Kona

Over the past few days, we had heard a lot about Kona, and how it seems to be the more lively part of the island.  It's about 2 hours away and a wicked drive along the coast.  I forgot to mention yesterday that we've done a lot of driving, especially over some questionable terrain.  So often, I've said to Mandy, "I'm so glad we have this SUV."  We would have bottomed out a bunch of times, or not even bothered with some of these places had we rented the Aveo.

On our way out of Volcano Village, we see signs like "Fault Zone beware of cracks in the road," and warnings like "if you feel an earthquake, get inland as soon as possible."  Looking at the way lava dominates everything here, it's a little intimidating, but pretty cool as well.  Which reminds me - yesterday, we had 32 earthquakes here!  I don't think we felt one (although Mandy thought she had), but that's because they are so minute that they can barely be felt.  Still, that's a lot of moving and shaking.

Apparently, nobody told Google Maps that the Big Island exists, since every destination we've tried to get to has taken us somewhere completely different.  It has made for some nice scenery, though.

Eventually, we get to the Kona Brewing Company and have lunch there.  It's terrific, but we're not allowed to go on the tour since Leila is underage.  The minimum age is 5.  Of course...I should have known.

After the brewery, we went to Greenwell Coffee company for a tour of the coffee plantation.  Pretty cool, that's for sure.

Finally, we ended off the day at Sansei.  We first experienced this restaurant on our honeymoon while in Maui, and quite possibly the best food we've ever had.  This experience was no different, and since the day is just about our anniversary, we decided to make this our anniversary dinner.  Mmmmm!