aloha from kailua-kona

I just about don't know where to begin (in a good way).  Thank you, Keith, for getting up in the dark o'clock wee hours and ferrying us to the airport!  All three flights yesterday (Tulsa to DFW, DFW to LAX, LAX to Kona) were on time and arrived ahead of schedule!  When does that happen?!  They were comfortable flights, there were nice people to interact with all around us, good times hangin' out in the airports in the in-between times.  We even got some good nappin' time on the LA to Kona leg, since when we landed in Kona it was 9pm Kona time, but our body clocks were registering 4 hours later and we'd been up since 4am.  Even with that we got to enjoy watching The Life of Pi while we feasted on a tasty fruit/nut/cheese/cracker/humus and wine snack tray.  So, date night in the sky, right?

Our condo reservations didn't begin until today, so we took a taxi from the airport (yea for no lost luggage!) to the Kona Seaside Hotel.  We thoroughly enjoyed the conversation we had with our Armenian driver, such a colorful, interesting man! 

This morning we had a yummy breakfast at Splashers, just down the street from the hotel, and this was the view from our table.  This place has fish tacos on the menu so you KNOW we'll be back!
We enjoyed a lovely 2 mile walk along the waterfront, checked out of the Kona Seaside and headed back to pick up our sweet ride for the next two weeks, a Jeep Compass!  On the way back into town we checked out Kaloko-Honololau Nat'l Park and your dad/Rob got his National Parks passport stamped.  I don't know who gets more excited about this process.....him or the nat'l parks personnel who always seem delighted that we have the passport.....but it's becoming a tradition!  We'll return to this park to explore, for sure, because we've read that sea turtles are abundant here this time of year.

Next stop was Walmart to stock up on 'provisions' for the next few days.  Walmarts are frequent stops for us in our travels, but seldom does one have a view like this.....

That retaining wall is made from chunks of lava rock.....abundant stuff around here.

Tonite we just hung out and explored our 'home' for the next two weeks, Wyndham Royal Sea Cliffs Resort. Not a bad place to be at sunset, or anytime, for that matter.....

 

Aloha and nitey-nite;)