Thanksgiving in Hilo

For Thanksgiving this year, Bryan and I headed to the Big Island to be with my grandmother. Turns out, in all my (very many) years of life, I had never spent Thanksgiving in Hilo!

It was an absolutely fabulous weekend. The perfect blend of family, free time, activities and wild adventure.

Here's the story of our weekend in pictures:

We took the Wednesday evening flight from Honolulu to Hilo. Traveling on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving? Not too rough when your flight is less than 45 minutes. We relaxed and enjoyed the sunset view. Ooooh... awwww...:

We arrived in Hilo and made a beeline for Safeway because I was in charge of pies, cranberries, and punch. Short shopping list in hand, should be no big deal. First off, I couldn't find Safeway in a town about the size of my apartment building. Ooops. Then we learned the ENTIRE TOWN was sold out of canned pumpkin pie mix and canned cranberries. Total bummer. I grumpily bought pre-made pies and nervously bought fresh cranberries. End result? Just okay.

Then we cruised over to my grandmother's house. We call her Tutu. Laugh all you want, it means Grandmother in Hawaiian. Do you feel silly now? Here she is in all her delight. She hates all pictures of herself. And you'd think for that reason she'd have tried to smile in this one but but I think I was bugging her too much:

The morning of Thanksgiving Bryan and I walked to the end of Tutu's very short street and arrived at Honolii Beach. Watched the surfers, and took in the morning:

Bryan skipped rocks (a stream empties into the beach):

And I took in the view:

I think there were 16 of us for dinner. And I'm related to most of them. Yummy food, and luckily others brought good pie! Bryan and I went to bed super early because we had a 3:30am alarm set for a super adventure. We drove (too fast) more than 45 minutes in the POURING RAIN to learn our super adventure had been canceled. What do you do in the middle of nowhere in the pitch black in the middle of the night? Drive. And wait for the sunrise. Which was lovely:
Really, a gorgeous sunrise:

Then we stuffed ourselves with Ken's pancakes, napped, chatted with Tutu and eventually hit the town for a movie. First we walked around Hilo. This was the stunning view, don't judge - it's a beautiful town:

The next day we slept in plenty, when to the Hilo Farmer's Market, bought yummy yummy mochi, walked around town and visited family. Later the family came over for a crab FEAST but first Bryan and I took a walk:

And we were blessed with a rainbow over Hilo:

Really, a perfect weekend. But it's not over! Stay tuned to learn the details of our super adventure!