Sunday, January 31, 2010

Hana Hou, Na'alehu, Hawai'i

I may have been remiss in not showing you the southernmost restaurant in the United States. We were running a little behind, timewise, as we had to be at Mauna Lani for dinner and we were at the southern most point of the Big Island . To give you some perspective, here is a map of the whole Island

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here is a close up of the south part

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If you add up the miles it doesn't appear that far but roads are narrow, and you have to slow down in the small towns. Usually you are only travelling 35 MPH. We have to budget 1-1/2 hours to go the 55 miles back to Kailua-Kona, and another 45 minutes to go north the 35 miles to Mauna Lani, plus a buffer. They patrol the speed limit very agressively. There are speed readers everywhere the limit drops to 35 MPH and you will not recoqnize the HPD. We saw a Black Mustang GT with blacked out windows pull someone over. Lights were flashing behind the grill and behind the windows. There would be no way to know it was a enforcement officer. We also saw a black 4 dr Charger with chromed mags so we thought all their cars were black, until we saw the White 4 dr Toyoto SUV.

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(Hana Hou Restaurant: southern most restaurant in the United States)Latitude: 19deg 3'57" north)

I just had to have a meal here

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we were in luck, the sign shows "MMMMM good . . ." so it must be

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of course, who knows when I will be back this way again so I take a few more pixs

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There are pictures anc accolates all over the wall for community involvment by the owners. I noticed this sketch since it includes a Corvette

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I have noticed that the Hawai'ians consider pork to be a staple, so I ordered the pulled pork with Mac and potato salad, which is also an islander favo(u)rite. I think they call it Mac Salad, sort of a potato salad with macnamonie (macaroni to you adults)

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Mrs Skoot had the same pulled pork but in some sort of a wrap so as to minimize carbohydrate intake. The soup was really good, either that or we were too hungry to wait for the photo

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across the street is a huge bakery which serves the entire Kona coast (from here).

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again it has the Key West feel, even though I have never been to KW. I suppose all tropical places have verandas and overhangs

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one last shot and we were off heading north towards our prearranged dinner

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If you find yourself in this area, stop by for a meal and head over to South point. The food was delicious and not because we were hungry

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other than that weathered sign (above) there is no fanfare about the location. There are no markers or other commercialized anything, there are no trinkets to purchase and no one to sell you anything. It is a place of solitude, to gather your thoughts and watch the water as if on a warm summer's day . Charlie6 (<-- click link) asked a previous question about those wood structures at the edge of the cliff. I found out by accident. Just google Cliff diving at south point and many videos will pop up for you to view.

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We felt as if we had driven to the edge of the world, just don't fall off

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(Ka'Lae: South Point, the edge of the world)

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Nearly forgot, here is a short video showing you the inside of Hana Hou

5 comments:

  1. The thing is, it's the souternmost point of Hawa'ii, land of the double vowel. I think you need to go back because you clearly aren't over the effects of a proper climate.
    (ps do you only wear pink crocs for staged pictures?)

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  2. Dear Mr. Skoot:

    I am amazed that the southernmost restaurant in the United States looks like the southernmost cafeteria in the United States as well. I am curious... What was the most exotic meal you had to eat in the islands?

    If Canada had embarked on an equally aggressive period of manifest destiny, you'd be able to visit your country's stolen paradise in places like the Falklands and Pitcairn Island.

    Bob, how long was your flight to Hawaii? Was your flight full? Did you experience much in the way of jet lag. If you had the chance to go back and just hang around in one place for a bit, what place in Hawaii would that be?

    Nice pictures. Intriguing text. Disregard Consch.

    Fondest regards,
    Jack • reep • Toad
    Twisted Roads

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  3. Falklands and Pitcairn Island are spoken for Jack.....Canadians are nice (everyone says)and would never do anything so terrible lol.

    Cheers,

    Dave....

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  4. Food just has to taste better when the signage and building colors are so festive.

    I had a friend who went over there. He said he was pulled over by a pickup loaded with hay bales. Tricky Hawaiian cops, anyway!

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  5. Mr Conchscooter:

    I wore my Pink Crocs all day. I only changed to the sandals for this photo. I didn't wish to explain the meaning of the pink crocs to those outside of our blog community .

    Jack "r":

    Can't think of anything exotic at the moment, but we did go to a Lu'au, and I purchased some cilantro garlic shrimp at Costco. It's too bad Canada didn't take over a couple of exotic tropical islands to where we could re-locate.
    From Vancouver, our direct flights were around 6 hours and we gain/lose only 2 hours. I liked Kona but next time I would want to include Maui

    Dave:

    What do you need an island for, you live in Turkey which has weather similar to KW or Hawai'i

    Irondad\:

    food also tastes better in unfamiliar surroundings, esp when you are on vacation.
    It was great to be able to experience summer again, if only for a week.

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