One of our favorite places: Waipio Valley

This picture was taken the other day when we did our trip to the Hamakua Coast. This is at Waipio Valley lookout. Waipio Valley is one of our very favorite places on the island. This day we were tempted to hike down into the valley, but it was raining when we got there. By the time we got down to the lookout (quite a steep trip from the parking lot), we’d decided against going down into the valley because it was so slippery. It quit raining while we were standing there, but we stuck with the plan to not hike down into the valley. We had a really full day of seeing lots of things, so it’s a good thing we gave up on hiking down into the valley. It’s really an all day adventure in itself to do Waipio Valley right. We’ve done it a couple of times before, so I doubt if we’ll go down into it this trip. The only way to get down in there is either hike it or in a 4-wheel drive vehicle, which means take a tour. We’ve done both and, believe me, hiking it is a big deal! I thank God for giving us the strength to get back out of there the time we hiked down in there! I’m up for it again, but I know it’ll be hard. (It was hard before and I was 8 years younger, give or take a year or two.) It’s so gorgeous down there that it’s worth it to go, however you can get there.

Steve and Mary treated us to breakfast at the local café that we all love. Then they visited with us a bit and left for a last whirl of the Kohala Coast and the Kona area. They are returning their car right now, I imagine; it was due back at 9 tonight. Their flight leaves at 11. I thank God for our special time with them and for good friends like them in our lives.

We spent the day cleaning house and getting ready to spend a fun weekend with Harry, one of Don’s good friend’s from college years. He lives on the other side of the island and he’s coming up to spend the weekend with us. We look forward to his visit, and we wanted to have our chores out of the way so that we can enjoy his time here with us. We thank God for another good friend and for getting to find him, here, and share some time with him.

Tomorrow is a fun day in Hawi. At the banyan tree in town they always have a farmers’ market on Saturday mornings. People take whatever they want to sell and display it there. I love to go. There is everything from fresh, homemade bread to yard sale ‘stuff.’ We’ll do that in the morning before Harry gets here around noon. It’s a real local atmosphere kind of thing and I really enjoy going. We missed it last week because we spent the day in Kona. We hit the farmers’ market there, but that’s more of a touristy sort of thing. I like the one in Hawi, where we are best.