Hanging in Hilo, Hawaii

Well, we travelled the Saddle Road from Waikoloa to Hilo with a stop at Mauna Kea where we drove up over 10,000 feet above sea level in a couple of hours. After a quick visit to the Visitor Information Station, which to be honest was not all that exciting, we took off on a couple of little hikes. It was quite something to be well above the cloud line. Truly a spectacular sight. After our hikes, we were on the road again to reach our destination in Hilo.

Once we reached Hilo, we headed North for 15 miles and started climbing up again to the farm in the mountain that we would call home for the next four days. This was the off the grid, no Wi-Fi part of our trip and it turned out better than we could have expected (kids did not ask for a device once). We all loved our stay at the Stables at Hakalau (VRBO #3806458ha) and if you’re city dwellers like us, then staying at The Stables offers a truly unique Hawaiin experience. John and Karen were fantastic hosts for our home stay with oodles of local knowledge and great tips for checking out the island.

We were able to pick our own avocados, tangerines, passion fruit and lemons…just to name a few.

The Stables is a working farm so the kids took part in feeding the 5 horses, the cattle and Tootsie the boar.

John and Karen were kind enough to take us all on a mountain carriage ride, as well as, taking the kids horseback riding. Our hosts and the horses were fantastic with the kids!