4th of July

The 4th was a lot of fun and the weather was amazing! I woke up early and had a delicious banana-macadamia nut waffle at Ken’s House of Pancakes; it was way bigger than my face and I couldn’t finish it all! They had the most incredible syrups made from tropical fruits: coconut syrup, papaya syrup, and I think a citrus syrup. They were so tasty and bizarre and wonderful!!

The farmers market was hopping because so many people were in downtown. They also had a giant barbeque in downtown to celebrate the 4th, and I got some papaya, fresh lichee, bak choy, pork chili and rice, and thai lemonade. Everything was so tasty and bustling, it was really nice to see so many people out having a good time.

There was also a ginormous car show going on across the street from the farmers market – they devoted a huge field to hundreds of beautiful old cars and everyone was milling around eating shaved ice and admiring the paint and restoration jobs. I don’t know much (or anything) about cars, but I was very impressed and really enjoyed walking around. Apparently they only have this car show every 4 years because people actually ship cars in from the mainland, so we were lucky to come on a car show year!

I also bought a dress and I love it! It shouldn’t wrinkle too much, and even if it does it will still look good so it’s travel friendly. And it has normal straps! Exciting =) I finally found a cute summery dress!

I rode my bike around for awhile and poked into some new shops. Unfortunately, I arrived at a used bookstore about 3 minutes after it closed, so I’ll have to go back and check it out later. I also watched “He’s Just Not That Into You,” which was cute but definitely not great. I think it was trying to be like “Love Actually” except there can only be one “Love Actually!” and this movie definitely fell a bit short. But oh well, still a cute movie.

Jake and I borrowed Devin’s car yesterday so that we could go on a trip today, but the weather is pretty rainy and we’re both feeling chill so we might not go out. I actually wouldn’t mind driving up the coast just to go hiking but I think we’re going to wait and see if the weather clears at all. It’s so hard to gauge weather conditions because they change so fast! I realized that I miss driving, and Devin has a stick shift so I’m really glad I had Egbert so I can be a competent driver.

The fireworks were awesome! We sat right along the beach and they shot fireworks from the edge of the bay so that everyone could see them. They had some shaped like plumerias and stars and lots of kids along the shore also had sparklers. Apparently they’re big on small fireworks, sparklers, etc… because the kids next door to our apartment were shooting them off all day in their backyard. Thank goodness Hilo is very rainy, or I’d be concerned about the fire hazard.

All in all, it was a fun 4th of July and I’m so glad I finally got to see a full fireworks show! Two years ago I was in Rome, so obviously no fireworks, and last summer I was with Will’s volleyball team at JOs and we only saw them from the freeway. Yay holidays, and yay for long weekends!