On the Big Island
coffee is a signature “attraction”: it’s grown in the Kona area, just a few minutes drive from our hotel. 100% Kona coffee is a very expensive treat, but surely worth it !! Up to the hills around Kailua village we encountered many “small farms” and stopped by Ueshima Coffee Company to “ROAST OUR OWN PRIVATE LABEL” ! WOW ! A very kind “host” (cannot remember her name) explained us how to roast coffee beans.
During the roasting process …
... as the temperature is rising, the coffee flavour starts getting interesting and the color of the beans considerably darkens. After about ten minutes I had to start the cooling process
IMMEDIATELY !
The fun thing about it ... was that our ineffable host stated that, for a good Kona coffee, I had to “hula dance“ while cooling the beans.
We were now “CERTIFIED ROASTMASTER FOR THE DAY” !!
And could bring home a whiff and a taste of Hawaii, to share with family and friends !! What a fun experience we had!!
Before our trip we had heard about
the Kona Historical society, who wants to preserve the fascinating history of the Kona district: we were lucky enough as to meet one of the society members, who led us through a very interesting tour of “historical” sites: we were impressed by the restored
Ahu’ena Heiau , that may have been used for human sacrifices as early as the 15th century.
Another beautiful site was
Moku’aikaua Church, the first (now rebuilt) Christian church in Hawaii. Its name may be derived from the forest land above Kailua where the trees, used for construction, were harvested.
Yes,
Hawaii are so beautiful, but
they
sometimes experience tsunami and earthquakes … in addition to the permanent volcanic eruption !! The ancient Governor palace was damaged during the October 2006
earthquakes … and is undergoing repairs …
Another lovely site was
the Greenwell store.
At the end of the XIX century this building served the community as post office, general merchandise store and meeting place; now it’s managed by the Kona Historical society, to re-create for tourists those times.
A costumed “old” man was our host inside the store: it was a sort of “role playing” game: I was Lisa Todd, the “estimeed client” buying some goods of the 1890’s !!! Yes, they were copies of those goods, coming from the Smithsonian Institution !
I can still smell the mingled aromas of salted fish, leather, coffee beans, oranges and wool … and so liked that pink calico!
A cozy historical site that DGH and I loved was
the Parker Ranch.
Wow ! Hawaii has much more than sea and beaches; in upcountry
( and very windy !!) Waimea we still found lush green pastures and large ranches, where, we were told, the original PANIOLO (cowboys) culture is still intact after more than 160 years.
We have learnt that in not-so old times the hawaiian multi-etnic society was centered on ranching and farming: it looks like the first “cowboys” were Spanish-speaking, in fact the word “paniolo” comes from “Espanol”.
I would never have thought that history of Hawaii was as fascinating as its nature!
Leaving “my” beloved Hawaii I’ll have another relaxing photo posted;
for many months a lovely friend of mine had dreamed together with me about my trip to Hawaii: she has often sent me a cute “smilie”- with - hammock … like this one!
To me this image summarizes what HAWAII and FRIENDSHIP mean !!
Our wonderful trip had come to an end !! 
But , while stopping at Chicago during the looong way back home, we had
the last treat: a dinner show at Tommy Gun’s Garage.
We were transported back to
“da 1920, with a dinner show complete with da gangster and da flappers” …
Everything in the “restaurant-theatre” spoke about the era of proibition … we laughed a lot, also because waiters and actors tried to talk
a “mafia English” with “Italian accent” … which is is so close to our “normal English” !!!!
As one can easily guess we are ADDICTED TO HAWAII !!!
Our vacation on Oahu and Big Island this August has been a DREAM COME TRUE !!! and we keep dreaming of HAWAII each day !
Those islands make for a vacation of a lifetime indeed … !!!
And what did we find one morning in the mail ?? That Marco won the contest to predict the first whale arrival to Hawaii!!!!!!!!!! The Honolulu Advertiser issued articles saying that humpback whales had been seen a few miles from Lahaina’s shore off Maui on Wednesday,October 8th:
That was DGH guess: so, as Sheila wrote in the e-magazine GO VISIT HAWAII,
“With October 8th as our official date that makes Marco our contest winner. Marco lives in Italy, wow, that’s a long way from Hawaii!”
A small piece of paradise came all the way to Italy to say ALOHA ! The hawaiian themed prize…
…has gorgeus vintage art postcards,a hula workout DVD and two beautiful hand-painted magnets !!
Could 
the prize mean that Hawaii islands wait for us to be back? 
Ciao !! Laura & Marco (DGH )
ALOHA , until we meet again !!
THE END
We DO have such wonderful memories about this trip !!Everything we had been dreaming about became true !! Some experiences were even better than our "dreams" !!! 
an Hawaii adventure !!! 
the hukilau ceremony (net fishing) and the shower of flowers, where (climbing on a tree) an Hawaiian man was spreading blessing flowers above the crowd.
to the islanders.
every “water activity” you can dream about !
mango and pineapple added to his burrito breakfast.
nor doors!) house the ticket counters, the baggage claim, customs and restaurant ! Blu sky and 
sun everywhere! Smiling employees 
and gentle security people!
along the paths in the hotel grounds.
you are … hawaiian at heart !
and they would return each morning ... 
what were the women doing all day long ??
chat ???????????? 
when we saw how he was piloting ... we could not go 
