January 23 - Avocado Treehouse, the best Airbnb we've ever stayed in.

      After hanging around the park in Hilo, shopping at a supermarket, and looking at maps etc., we got stuck in rush hour traffic while headed out to our next place to stay.  Hilo isn't that big of a place, but I guess everyone wants to live near an active lava flow that threatens to cut off your commute, so it took twice as long to drive the 25 miles as it should have.
      It was dark by the time we got to our Airbnb.  Here are photos we took the next day:

      Hugh originally came to Hawaii in the 70's. That's when he bought this property for peanuts, (or macadamia nuts). He came to surf, smoke marijuana, hang out on the nude beaches, and party.  In the early 90's he decided to settle down, and moved here permanently with his two young kids and married Elvira, a Filipino lass with a young son of her own.  They raised the kids together on this organic tropical fruit farm they developed. Hugh built this tree house for the kids, and now that they're grown up they rent it, and another house on the property, on Airbnb.  Apparently, raising a bunch of kids on very little income, upon property with a wacky house that you built yourself, and living a slightly offbeat lifestyle, works out alright - one son is a lieutenant in the Marines, another son is nearly finished with college getting his RN, and their daughter is a fourth year medical school student.
      The house is built around an avocado tree that yields 1000 lbs of fruit a year.  Unfortunately for us, the season ended a couple of months ago.

Diana and I had this bed.

There is lots of original art all over the place.  

Amy slept in the little loft above our room.

The view from one of her windows.

 An outside ladder leads to the "meditation room," which is lined with decorated mirrors and looks out over the farm and the ocean.

 It's a nice place to drink the Kona coffee ...

 ... think about your children ...

... and look super-cool.

The bathroom is just outside the back door ...

... with the open air shower attached to the back.  All the electricity for the entire compound comes from solar panels, the water comes from a roof-supplied cistern, and the water is heated by the sun.  There isn't cell phone service this far from anywhere, and Hugh and Elvira probably haven't ever had TV.  But they do have Wifi!  It's 21st century off-the-grid living.

The kitchen is in a separate building a few steps from the tree house.  That's Elvira on the eating porch.  She must be one of the nicest, hardest working, humorous people I've ever met ... except for her husband, Hugh.

Hugh grew up in North Carolina and still has a strong tidewater accent.  He's a witty raconteur, a walking tattoo art piece, and full of so many plans and ideas about how to improve his property that you think he's gonna erupt. 

You can tell how excited Amy and I are to be interrupted from our computers to pose with the fresh fruit, all from their farm, they supplied us with, as well as bagels and organic eggs.

This is a rambutan, and it tastes like a cross between plum and grape ... sorta.

    Each night we were serenaded by tiny coqui frogs.  They're invasive, compete for insects with native birds, and are generally considered a nuisance.  But for me, who considers the singing of Spring Peepers in March or April as one of the most glorious sounds in nature, they were a delight

.That's a painted cow skull for size comparison.  This is what they sound like:

    We only stayed two nights.  The next time we come we'll hang around for a lot longer.
    Hugh and Elvira also have a large house on the property that they occasionally rent out to groups.  It's architecture could be described as Balinese/Hawaiian/Southern.  It has five bedrooms, four bathrooms, a large yoga room and lots of lanais and outdoor areas to spread out on.  We plan to rent it out for a week or two some upcoming winter - sign up now to join us ... seriously.

Ohana House

Inside kitchen and dining room.

One of five slightly detached bedrooms.

Hugh offered us a very strange but delicious fruit that had creamy flesh tasting something like lemon/vanilla custard.  We chatted for a couple of hours on the day we left.  You can check out the whole place at yourhawaiianretreat.org