Hawaii Adventure Series: Laupahoehoe and Waipi'O Valley
I’d always assumed that Hawaii was for tourists who just wanted to stay at the beach. After exploring some roads less traveled on the Big Island, I realized how wrong I was. Thanks to 'J' our companion on our Hawaiian adventure. Not only did he drive us around the Big Island, but he did his research and enthusiastically covered miles and miles of road with us, including the drive to Laupahoehoe and Waipio Valley. Laupahoehoe We suddenly stopped at a lookout off Highway 19. I thought we just stopped to look at the ocean view, but J surprised us by driving the very narrow road to the Laupahoehoe Harbor. He said we’re going to see the memorial village. When we arrived at sea level, we saw a small monument with the names of the school children and teachers killed in the tsunami that hit the island in 1946. The whole area was very scenic with coconut trees and green grass and tall and craggy lava rocks along the shore. It looked very peaceful; the peace was only broken by t...