Hawaii Bound-Friday
May 16 2008
Got up at 5 am to get ready for our flight out of San Diego on Hawaiian Airlines. We had stayed the night at the Sheraton on Harbor Island to avoid the 2 hour drive before the 5+ hour flight. This was a life saver. As you know I am not a morning person and I was not looking forward to having to be on the road at 4am! The flight was smooth. We were in the middle section so there were 3 seats across but the 3rd one was empty. That made life a little easier. Landed in Kahului Maui to change planes. It was strange being in the airport and that not being our final destination. There was a lot of vog from Hawaii blowing in so you couldn't see Haleakala. We had our first drinks of the trip at the airport bar along with a quesadilla to tide us over. Pretty quick flight to Kona. Just seeing Mauna Kea above the clouds as we were coming in got us really excited. The airport is what I imagine it looked like back in the day when tourists in the 50's first started coming here. The whole thing is open. They don't even have jetways. The shuttle van driver for Hertz was funny. He told us there was more to Hawaii than just rocks. Which, if you have never been to Hawaii or have not done your homework, you might be a little concerned based on the fact that the airport is built on a lava field. The service desk at Hertz was quick and painless. We ended up with a Ford Focus this time. Those of you who have read my previous posts know that I did not like the Chevy Cobalt last time. The Focus made the Cobalt look like a Cadillac. This was just the worst designed car I have ever been in. Left the airport and headed to the condo. While on Queen K, it started to rain. Which was good because it was just really humid when we got off the plane. There was construction on the highway so it made for slow going at first. But our saying for this trip was "if you have to be (insert whatever here), might as well be in Hawaii". We saw our first mongoose while on the highway. They are kinda freaky. They slink around and that creeps me out! Drove to Keauhou to the condo, Kanaloa at Kona, and got checked in. The complex is on a lava point. I had us booked in a partial ocean view thru a package that I got with Outrigger. The package included the room and the car. The lady at the front desk was showing us where our room was on the property map and made the statement that we had a better view than the people in another building that was classified as ocean view. That was promising. We parked and found room 3404. You enter into a foyer with a place to take of your shoes, you are in Hawaii after all, then walk up a flight of stairs to the living area. The view from our 1st balcony was of a little bay that I learned later is called He'eia or Walker Bay. We walked around a bit and explored. There are mongoose and wild cats everywhere. We also had geckos on the balcony. We went to the shopping center up the street to do our grocery shopping. Not bad, cost us $114 and that included whisky and mai tai fixin's. After we got the groceries put away and the luggage unpacked we went back to the shopping center for dinner. Should have went with the gut feeling and stuck with the over priced burgers instead of the horribly overpriced and substandard pizza at Rocky's Pizza. This was the absolute worst pizza we have ever had. The only good thing I can say is that the beer was cold. If you are ever in Keauhou and this is your only option, drive to Kona!! Back at the condo we had drinks on the lanai (do they call it that even if it is not at ground level?). By 7:30 we were exhausted since it was 10:30 back home. Called it a day. Fell asleep listening to the waves!
Got up at 5 am to get ready for our flight out of San Diego on Hawaiian Airlines. We had stayed the night at the Sheraton on Harbor Island to avoid the 2 hour drive before the 5+ hour flight. This was a life saver. As you know I am not a morning person and I was not looking forward to having to be on the road at 4am! The flight was smooth. We were in the middle section so there were 3 seats across but the 3rd one was empty. That made life a little easier. Landed in Kahului Maui to change planes. It was strange being in the airport and that not being our final destination. There was a lot of vog from Hawaii blowing in so you couldn't see Haleakala. We had our first drinks of the trip at the airport bar along with a quesadilla to tide us over. Pretty quick flight to Kona. Just seeing Mauna Kea above the clouds as we were coming in got us really excited. The airport is what I imagine it looked like back in the day when tourists in the 50's first started coming here. The whole thing is open. They don't even have jetways. The shuttle van driver for Hertz was funny. He told us there was more to Hawaii than just rocks. Which, if you have never been to Hawaii or have not done your homework, you might be a little concerned based on the fact that the airport is built on a lava field. The service desk at Hertz was quick and painless. We ended up with a Ford Focus this time. Those of you who have read my previous posts know that I did not like the Chevy Cobalt last time. The Focus made the Cobalt look like a Cadillac. This was just the worst designed car I have ever been in. Left the airport and headed to the condo. While on Queen K, it started to rain. Which was good because it was just really humid when we got off the plane. There was construction on the highway so it made for slow going at first. But our saying for this trip was "if you have to be (insert whatever here), might as well be in Hawaii". We saw our first mongoose while on the highway. They are kinda freaky. They slink around and that creeps me out! Drove to Keauhou to the condo, Kanaloa at Kona, and got checked in. The complex is on a lava point. I had us booked in a partial ocean view thru a package that I got with Outrigger. The package included the room and the car. The lady at the front desk was showing us where our room was on the property map and made the statement that we had a better view than the people in another building that was classified as ocean view. That was promising. We parked and found room 3404. You enter into a foyer with a place to take of your shoes, you are in Hawaii after all, then walk up a flight of stairs to the living area. The view from our 1st balcony was of a little bay that I learned later is called He'eia or Walker Bay. We walked around a bit and explored. There are mongoose and wild cats everywhere. We also had geckos on the balcony. We went to the shopping center up the street to do our grocery shopping. Not bad, cost us $114 and that included whisky and mai tai fixin's. After we got the groceries put away and the luggage unpacked we went back to the shopping center for dinner. Should have went with the gut feeling and stuck with the over priced burgers instead of the horribly overpriced and substandard pizza at Rocky's Pizza. This was the absolute worst pizza we have ever had. The only good thing I can say is that the beer was cold. If you are ever in Keauhou and this is your only option, drive to Kona!! Back at the condo we had drinks on the lanai (do they call it that even if it is not at ground level?). By 7:30 we were exhausted since it was 10:30 back home. Called it a day. Fell asleep listening to the waves!
posted by Sherri @ 4:45 PM
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