So you're going to the Big Island

1. Visit the Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden -- "a garden in a valley on the ocean."

2. Spend a day at Volcano National Park. We got to see lava!

And walk through lava tubes! It was my favorite national park to visit (so far).

3. Walk on those darned black sand beaches. To me, this felt like going to a tar beach. But still, neat to see.

4. Take a tour of Kona Brewing Company. They also serve pizzas and sandwiches using left over barley from their beer making!

5. Check out the southern most point in the US. We saw people jumping off that cliff into the ocean, and it was very hard to suppress my motherly instincts that were screaming inside my head, "You're going to die!!!"

6. Have a cocktail at Huggos. It's a bit cheesy, but there's live music and hula dancing, and you can watch the sun set into the ocean.

7. Visit a Kona coffee plantation. It's the only coffee made in the US (and it's price point reflects that). Still, delicious, and neat to see up close.

8. Have a picnic at Pu'uhonua o Honaunau Park. Very cool historical site with some information about native Hawaiians, and an amazing picnic area with grills on the beach. We actually went twice in our week there.

9. All beaches are public on Hawaii, so make sure you go to some on the gorgeous resorts sprinkled around the northwest corner of the island. We went to Mauna Kea Beach Resort, which is absolutely lovely.

10. Eat Loco Moco! Peter had this at Big Island Grill -- a really yummy diner. I understand that rice with a giant hamburger patty, an egg and brown gravy may not sound that awesome, but trust me...it is.

That concludes my recommendations for Hawaii. Anyone else have fabulous things to add?!