"Waimea - The Real Wild West" Waimea by triplehelix

Waimea isn't a very big place and you can pretty much see everything in a day. I love Waimea because of the weather! It's one of the few places in Hawaii where it can be sunny and cold at the same time. This city in the clouds is where the famous Parker Ranch resides. The ranch itself covers a much larger area but this is where the epicenter is. You can find tons of country type stuff remeniscent of the wild wild west. The Paniolo or "Hawaiian Cowboy" became known in the 1800s when American settlers brought over cattle to be raised. If you are looking to live in Hawaii, Waimea is an excellent choice if you want to keep out of the steriotypical atmosphere. While major shopping outlets are out of the way, you can do your day to day shopping in one of the towns shopping centers. Waimea is also host to many different restaurants both affordable and down right expensive! Expensive seems to be the trend in Hawaii and Waimea is no different with high gas prices. Living in Waimea allows you to choose either Hilo (50mi away) or Kona (45mi away) for major events. It sits in the midway to both destinations in the north along the main highway.

Waimea Country Lodge

Wonderful choice to stay the night in a comfortable and cozy inn. The restaurant is alright but the service during the hectic times can be displeasureable. Once, I took my mom to breakfast out there and we weren't acknowledged for nearly 15 minutes. We finally got our menus after my mom called three times for the waitress. One rude redheaded lady slammed them down on our table and walked pass us without a smile. What a b*tch! Another waitress came by and after she apologized and offered us the specials, we waited another 10 minutes for the water! I was getting pissed already. While sitting there, I was thinking of what a bad impression they were making to our tourists. We got our food in good time I guess considering... The food was good but the service left a bad taste. There was one waitress who deserved my tip and she didn't even serve us. She made a few kids stop crying, satisfied all her patrons, and even rung us up with smiles and a nice conversation. This doesn't happen all the time mind you, they must have had a bad day (Ironman Triathlon was going on). I left no tip that day...

• Pros:Nice cold weather and beautiful scenery
• Cons:Expensive, no major shopping outlets
• In a nutshell:Real country town with all the bells and whistles