Our first beach venture and birthday fish tacos!

We spent a lazy Saturday morning in this lovely 'home away from home' and then ventured north about 30 miles up Queen Kaahumanu Hwy. (herein after to be referred to as Hwy. 19, although it's not near as much fun to try to pronounce) to Puako Bay to 'test the waters' on what turned out to be an extraordinarily windy day.

 

 

This was a beautiful place (just south of Hapuna Beach, Ronna, perhaps similar to what you'd recommended) and there was a wonderful over-arching pine tree that provided some filtered shade (we began to miss the 'vintage' 1986 umbrellas we took to Solana Beach on our car trip last fall).

Then we headed back into Kona to the Fish Hopper for AMAZING clam chowder, yummy fish tacos (definitely got some ideas about how to 'up' my fish taco game at home) and key lime pie and....oh my....macadamia nut chocolate pie........what?  you say?  BUT IT'S MY BIRTHDAY......plus we laughed ourselves silly at all the people getting 'high tide' splashed walking along the sea wall across the street!  

And then back at the ranch, there's the hot tub;)

Then Sunday morning we enjoyed a walk down Ali'i Drive to the Living Stones Church (0.8 mile south) and were totally blessed!  Felt immediately welcomed and enjoyed surveying the childrens' area:party tents everywhere, blankets spread out for littles to crawl/sleep upon, jump house (probably a permanent fixture) and several tents for coffee, bookstore, kids' classes.  There is actually a lovely building which seated about 250 plus the worship band and then 350 folding chairs outside under tents RIGHT BY THE WATER....oh, and the lava rocks, which, by now, are part of our schema for everything.

 

The worship songs were familiar and so wonderful, the message was powerful and challenging (how to be IN the world-and SHAPE it-without being OF the world) and we're so glad we found this place!  Thank you, Abba Father!

Then we changed into beach wear, snagged our favorite fare from Subway, and headed to Maninio-wali Beach (part of Kekaha Kai State Park) 12 miles north of Kona. 

Once again, it was pretty windy, but the sun was so warm and inviting......as were the wild goats along the side of the road as we entered the park....the wonderfully windy road(we're accustomed to this now).  Rob/your dad found a great parking place along the road to the actual parking lot (we knew better than to expect there to be a place in THAT lot on a sunny Sunday afternoon) so we set out to enjoy a new beach.  Once we navigated what we're now calling 'Pele's Revenge' (this sharp, jagged lava rock that you must cross to get from here to there) we found a couple of places to sit and enjoy the many colors of the water, the antics of the boogie boarders, and general people watching.

Watched the sunset, from our now favorite 'perch' here at the resort, some comfy outdoor couches on an open veranda area on level 5 (there are 7 levels at this resort).  We always forget to take the camera when we walk down there, but we'll try to remedy that before we depart because this view is just too sweet to keep to ourselves.  So just hang on.......