Breakfast again at the Palm Terrace and then we hit the high road! We started out driving north on Highway 19 to the top of the Island, then east along the Hamakua Coast. Our first destination was the Hawaiian Tropical Botanical Gardens north of Hilo. It was supposedly located on the Scenic Route - which was a very poorly marked scenic route. This road turned out to be a slow-moving, shady, and extremely twisty road for about 4 miles.


After dousing myself in bug spray (I wound up with a bug bite about 2 minutes into the trail), I was good to go. We hiked through the botanical gardens and saw tons of flowers and palms, including heliconia, an orchid garden and many varieties of ginger. We stopped for a bit to see the waterfall and several beautiful coastline vantage points. After two hours we were sweaty and very happy to have experienced such a beautiful part of Hawaii - completely different than the old lava fields surrounding our resort.

Next we drove through Hilo to the Akatsuka Orchid Farm to check out the blooms and buy/ship some plants home for my parents. Their selection was a bit disappointing, though I think it was probably the time of year. We picked out 6 orchids to ship home and I grabbed some little freebies to put in my hair.
At this point I was starving so we tried to grab some lunch at the Thai Thai Restaurant we read about in Volcano. When we got there they weren't open yet, so we settled on some chips and orange juice from the Ace Hardware. Interestingly, the same couple owns the Thai restaurant, Ace Hardware, Laundromat and a Bed & Breakfast all in the same shopping center! With my hunger temporarily abated we drove back to Hilo.
First we stopped at a Walmart where Eric snuck a bag of chocolate covered macadamia nuts into the cart. Of course, the original goal was more sunblock and aloe (think pink Leandra). We got to downtown, parked at a beach and took a walk along Banyan Drive. There are a whole bunch of gigantic trees that were planted by famous people back in the 1930s. At the end of Banyan Drive there is a pagoda area inside a lake with many locals walking and jogging around.
We walked back to our car and drove up Kamehameha Ave. looking for Café Pesto, which we had also read about in a magazine. Once we found the place we were quite glad to relax and enjoy a good dinner outside of the resort. Eric started with a "Hilo Sunrise," a mix of lemonade and iced tea followed by a delicious foccacia bread appetizer for both of us. For dinner, we split a 4 seasons pizza - each quarter had a different ingredient - artichokes & mushrooms for me and grilled peppers & ham for Eric.
The atmosphere was probably the best part because it reminded us of the places we love to visit in Florida. We split a giant macaroon tart for dessert and bought two pint glasses to add to our collection. After dinner I wandered into an art gallery next door and wound up purchasing this lovely photo of a baby sea turtle in the ocean.
The shot is an extreme vertical with the baby turtle at the bottom in the ocean and the horizon of the beach way up at the top. The drive home was a bit rough at 8pm. It was dark, curvy and rained on and off half the way, but we made it home fat, happy and exhausted.