Touring Kona with Mary Ellen & Michael

Curtis picked me up at 6:30 Saturday morning, to take me to my flight to Kona. On the way there we discussed Dad's strange behavior the previous night. Dad woke up around 11 pm while I was getting ready for bed. He asked me to help him put the clocks up in the window so that "they" could find us. He also had me leave the hallway light on so we would be safe until it was daylight. I watched him on the monitor and he remained sitting on the side of his bed for quite a while. Around 1:30 he lay down and started playing with his handheld video poker game, then turned out the lights about 2 am & went to sleep. We aren't sure if he was doing all this in his sleep. Or if he had a bad dream and woke up and was confused. Or if he was just plain confused. Whatever it was, I just played along since it wouldn't accomplish anything to try to reason with him about what was real.

As I walked to my gate, I finally saw the display about the 442nd Regimental Combat Team. I had heard there was a display at the airport about the Hawai'i Nisei Veterans but had never seen it. It can be found past the TSA screening area on the way to Gates 6 through 54; I was going to Gate 53, usually I get sent in the other direction to Gate 59.

Scale model of 442nd RCT infantryman.

I got to ride one of the new Hawaiian Airlines planes; the new look includes a lei to represent the Aloha of the islands. When I got to Kona I found that the new suitcase was easy to spot even from a distance. I was greeted at the airport by Mary Ellen & Michael; they arrived in Kona the day before. We spent the day together seeing a few of the sites in the Kona area.

New Hawaiian Airlines design; compare with the old design on the plane in the background.

I spotted the cat bag as soon as it came in to view!

One half of the welcoming committee!

We started out the day going to the farmers market in Kona. Even though the place they are staying at does not have any cooking facilities, Mary Ellen & Michael wanted to check out the market to see what was there. I had a great time showing them all the other varieties of things they could find in Hawai'i, like the many other types of avocados other than the Hass. While Mary Ellen was checking out some of the produce a gold dust day gecko came by to say hello. 


After the farmers market we went to Hulihe'e Palace; we wondered why the parking lot we were in had a post that said "TATTOO". It became apparent a few minutes later when we walked by the tattoo shop in the shopping area adjacent to the parking lot. We also saw the Holy Donut shop that is built to resemble a bus or maybe it is supposed to be a food truck; I don't really know.

Mary Ellen at the Holy Donut store front.

Hulihe'e Palace was amazing; it was built of lava rock, coral, and koa wood. At some point the original flooring was replaced with Douglas fir flooring. Before we entered, we had to remove our footwear. This was originally built in 1838 for King Kamehameha I.

Mary Ellen at the front door of Hulihe'e Palace.

We also went across the street to the Mokuaikaua Church which was built in 1836. The video explained that there were other structures used as places of worship by the congregation but they were outgrown until this structure was built.


Michael wanted to swim before dinner so we headed to Hapuna Beach State Park. While we were on our way out of Kona we saw a cell tower disguised as a palm tree. I'm not sure how many people it is fooling. 


We returned to Kona for dinner at Splashers Grill. Mary Ellen had the Captain's Plate, Michael had the 1/2 Rack BBQ Ribs, and I had the Ahi Tacos. We all enjoyed out meals.

Captain's Platter with 2 salads.

1/2 Rack BBQ Ribs.

Ahi Tacos.

After dinner Michael went in search of ice cream; we walked along the street front and found it at Kona Wave. It turns out we actually were looking at the side window from our table at Splashers, it just didn't say they served ice cream. They serve Tropical Dreams ice cream which is very good. And I will have to come back again to try their shave ice because their syrups are homemade from real fruit!

This is what we could see from Splashers.

Michael & Mary Ellen dropped me off at the Alamo car rental place at the airport so that I could pick up my rental car. Running around with them and delaying my pick up saved me a bunch of money since the hourly rate is outrageous. When I got to Kapa'au an hour later it was raining. And the hot spot would not work on Saturday night, which is why I am posting this info about the Saturday excursion on Sunday night! Hopefully the hot spot will work better now.

Happy Belated Pi Approximation Day! In other parts of the world the date is noted as 22/7, which mathematically represents 22 divided by 7 which is what pi is.