Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Frommer's Favorite Big Island Family Experiences
Walking through Thurston Lava Tube at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park
(p. 211) It's scary, it's spooky, and most kids love it. You hike downhill
through a rainforest full of little chittering native birds to enter this
huge, silent black hole full of drips, cobwebs, and tree roots that stretch
underground for almost half a mile. At the end, there's a fork in the tun-
nel, which leads either up a stairway to our world or—here's the best
part—down an unexplored hole that probably goes all the way to China.
Going Underwater at Kealakekua Bay
(p. 218) The islands have lots of
extraordinary snorkel and dive sites, but none are so easily accessible or
have as much to offer as mile-wide Kealakekua Bay, an uncrowded
marine preserve on the south Kona coast. Here, even your little ones
(as young as 3 years with a life preserver) can float through the calm
waters with dolphins, sea turtles, octopi, and every species of tropical
fish that calls Hawaii's waters home.
Riding a Submarine into the Underwater World
(p. 219) The huge view-
ing windows will have the kids enthralled as the high-tech sub leaves the
surface and plunges 120 feet down through the mysterious Neptunian
waters. The trip isn't too long—just an hour—and there are plenty of reef
fish and prehistoric-looking corals to hold the young ones' attention.
Launching Your Own Space Shuttle
(p. 192) Okay, it's a model of a
space shuttle, but it's close enough to the real thing to be a real blast.
The Ellison S. Onizuka Space Center has dozens of interactive displays to
thrill budding young astronauts, such as a hands-on experience with
gyroscopic stabilization. Great video clips of astronauts working and liv-
ing in space may inspire your kids as well.
Hunting for Petroglyphs
(p. 198) There's plenty of space to run around
and discover ancient stone carvings at either the Puako Petroglyph
Archaeological District at Mauna Lani Resort, or at the Kings' Shops by
the Outrigger Waikoloan. And finding the petroglyphs is only part of
the game—once you find them, you have to guess what the designs
mean.
Watching the Volcano
(p. 207) Any kid who doesn't get a kick out of
watching a live volcano set the night on fire has been watching too
trates orbital motion, and an interactive rocket-propulsion exhibit, where you
can launch your own miniature space shuttle.
At Kona International Airport, Kailua-Kona.
&
808/329-3441.
Admission $3 adults, $1 children 12 and
under. Daily 8:30am-4:30pm. Parking in airport lot, $2 per hour.
Hulihee Palace
Ages 7 and up.
This two-story New England-style
mansion of lava rock and coral mortar, erected in 1838 by the governor of the
island of Hawaii, John Adams Kuakini, overlooks the harbor at Kailua-Kona.
Plan to spend an hour touring the gracious summer home of Hawaii's royalty,
making it the other royal palace in the United States (the most famous being
Oahu's Iolani Palace). Now run by Daughters of Hawaii, it features many 19th-
