On Thursday morning we got up and headed for Hilo, after a quick stop to turn in our iPod ticket and spin the prize wheel. Couldn't miss that! The we got in our zippy little silver Dodge and headed north up the Kohala Coast. Below are some banana trees. Anything growing on public land–papaya, avocado, bananas– you can go and pick, our Hawaiian tour host said. Otherwise it just goes to waste.
A familiar sight–road construction–for a not-so-familiar reason–road fell off side of mountain. On Tuesday our bus driver had told us many of these roads used to be railroad cuts, and that's why they are so narrow. They're also very STEEP! And because they were cut straight up and down, they are plagued with landslides and rock falls. Thankfully, we only saw small rocks on the roadside, nothing major, even though it had rained quite a lot lately.
Here's another place where the road just fell away one morning. How would you like to be the first driver to come upon that???!! They built a bridge right next to the old road, but it took two months to do so–can't imagine the hassle that would have been in a state where there's really just that one circle-island highway.
It was so cool to just get in the car and go! Even though we did have an agenda that day, we did stop pretty much wherever and whenever we felt like. I've never been on that type of vacation before–fun!
