On Monday, February 12 we embarked on our farthest-ranging adventure yet. A nearly complete circle of the island.
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Punalu’u Bake Shop
The Punalu’u Bake Shop, the southernmost bakery in the United States.
They sell the local version of a doughnut they call a “Malasada”. Malasada come in a variety of flavors of dough (traditional,taro,guava), deep fried, and coated in sugar, then optionally filled with jellies, custards or cremes. When we arrived, the line was out the door and down the length of the porch. Becky discovered they also make an awesome turnover (apple, blueberry, peach-pineapple, coconut).
They also bake a variety of breads (including the traditional Hawaiian sweet bread), and you can order sandwiches on those breads. It was a good stop after working our way halfway around the island.
The Punalu’u Black Sand Beach
The black sand beach is literally made from lava rock that has been pulverized into sand by the sea. Anticipating the volcano being a chilly place, we were overdressed for hanging on the beach. So we just wandered for a little while. There was a real sea-turtle lounging in the shallows!
The Volcano Winery
When in Rome…well, in Volcano country, check out the local vineyard. Volcano Winery is pretty much across the road from the volcano National Park In terms of single varietals, they have Muscat Dry and a Pinot Noir. But most of their other wines were infused with fruit juice – either Guava, Jaboticaba berries, Macadamia Nut honey, or even Tea.
Hawaii Volcanoes National Park
After a quick spin through the (first) gift shop, we got our first look at the steam vents rising up through fissures all along the volcano rim.
Next, we took a two-mile hike along the rim toward the old Jaggar Museum (now condemned due to the more recent collapse of the crater wall in 2018). The path has plenty of places to look down at the floor of Kilauea’s crater. No magma glow, or sulfur smells currently. But lots of steam.
Then back to the Volcano House, hotel, restaurant and gift shop. There we managed to pick up a couple more sweatshirts and mugs. And refrigerator magnets. And little … okay fine. It was mostly kitschy tourist baubles.
And Back Again
Then back across Saddle Road to the Queen’s Marketplace for a sushi dinner at Sensei. On the way back, we caught an awesome sight, the clouds cut through Hualalai, bisecting it into two sunsets — one showing the dim, cloudy sunset below, and the bright sky above. Becky took the pictures from the car window as we sped along the highway trying to get to dinner in time for our reservation.
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