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Pana ‘ewa Zoo (Hilo, HI)

When we went to the Big Island with our family and the grandparents last August, I needed an excuse to drive an hour or so to Hilo to get this mochi I read about and couldn’t leave Hawaii without trying:

It is from a place called The Two Ladies Kitchen and they are famous for these strawberry mochis that are pretty much a strawberry dipped in Anko (bean paste) and wrapped in soft mochi. But that would not be enough reason to get us all in the van and drive for hours-I would probably be the only one with a smile on my face.

So then I found Pana’ewa Zoo. Also in Hilo, it is not a huge zoo, but it is the only tropical rainforest zoo in the United States. It definitely felt tropical, hot and lush-there were so many beautiful plants to see too. While there were a lot more cage-like enclosures than we are used to seeing in Seattle, there were many neat animals to see. We were very intrigued by the parrots and had a lot of fun with monkeys. One monkey was throwing a ball and making such a ruckus, but it seemed to be having so much fun. We did not get enough pictures to do this place justice. It was definitely worth the drive and we couldn’t believe that it was free.

This post is my entry for photo Friday on the Delicious Baby site.

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Categories big island, Hawaii, ZOOS

Greenwell Farms (Big Island, Hawaii)

25 Feb

Over a decade ago I won a contest on the “World Wide Web” that led me to the Big Island for the first time. It started a love of this beautiful island that brought me back six years ago with my husband, and now this past summer with my boys. The one must-see place on our itinerary for all three visits was a coffee plantation called Greenwell Farms. I am not a coffee addict, but I’ve loved coffee and all things related since going to coffee shops with my dad as a small child between lessons and school. Coffee shops, coffee smells, sitting down and chatting with a steaming cup. This is one of the few places in the world where you can experience a fantastic roast from bean to cup.

Here I am frozen in time nearly 6 years ago:

And here we are again this past summer. Every time we’ve gone to Greenwell Farms the tour is a little bit different but we’ve always had friendly guides and learned new things. This time it was so cool to watch my boys experience the farm and hold little beans in their hands. The Bean was especially enthralled( I wonder why). I can’t believe how a little place so far from home has become such a neat part of my history.

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Categories big island, Hawaii

The Coffee Shack-Breakfast with Geckos (Big Island, HI)

8 Dec

It’s drippy here in Seattle, but in South Kona, HI, I imagine it’s gloriously tropical. And a breakfast at the Coffee Shack would make the day perfect. When we decided to take the boys to the Big Island, before I thought about all the snorkeling we’d get to do or the coffee plantations we would see, I thought about this place where Baby Daddy and I had lovely breakfasts years ago and watched geckos eat jam. And I wanted to show this to the boys. They didn’t have jam out this time, so we made sure to order toast-we also cleared this with our waitress and she said YES! we could feed the geckos.

Get there at opening(check the website) to make sure you get a table beside the railing and make sure you have the breakfast special with the papaya and yogurt-I’m still dreaming about how tropically-delicious it was!

The Coffee Shack had one high chair when we went in August.