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Prior
to embarking on this traveling gnome adventure, I didn't
know anything about Jim or the bands Hitt Man and Fuzzbubble.
When I received Jim's email asking me to send Bud to
him in LA, I figured it'd be cool if he visited the
Hollywood Walk and a few other places to begin his journeys.
In return, I received an 80's metal album (which I listen
to all the time), a traveling Tiki Jr. pal for Bud,
excellent content, a full theme song AND a friend. Wow...he
was the first guy to participate and that almost leaves
me speechless. Almost.
Needless to say, when I found out he and his family
were gonna be on the island I jumped at the chance to
show them around. It's a big island and time was limited
but I did manage to take them to a few of my favorite
places.
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I
left Puna pretty early in order to get over to the Kona
Airport and greet Jim, Coco & Angie with a proper
lei greeting. (Finding nice leis on Sunday is rough.)
After a brief chat we loaded up the rental car and headed
to a nearby beach, Honokohau Beach just outside of Kona.
We parked in the wrong place and ended up getting scratched
up walking through dense brush. I think they were wondering
what they had gotten themselves in to. They lived through
it.
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The
Honokohau Beach is to the right of Honokohau Marina
and is often a great place to find Green Sea Turtles.
Took a few awesome shots of Jim & Coco here.
After this we said our goodbyes for the day. They spent
the rest of their day wandering around on Alii Drive
in Kona and had dinner at Huggos.
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Day 2 got off to a slow start but we weren't really
in a hurry anyway. Our first stop was the Waikoloa petroglyph
field near the King's Shops in Waikoloa.
This is a great archeological site which is starting
to look like a small park in a major city surrounded
by development. Golf courses and condos are everywhere
now.
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Our
destination for the day was Pololu Valley. Pololu Valley
is on the northern end of the island and is the north
side of a chain of valleys which ends at Waipio Valley
at the other side.
Hiking down in to the valley isn't all that difficult
really but a person might loose footing on the mule
trail down. Takes me about 15 minutes.
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I
love this valley. Partly because most people don't bother
to hike down and partly because it feels like a spiritual
place to me. A place where the only aspect of life that
is truly real is nature.
We stayed down in the valley for maybe 45 minutes and
began the climb back up. It's a work out on the legs
and takes about 25 minutes. I will spare all of us the
embarrasing exhaustion shot I took when we got to the
top.
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Heading
back toward Kona, I wanted to make sure we had the chance
to take a sunset swim at Hapuna Beach. We just got here
as the sun was setting but enjoyed a refreshing frolic
for about 20 minutes taking the opportunity to watch
the sun disappear as we absorbed the moment.
I said my goodbyes again and headed back to Puna for
the evening.
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Day
3 found Jim, Coco & Angie driving around the island
to Hilo.
After a quick stop in Waimea we met in Hilo where I
showed them Rainbow Falls and Liliuokalani Japanese
Gardens near Hilo Bay.
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We
ended the day talking story at my place for a little
while. It was awesome showing them around the island.
And there you have it. It was a quick 3 days and we
really didn't see or do much when you consider the size
and diversity of the island of Hawaii.
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And
now for a few shameless plugs:
Jim plays guitar (and several others) as well as produces
in LA.
If you are in to hard rock or metal go check out Hitt
Man on myspace and listen to the tunes.
The space is maintained by singer Dirk
Kennedy. I have been talking with Jim
about getting these Hitt Man albums out on the market
again. This isn't a new band trying to get your attention..these
guys toured Europe but just never managed to hit the
heights back then.
If you are in to a more mainstream Soundgarden sound
go check out Fuzzbubble
on myspace. This band won a People's Choice Award on
MTV and many of the songs have been used on television
and in the movie Godzilla. Ordinary is my favorite song
and this space is maintained by Fuzzbubble drummer Jason
Camiolo.
One last band plug - Jim is currently playing in a band
called Peachfuzz
in LA.
Coco offers a line of stylish handbags. Check them out
at www.KokoStyle.com.
I have created an extensive site about the island of
Hawaii called Hawaii
Island Concierge if you would like more
information about the island. Questions? Send me an
email.
(Photos:
Tony V./ Dialogue: Tony V.)
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Man, That's One Cool Pooch |
