Kona Hawaii 2012

 

Obviously, a lot of pictures from the trip. We had a ball. The hotel we stayed in for the Park, Sleep and Fly was fabulous, in Millbrae and had underground, secured parking for the week and the total cost was less than $140. The trip to the airport on Monday from the hotel was flawless, although the driver of the van was listening to the Steve Harvey radio show and there was a bit on it where they take letters from the audience to a therapist and one lady had met a guy online, met him in the city, didn't like him, had sex and got bruised and hurt. Steve Harvey was merciless on this woman, telling her that she should have run when she thought he was ugly, but let "Robbie Rough" take her to bed and cause her pain and suffering. That she was ignorant and careless. The driver was embarrassed, but the 12 riders on board wouldn't let him turn it off.

The condo on Kona was a block from the beach and two blocks to the restaurants and shops on Ali'i Drive. The condo had two bedrooms with a Junior suite in the back with it's own mini kitchen and bathroom. Darla and I claimed that. It had it's own lanai outside the room with a table and chairs and was nice and quiet. The boys like to stay up late and we couldn't hear the TV from there. The condo was stocked with boogie boards and snorkel gear, beach umbrellas and coolers. Darla's brother, Steve, lives just five minutes east of the condo and we were able to get extra snorkels, boogie boards and umbrellas from him. Our flight was delayed from 9 AM until 11:30 on Monday, so we relaxed at the airport and started on our vacation books.  It was mid afternoon when we finally got in and we set up camp in the condo and then went down to the city front and found a nice pizza place to have an early dinner (we were two hours ahead on our stomach's clocks). We then went and did our grocery shopping for the week, loading up on milk, sodas, chips, breakfast items, lunch meats and some hamburger for tacos one night for dinner.

Tuesday we checked out the area, driving down to a snorkel spot and relaxing at the beach. We drove home for lunch (barbecued hot dogs) and then took the boogie boards out for a trip to Magic Sands beach. We relaxed back at the condo and had dinner. Wednesday was our ATV ride and we decided to be up early for the ninety minute ride to Waipaio. We wanted to stop halfway up and have breakfast at Hawaiian Style Cafe that was highly recommended by a co worker. The food was enormous, excellent and the service lightning fast. The pancakes were plate sized and the omelet's 4 eggs. David and Daniel both opted for Hawaiian fare with Portuguese sausage and brown gravy over their eggs. Odd. Darla and I stuck with traditional fare, although Darla had the Macadamia nut and banana pancakes. Good stuff.

We were lucky enough to get an ATV ride with just our family and two guides. The property is a 600 acre cattle ranch and their land extends from the ocean up to the mountains above. We rode up into the ranch lands encountering a small herd of wild Wapaio horses and some donkeys along the way. The ranch is huge and has 300 head of cattle on the ranch. They also have three large ponds of tilapia fish that they raise and sell to the restaurants. From there we ventured back to the barn and loaded up on bananas, sodas and snacks. We took those with us and headed to the lower part of the ranch along the coast. You can see some of the pictures from the coast after the ATV shots above. We were out for three hours and finished up tired, but thrilled with the experience. From there we drove into town and had lunch at the Big Tex drive-in, famous for their malasadas, which are a Portuguese doughnut rolled in sugar. Eaten hot, they are downright tremendous. We drove from lunch to Akaka Falls and then on to Hilo before heading home.

Thursday was another beach and snorkel day and we drove about 45 minutes to "Two Steps" beach, so named because the beach has two steps that have been worn into the lava and is a perfect spot to get into the water with your snorkel gear. I'm not big on the whole snorkel experience and tend to take on too much salt water. The boys and Darla were in the water for hours and I ventured out about 20 feet, saw the sights, and was back out of the water in about ten minutes. There was a large sea turtle that found it's way up on to the lava rock for a nap.

Friday, we relaxed in the morning and I made a quick trip to the pool for a mid morning nap before we made our way out to a beach with some sandwiches and had lunch. From there we drove the three hours to Kilauea Volcano, stopping at the famous black sand beach along the way. We stopped in the National Park to see the large lava tube that is an easy hike that you can walk through and then up to the crater where the steam and lava is in evidence. We went after dark at Steve's suggestion and were able to see the red glow that shines up from the crater at night. It was about 50 degrees there and you can see us in coats and long pants. From there  we drove back and stopped for dinner at the southernmost tip of the United States and had dinner at Hana Hou cafe, the southernmost restaurant in the United States. It is a restaurant and bakery and was packed with locals singing and dancing with the two man band at the front of the restaurant. Darla met a guy who bought a gated property. He said it has three cattle gates on the property and was as close as he'd get to a gated community.

We spent the weekend with Steve and Kirsten, spending Saturday at Kau beach where you can see the boys and Steve going boogie boarding and Darla and Kirsten trying to ruin a perfectly good nap for me. We went to their house for dinner Saturday and played bocce ball at the park across from their home before dinner. Steve then cooked ribs for us on the barbecue. Sunday we went back to Magic Sands before going to dinner at Lu Lu's in Kona. The boys went to the Kona Brewery after dinner and Darla and I went back to relax and pack for our trip home.

It was a great trip. We put over 600 miles on the rental car, a Chevy Traverse with seating for 8. We planned our food just right and had just a few condiments and some snacks for Steve and Kirsten. I will be back at the computer this weekend, but Darla and I are off to a two night stay at a Victorian Bed and Breakfast in Half Moon Bay Friday and Saturday. I hope you are all well and living a happy and healthy life. Ciao.