Hilo, Hawaii - Road to Kamehameha Statue

Our tour guide explained the upcoming day, time schedules, etc.  Our first segment of the tour gave us views of the local area, homes, business, parks.

We were able to see some of the local homes as we zipped along in our bus.

 It was not exactly raining out. There was a fine mist in the air.  Our tour guide insured us that the weather would change soon.

 Lagoons, ocean views, palm trees.

 This is a picnic area looking out at the ocean.  I think that the grey thing in the distance in the middle is the Sapphire Princess, our ship.

 I was fascinated by the banyan trees with the multiple trunks.

 Our first stop was to see this statue of Kamehameha..

This was also our first Hawaiian history lesson.
The Kingdom of Hawaii was founded by Kamehameha I in 1795 after conquering most of the Hawaiian archipelago. In 1810, Kaumualii became a vassal of Kamehameha I, who therefore emerged as the sole sovereign of the island chain of Hawaiʻi. His dynasty lasted until 1872, and Kingdom of Hawaii lasted until 1893, when Queen Liliuokalani, of the Kalākaua Dynasty, was deposed by a pro-United States revolution. In recent years, US President Bill Clinton gave a formal apology for the American role in the revolution and the overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy. (source: wikipedia)

This wikipedia page lists all of the Hawaiian monarchs.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_monarchs_of_Hawaii