We visited Hilo on NYE, Dec. 31. We originally had an excursion planned to tour a macadamia nut factory with some zip lining but sadly our excursion got cancelled. We ended up making the most of our day though and actually had a great time. We got off the ship, grabbed an Uber and went to Mauna Loa (the maker of macadamia nuts) visitors center. There we purchased several different kinds of flavors of nuts. Sieb loved it. After we were done there we caught another Uber and went to the Japanese Gardens where we walked around the park a bit and explored the beautiful scenery. Sieb got pictures of the most beautiful trees.
Here are the boys at the Japanese Gardens. Once again the views were spectacular.
Sieb hugging a giant nut!
After we walked around the gardens we found this close café, Hilo Bay Café. Again, it was another hit. Jay and I ate sushi and even got Mike to try it.
It was after we had lunch and toured the gardens that things went down hill. I was really wanting to find some shopping where I could get a taste of the locals. Mike found a "market" on trip advisor within walking distance. We walked until we ran out of sidewalk and ended up in a deserted parking except for one homeless man who asked us for 50 cents. As tourists we stuck out like sore thumbs. Being a mom I was not comfortable walking on a busy road without a sidewalk and again everyone and their brother knew we were tourists. Although the boys complained, I called an Uber. Since it was NYE, we waited a good 15 minutes....Oh and I had to pee. The Uber came and literally drove us 1/2 mile to a lame shopping center (and I use that term loosely) where there was nothing but cafes and we'd already eaten. The only saving grace was there was a dog shop and we bought our dogs real Hawaiian dog collars. I again called an Uber (thank heavens for Uber) and we waited another 15 minutes. The Uber retrieved us and took us back to the boat.
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