Day Two - Cowboys, and memories

Day two started much like day one, just a bit earlier :) We met for our Big Island Breakfast again and then piled in the car to go visit my grandmother's memorial. Here on the Big Island, there's a tradition of taking the white coral and rocks that can be found near the ocean and writing messages with them on the black lava rock that covers the majority of the island. It is a known fact that you're not supposed to move these white rocks except for the express purpose of writing the messages and once placed, they're not to be moved and therefore the messages will last forever. Well... that's the idea anyway.

So, as I've mentioned - my grandparents and I came to Hawaii every summer as I was growing up. When my grandmother passed away in February of 2008, my grandfather decided he wanted to make the trip again. The following June, my dad, aunt, uncle and grandfather all came back to Hawaii. While on the Big Island, they created one such memorial for my grandmother. The first year, it simply read "S.C.M" near a flowering tree just past our hotel. The next January, Baba took Andrew and me back and we added her birthday. Last year, we added and RIP and Baba added a rainbow.

This year...

It was gone. But... the culprit didn't take the stones far - I recognized most of our stones right next to where we'd placed the memorial originally! So, we stole them back. Turn around is fair play!

All is right again!

After we finished at the memorial, we kept heading North up to Parker Ranch. No horseback riding planned this year, but we went to the visitor's center and reread the history of the Ranch and the Paniolos  (Hawaiian cowboys). 

There was a new restaurant next to the visitor's center that we decided to try - it was actually their first lunch service! Very good, local beef - slow service, but who cares - we're on vacation!

After lunch, we headed back down to the South, but we took the coastal road and stopped in Hawi. Unfortunately, it was raining a bit and we were getting tired. It's about an hour's drive from Hawi to the hotel, so we headed back. 

Found another new place to eat for dinner, still "on campus" but not in our hotel, called Waikoloa Bar and Grill. Pretty good, but they ran out of their specials :(

We ended up back at home around 8:30 pm, and Becky, Mom, Andrew and I decided to utilize our Aloha Passport to get some free drinks at the Cantina before heading to bed. Tomorrow is Valentine's Day and tomorrow night, we'll go to the Luau! 

Aloha ahiahi ia oukou!