Hawaii Bound - Saturday
May 17 2008
Up early as usual on the first day. Made coffee and our first breakfast of the trip. The kitchen in this unit could use some remodeling. Everything must be original. I think this was the same electric stove my Gramma had in her house in Bellflower back in the 70's. We ate on the balcony and enjoyed the view. All in all, this place was awesome. You just have to look past the fact that this is an older complex. The grounds are well maintained and the staff is very friendly. Matt went for a run along Ali'i Drive. This is the street that they do the run portion of the Ironman on. I went the other direction, toward the Sheraton down the way. I had heard that they shine a light down the cliffs at night and it attracts manta rays so I wanted to see how far of a walk this was. My first detour was down the path to He'eia Bay. I then walked down the street to where it dead ends at Keauhou Bay. The outrigger canoe club was just getting into their canoes for practice. As you circle the bay there is a monument to King Kamehameha III since he was born there. I felt very peaceful there. Next stop Sheraton. When you walk out to the edge of the cliffs you can look right down into the ocean and see fish! I saw a school of yellow tang and this was from about 15 feet above the water. I started to head back and I realized that I never started the timer on my watch or looked at what time I left. I must have been gone quite a while since Matt came looking for me. After a shower we headed into Kona. We liked it better that Lahaina. It still has that same feel but much more local and not as crowded. This may have an impact on local business though since there were a lot of empty storefronts. It is also a little rundown but also probably due to lack of tourist dollars. Still that is part of its charm. The annual canoe regatta was going on at the pier so we watched that for a bit. Then we went to a place right across the street called Fishhopper's for a couple of beers. We had already decided that we were not going to eat in town since it would be expensive and the theme of this trip was 'budget'. The manager, Bonnie, was our bartender and she was the best! She told us about a couple of Mixed Plate places that locals go to. She also gave us samples of their pina colada that is made with fresh pineapple and another drink called a Pineapple Hopper. It was just like a Dole Whip but with rum in it. Which I thought was perfect since the last time Tam and I went to Disneyland and had a Dole Whip I told her the only thing that would make it better would be rum. We took a walk to Moku'aikaua Church down the street. The original church was built in 1820 and was replaced with the current church in 1837. I am always amazed at how old things are in Hawaii since there are not alot of things that old in CA. The youth group there was having a fund raiser so we bought hot dogs and cookies from them. Cheap lunch and speading the Aloha at the same time. I told Matt this was good karma. Of course it is rough being on vacation so we headed back to the condo for a short nap. We had Iced Coffee on the lanai and read through all those magazines that you pick up at the airport. They do give you really good ideas about things to do and places to see. The geckos were out in force today. We had 3 on the lanai, one baby on the floor in the living room and one on the inside of the screen door in the bedroom. It is supposed to be good luck to have them inside. Later we made cocktails and went to watch the sunset but there was still too much vog. You really couldn't tell where the sun was but that was ok, we were in Hawaii! The news said the trade winds would be picking up and pushing the vog out. We were in bed early since our trip to see Gramma's property was the next day and we needed to get an early start.
Up early as usual on the first day. Made coffee and our first breakfast of the trip. The kitchen in this unit could use some remodeling. Everything must be original. I think this was the same electric stove my Gramma had in her house in Bellflower back in the 70's. We ate on the balcony and enjoyed the view. All in all, this place was awesome. You just have to look past the fact that this is an older complex. The grounds are well maintained and the staff is very friendly. Matt went for a run along Ali'i Drive. This is the street that they do the run portion of the Ironman on. I went the other direction, toward the Sheraton down the way. I had heard that they shine a light down the cliffs at night and it attracts manta rays so I wanted to see how far of a walk this was. My first detour was down the path to He'eia Bay. I then walked down the street to where it dead ends at Keauhou Bay. The outrigger canoe club was just getting into their canoes for practice. As you circle the bay there is a monument to King Kamehameha III since he was born there. I felt very peaceful there. Next stop Sheraton. When you walk out to the edge of the cliffs you can look right down into the ocean and see fish! I saw a school of yellow tang and this was from about 15 feet above the water. I started to head back and I realized that I never started the timer on my watch or looked at what time I left. I must have been gone quite a while since Matt came looking for me. After a shower we headed into Kona. We liked it better that Lahaina. It still has that same feel but much more local and not as crowded. This may have an impact on local business though since there were a lot of empty storefronts. It is also a little rundown but also probably due to lack of tourist dollars. Still that is part of its charm. The annual canoe regatta was going on at the pier so we watched that for a bit. Then we went to a place right across the street called Fishhopper's for a couple of beers. We had already decided that we were not going to eat in town since it would be expensive and the theme of this trip was 'budget'. The manager, Bonnie, was our bartender and she was the best! She told us about a couple of Mixed Plate places that locals go to. She also gave us samples of their pina colada that is made with fresh pineapple and another drink called a Pineapple Hopper. It was just like a Dole Whip but with rum in it. Which I thought was perfect since the last time Tam and I went to Disneyland and had a Dole Whip I told her the only thing that would make it better would be rum. We took a walk to Moku'aikaua Church down the street. The original church was built in 1820 and was replaced with the current church in 1837. I am always amazed at how old things are in Hawaii since there are not alot of things that old in CA. The youth group there was having a fund raiser so we bought hot dogs and cookies from them. Cheap lunch and speading the Aloha at the same time. I told Matt this was good karma. Of course it is rough being on vacation so we headed back to the condo for a short nap. We had Iced Coffee on the lanai and read through all those magazines that you pick up at the airport. They do give you really good ideas about things to do and places to see. The geckos were out in force today. We had 3 on the lanai, one baby on the floor in the living room and one on the inside of the screen door in the bedroom. It is supposed to be good luck to have them inside. Later we made cocktails and went to watch the sunset but there was still too much vog. You really couldn't tell where the sun was but that was ok, we were in Hawaii! The news said the trade winds would be picking up and pushing the vog out. We were in bed early since our trip to see Gramma's property was the next day and we needed to get an early start.
posted by Sherri @ 5:22 PM
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