The Last Few Days

Hapuna Beach State Park.

The final three days of our visit to the Big Island were filled with shopping, eating and a bit of exploring.

Our exploring took us from Kailua-Kona up Hwy 19 to Hapuna Beach State Park area. We looked around there a bit and checked out a couple beaches and then we drove on to Waimea where we stopped for coffee and a leg stretch.

This drive took us through lava flows to the cattle ranching part of the island. The big ranch in this area is the Parker Ranch and it covers over 250,000 acres on the Big Island. We tried to figure out if we were related to the Parkers just so we could maybe secure a few acres of the ranch for a little vacation spot, but it didn't work out.

After coffee, we followed Hwy 190 back around to where it completed the loop and we returned home.

Waimea is a neat town. It looked to be really clean and had a good vibe. About mid-week, Linda and I had met one of the former students from ASNIC, Katie Hruska, for coffee. She now lives in Waimea and met us in Kailua-Kona at Ola Brewing. It was good to see her again and we got some really good info on living in Hawaii. We have decided that we probably can't afford to live the Hawaiian lifestyle, especially on our fixed incomes.

Thursday was snorkeling and shopping day. We spent the morning in the water swimming with fish at Kahalu'u Beach Park. We all enjoyed this area and agreed that the snorkeling area had the best fish viewing any of us had experienced.

Our afternoon was filled with shopping and goofing off. Later in the evening Dale and Judy took us out for my birthday dinner at Jackie Ray's Ohana Grill. We had a great dinner and the food was fantastic!

A historical site near our condo. Ancient house foundation.

Our final day was spent shopping and eating. We walked the main street and enjoyed the sunset from our favorite little restaurant, Island Lava Java. Then when we got back to the place we played our nightly games of Skip-Bo (which Linda won again), packed our suitcases and went to bed.

We were up early and finished packing as we ate breakfast. Linda and I were leaving first so Dale and Judy dropped us off at the airport right around 9:00 AM. They were not leaving until about 2:00 PM so they went back into town, had coffee and hung out.

Linda snorkeling at Kahalu'u Beach Park. 

We checked in with Alaska and went through security. At our gate, we settled in with plenty of time before our flight was to leave at 11:20 AM. As we neared our boarding time the Alaska folks started getting antsy and then we heard that our flight had been delayed. Information was limited, but the scuttlebutt was that there was a malfunction and parts were being sent from Honolulu. The flight was officially delayed.

We waited, and waited. As time passed passengers were called up to the desk and flights were rebooked due to missed connecting flight. Linda diligently kept track of all this and when it was clear that we would not make our connecting flight she went into action. Not only did she talked to the super nice Alaska agent, but Linda also connected with our travel agent from home, Sue, who looked us up and found that Alaska had gotten us switched to another flight though no one had let us know that. The Alaska agent checked flight status and booked us on an outgoing flight to Seattle and then got us connected to Spokane. We would arrive in Spokane later than planned but we would get there in a long day of travel. Linda and the Alaska agent confirmed the flight changes and rearranged our seating so that we were sitting next to each other throughout the flights.

A lizard eating at Jackie Ray's Ohana Grill. 

I then contacted our neighbors, Steve and Jodi, asking if they were available to pick us up. We had previously made plans for a friend, Rayelle, to pick us up but we had asked her to change her pick-up plans several times and didn't want her to be out so late with work, family and all. Once again we turned to our neighbors who came through and got us home.

Our luggage didn't fare as well, but on Saturday at noon a van pulled up to our house and dropped off the two bags that had made their way through Portland to Spokane.

We are all caught up on the "get home" stuff and even though we are tired all is well. Hawaii was a wonderful adventure and great fun with Dale and Judy! We thank them again for the wonderful invite to explore another Hawaiian island. Now back to the snow. Aloha!

My free birthday cake.