Hilo (aka The *Other* Side of the Island)

Hilo is the main city on the east side of the Big Island. There are three ways to get there from Kona; the way I took was to drive up north to Waimea and then back down the other coast. It takes about two and a half hours that way, and is the prettiest. Hilo is known as the "wet" side of the Island; very green and lush and rainforest-y.

Surfers!

I took the above picture standing on a bridge. After I took that picture, I turned around and took this next picture off the other side of the bridge. It's like a mid-waterfall photo-op.

So, while the nooks and crannies of Natural Hilo are seemingly prettier than the Kona side, the town itself is nothing to write home about:

The reason I made the 2.5 hour trip to Hilo was for Black and White Night, an outdoor event in downtown area where shops, galleries and restaurants stay open late, bands play at various mini-stages and dancers perform different Hula dances:

Everyone is encouraged to wear black and white, and mostly everyone did. Some people wore shorts and tshirts, some people were in evening gowns and tuxedos! It was neat to see the streets filled with different expressions of the two colors.