There will also be prizes awarded for best costume, best pet trick, hot dog eating contest, best canine kisser and more.

The Annual HIHS Halloween Pet Walk is a great family event. Pre-registration is $30 per individual or family or $35 the day of the event. Anyone who garners $50 or more in pledges will receive a free tee shirt. The walk will begin at 9 a.m.

Registration forms are available from the Kona HIHS shelter or from many area veterinarians. Get a form, get your pet, and start walk’n. Proceeds benefit many of the needs of Hawaii Island Humane Society, including pet food supplies and low-cost spay and neuter services to help eliminate pet overpopulation.

Visit www.HIHS.org, where adoptable animals and their photos are listed or stop by HIHS’ Kona, Waimea or Kea’au shelters to find your new best friend. Mobile adoptions are also offered at the Kona Commons PetCo Store each Friday and Saturday from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m.

An objective assessment of Mauna Lani’s Canoe House is no easy task.  It’s somewhat akin to assessing your dentist’s chair-side manner after being administered a liberal dose of nitrous oxide.  At the Canoe House, the “active” agent in the anesthetic is the setting… a mesmerizing combination of starlight, sea breezes and intermittent bursts of breeze-borne floral fragrances.  Immediately in front of the seating area, a small section of shoreline has been illuminated.  Diners can see as well as hear the rush and receding of the sea against the rocks. In this setting, chili dawgs — properly plated on a bed of roasted root vegetables (lightly tossed with sea salt and olive oil) and accented by the obligatory orchid blossom, perched just so — could likely pass for haute cuisine.  But it need not.

The food, beginning with the sashimi of sable and shiso, was delicious.  As entrees, we tried the grilled Moi and the Seared Ahi with Scallops; both were beautifully presented and delectably toothsome.  With dinner, we enjoyed a light but intensely flavorful bottle of Conundrum, a California white that adeptly blends varietals such as Chardonnay, Sémillon, Sauvignon Blanc, Viognier and Muscat.  The Mango Shortcake is the perfect dessert choice – refreshing, tropical and sweet but not cloyingly so.   Dinner for two (with wine), shared appetizer and shared dessert cost approximately $225.

The service, at this price point, should be respectable if not impeccable. It was not.  The hostess was rude and the wait staff confused as to who was responsible for our table.  After being seated and waiting 20 minutes for a server, I reluctantly rose, located the nearest attendant and then requested a waiter.  Once our server appeared, our meal proceeded without incident.

Getting seated and then promptly forgotten by the wait staff is never a good start to dinner.  However, if one must be forgotten temporarily, if one must wait and wait, then do it here… at the edge of a lush island, beneath innumerable stars, buffeted by floral breezes.  An idle 20 minutes could hardly be better spent.

The Canoe House ~ Mauna Lani Bay Hotel and Bungalows
68-1400 Mauna Lani Drive
Kohala Coast, HI 96743-9726
Phone: (808) 885-6622

My family is not vegetarian. In fact if I couldn’t offer my sons meat they would starve to death. My 9 year old begins to resemble an anxiety ridden mini Woody Allen at the mere idea of vegetables.  I have added dill pickle as an option to satisfy my “one vegetable” a day rule. My kids know where vegetables come from. They trim herbs from my planter boxes and feed the worms in our Worm Factory, which produce fertilizer for our vegetable garden. But where does meat come from?

At 7 and 9 my boys have a small collection of weapons. We even have a drawer labeled “guns” under the “electronics” drawer in their closet. The also have swords, sling shots and rocket launchers. These two are proficient at killing aliens on their X-box and are comfortable watching their father put salmon out of their misery when fly fishing in Alaska. So I thought it was time to take them hunting.

While staying in one of the Parker Ranch cabins on the side of Mauna Kea we took the boys on a turkey hunt. They chattered away excitedly while searching for turkeys through the binoculars. I worried that this might be too much reality for them but I also wanted them to understand that meat does not begin in a cellophane wrapped packet. The boys kept spotting flocks in the distance but they were either too far away or the wind was blowing our scent toward them. After an hour one of the men spotted a pig. They switched rifles and off they went to shoot the pig while the boys and I stayed quietly behind. We watched as one hunter steadied his rifle on a tree branch to look through the scope and the other ran quietly up behind the pig. We couldn’t see it but we heard the shot. The boys looked at me for affirmation that the pig was indeed killed and waited apprehensively as the men returned to the truck.

We drove up closer to where the pig lay and the men carried it over to us.  After gutting it and putting it in the back of the truck we set off back to the cabin.  My 7 year old asked why does blood make your stomach feel funny? And my 9 year old said he was going to tell his class about this experience. However, before we made it back to the cabin we spotted a flock of turkeys on the top of a little hill with the wind blowing away from them. Again we stopped so one of our hunters could go after them and sure enough, we heard a shot.  Minutes later he came trudging over the hill carrying 3 turkeys. We were impressed that one shot aimed high enough hit all three in their heads.

The boys handled it calmly and only asked a few questions about the experience. That afternoon we cooked some of the pig heart in olive oil and spices over the open fire and both boys tasted it inquisitively. My 9 year old is prone to nightmares and shies away from any movies or television that might appear frightening. I was pleased that he handled this experience as we intended.

On the ride home from school Monday, my littlest said “mom today I lied in my journal about what I did this weekend.  I said I went to the park to play tether ball.” I told him he had a really exciting weekend and asked why he lied. His exact words were “Well it would go like this ~ we went hunting on the side of Mauna Kea Mountain.  We had guns. We shot and killed a pig.  He bled a lot.  We put him in the truck. Then on the way back to the cabin we shot 3 turkeys in the head. We put them in the truck. At the cabin we cooked the pigs heart.” I told him that was what hunting is and that his teacher would understand.  He looked at me like I was clueless and patiently explained “guns, shooting, blood, killing ~ mom, we are not allowed to write or talk about that at school.”  I have since discovered that this is true. The mere mention of guns and killing is grounds for expulsion even in elementary school. I do not want him to test that rule and so I sanctioned his lie but cautioned him to make sure he mentions that he is writing a story instead of a true account next time.

In the end the children do not want to go hunting again soon. They still eat meat but now know where it comes from and they feel very grown up to have been allowed on such an adult outing.