i’m finally coming to the end of my 2019 Hawaii trip reports. As I sorted through all of our amazing big island culinary experiences that did not already fit into other posts, I realized that there is just too much, so I’m making it a two-parter.

Eating on the big island of Hawaii is certainly not inexpensive and we found ourselves happy to have a rental car, as we often drove outside of the Hilton Waikoloa Village Resort, to find cheaper and more interesting food options.

Our first meal of the vacation came about an hour after got our rental car. A Jeep is the must-have rental vehicle for Hawaiian adventures. We upgraded to a four-door, so that it would be easier for the kids.

We drove to a local Walmart ( near to a Costco for those with memberships) where we loaded up on bottled water, sunblock, and room snacks. Walmart is very close the airport and on our way to the Hilton Waikoloa Village.

Near Walmart, we found a small sushi restaurant called Sakura Sushi and Grill. Sakura Sushi and Grill was surprisingly good value. Dan and I love sushi and luckily it is a type of cuisine that the kids always enjoy as well. Admittedly, the decor seemed a bit more Chinese than Japanse, but the sushi was tasty.

In the same general area, we found a Denny’s. I realize that Denny’s is a chain-restaurant, but my stepson Felix loves it and he doesn’t live in the US, so it is quite a treat for him. We went for breakfast during the middle of our trip. As far as food quality and offerings, it’s like any other Denny’s in the USA, but this one was located on a hill with spectacular ocean views.

But the best part was seeing a pair of mongeese decend on an uncleared table and devour the leftovers. They are adorable. Mongeese are not native to Hawaii, but they were brought over to take care of the rats in the sugarcane fields. It became a problem when the population of mongeese exploded and native Hawaiian species were impacted. They also didn’t help much with the rat problem, since mongeese are diurnal and rats are nocturnal.

I can appreciate that they are now a pest, but they sure are cute! I was so busy watching them, that I barely touched my eggs.

One of our best food finds was a casual pizza restaurant called Pau, located up in Waimea ( about thirty minutes north of our hotel). Pau was the perfect place for family dining- who doesn’t love pizza? We ate at Pau twice during our vacation and if it had been closer to our hotel, we would have visited more.

Pau is located in an agricultural area and they use ingredients that are fresh and locally sourced. They proudly list the names of their suppliers.

Dan and Zoe shared a pizza, Felix ordered pasta, and I enjoyed the special that included three “slices of the day” and a salad. This was the first time I had tried marinated artichokes on pizza and it was amazing.

We shared a cheesecake with guava sauce for dessert. Pau is an excellent local restaurant with reasonable prices and friendly service. It was one of our best finds on the big island and worth the drive.

Another restaurant where we dined twice was the Kona Canoe Club in the historic Kailua Kona town. The Kona Canoe Club has strong cocktails, juicy cheeseburgers, and a patio with ocean views. It is exactly the type of restaurant that reminds me of childhood vacations on Maui.

We ended our meal with a local dessert: Kona coffee mudd pie. Along with Pog juice and Kalua pork, Kona coffee mudd pie is a taste that immediately brings me back to the islands.

Another sweet treat located in Historic Kailua Kona Town is Scandinavian Shave Ice. I have no idea what makes it Scandinavian, but naturally we had to take my Swedish step-kids there. The kids had already tried shave ice at the Hapuna Beach snack-shack, but the experience at Scandinavian Shave Ice was vastly superior.

The flavor selection was enormous and the options included condensed milk or ice cream. The ice at Scandinavian Shave Ice was shaved finer and the syrups were a higher quality. The staff friendlier and the shop cuter. Of course, this also meant the wait was longer and the prices were higher, but it was well worth the experience.

Please stay tuned to my blog for part two of my “Big Island Eats” series.

I’m playing catch-up with my long over due series of vacation reports from our 2019 family trip to Hawaii. We spent nearly two weeks on the Big Island with my step kids: Zoe turned twelve on our trip and Felix was nearly ten. It was the most perfect, magical family vacation ever, and I can’t believe that I’m about to admit this, but it was even better than our Walt Disney World trip.

The flight was a long, five hour-ish trip from Los Angeles. Since we were living up in Big Bear Lake at the time, we added a night stay near LAX, so that we wouldn’t feel rushed for our flight.

My aunt and uncle were co-owners of a condo in Maui, so I grew up with annual summer Hawaiian vacations. However, as an adult, I had only been once in 2007, which was also our last family vacation before my mom passed in 2008. At the time, we didn’t know that she had cancer, but she was diagnosed a few months after our trip, and in retrospect, the signs were clear during that family vacation.

I wanted this trip to be perfect. I needed to create happy memories in Hawaii, plus this was Dan, Zoe, and Felix’s first trip to the “Aloha State.” It’s certainly not a nearby or inexpensive vacation, so it needed to be absolutely amazing. I kicked it off by arranging to have a traditional lei greeting at the airport. It’s touristy and cheesy, but you can’t help but be in the vacation mood with a lei around your neck!

Everyone was surprised by the small size of the Kona International Airport. It is mostly open air with a central courtyard. I’m sure this could not be true, but it appeared that they only had one restroom in the whole airport! It’s a very different experience than anywhere else we have traveled.

At the car rental, Dan splurged on an upgrade to a four-door Jeep Wrangler, so we really felt like we were on an adventure.

As we pulled up to our hotel, the Hilton Waikoloa Village Resort, we were greeted with an expansive palm-tree lined drive and sculptures of seahorses. It felt quite grand.

Although we had looked at a million pictures of the property, it was more spectacular than we could have imagined. The Hilton Waikoloa Village is massive, and not only does it have stunning views of the ocean, but it also has several pools and a man-made snorkeling lagoon. After checking-in we walked over to the lagoon and we were greeted by sea turtles. They swam right up to the edge, as if to give us a personal welcome. See how Disney can’t compete?

The resort is so huge, that we had to refer to a map to get our bearings.

Our room was in the Palace Tower, right in the middle of the resort. I’ve looked through all of our pictures and it is so unlike me, but it appears that I didn’t take any shots of our room.

We shared a single room with two queen beds. I was worried that it might not be big enough, but it was very spacious. It even had a large, walk-in closet that allowed us to store all of our luggage without cluttering the room. We appreciated that we had a refrigerator, as we preferred to eat cereal in the room for breakfast. My favorite part was the balcony, which allowed me to escape for quiet reading time, while everyone else enjoyed watching television. In retrospect, we wish we had gone for an ocean view room, but the golf course view was relaxing.

A few exterior pictures of the Palace Tower.

The Hilton Waikoloa Village has both a boat taxi and a tram to transport guests through the resort. We tried them both out and they were a fun way to get around, however, they could also get crowded. I’m fairly certain that the hotel was at or near capacity during our stay. We found ourselves walking most of the time.

The time that we were really grateful for the tram was when we had to take our laundry over to the coin-operated machines in a different tower. I only did laundry one time during our trip and it had really piled up. I did three loads! I appreciated that the hotel offered a coin-op laundry, because it would have broken the bank to do it through the hotel’s services.

One of the first things that the kids did was to explore the snorkeling lagoon on a aqua-cycle water trike. They had a great time. I wanted to try a stand-up paddleboard, but I spotted eels in the water and I changed my mind. I’m not fearful of many animals, but eels are an exception! The lagoon, with its calm water and curated sea life, is a great place to try-out snorkeling, before hitting the ocean.

The pools throughout the property were amazing. They had waterfalls, hidden grottos, waterslides and rope bridges. We staggered our vacation so that we had an adventurous activity outside of the hotel about every-other-day, so there was plenty of time to relax around the pool. The resort does not offer direct beach access, but a pristine beach was just a short drive down the road.

My favorite part of the pool was sprawling out on a lounge chair and taking in the views of the pacific ocean. It was never difficult to find an unoccupied lounge chair by the pool.

It was out of our budget for our family vacation, but if Dan and I return here for a romantic getaway, we will definitely go for the seaside massages! I feel relaxed just looking at the picture.

While everyone was chilling in the room, I walked around the Hilton Waikoloa Village to take pictures. One of the prettiest buildings was a small non-denominational chapel that overlooks the ocean. I’m not religious, but I even considered attending Sunday services for the experience.

There used to be a plumeria tree outside of my aunt and uncle’s condo and it had the most lovely fragrance. To me, plumeria is the smell of Hawaii.

I was quite surprised by this leafy plant with bumpy leaves. I had completely forgotten about them, but this plant, not sure of its name, was also a reminder of my childhood summers. It grows everywhere on the islands.

The Hilton Waikoloa Village is home to many animals, including my nemesis- the flamingo! The picture of the sea turtle is actually from our last evening, when I was by myself. Much like the turtles that greeted us when we arrived, I felt like this guy was saying “See you next time.”

More pictures of the gorgeous hotel.

And some sunset shots. You can’t beat a Hawaiian sunset.

We didn’t dine in any of the on-property restaurants. We looked at the Big Island Breakfast, which is a buffet held in a multi-story building with beautiful lagoon views, but it was absolutely jammed with people. JAMMED! It was simply too crowded for us and a bit spendy too.

For Zoe’s birthday, we made reservations at Nui Italian restaurant, but when we arrived, the poor service was immediately apparent and we aborted our plans, heading to a nearby Macaroni Grill- which was a perfect choice. The hotel has a lovely steak/seafood restaurant with ocean views, called Kamuela Provision Company, but it would not have been a great choice with the kids.

We did experience the hotel’s Legends of Hawaii Luau, which I will cover in my next post!

Overall, we were thrilled with our stay, so much so, that it might be difficult to return to Hawaii without staying here again.

Hawaii 2019- Big Island Eats: Part One

Hawaii 2019: Hilton Waikoloa Village