Kona Sugar Shack Kailua-Kona

... area has all the upscale shopping like Louis Vuitton and Tiffany, and also has a sort of regular mall with stores like Claires and Pac Sun. The resort also features petroglyphs and the ancient fish ponds. It's pretty cool.

We just grabbed dinner at a reasonably priced thai restaurant in the mall area and grabbed some Hawaiian beer to bring back to the room. I went swimming in ...

... the mountain, just as it hit the water and there seemed to be much more than the last time we saw it years ago. For some reason the pictures didn't turn out. The camera wasn't on the right setting I guess.

We don't get into Phoenix until midnight Saturday night so anyone who calls Sunday morning will be beheaded! Ha

Don't really have anything to say but will try to have a funny story next time.

SnV

... you have a version of the loco moco, which is a typical local Hawaiian breakfast, lunch or dinner. Most often, it is made with a ˝ lb beef patty, eggs any style, rice (white or fried) and brown gravy over the top. Last time I was here, I had that one and one made with corned beef hash instead of the hamburger patty and gravy. Marya's favorite was (and still is...she made it for us for breakfast at Christmas time) the version with ...

... the bottom, pointing our flashlights overhead. What happens is that tiny plankton collect in the light beam (like bugs, sort of), and the mantas eat plankton, so they come swim right through your light beam, mouth open to feed. All of a sudden, there were eight giant manta rays swooping and swirling in a beautiful dance.

The mantas have wingspans of 8-12 feet on average. They weigh about 100 pounds per foot of wingspan, so the creatures we were ...

... elected to not drive to the "southernmost point of the US" once we were able to see the road across a stark, barren plain populated only by scrub grasses and wind turbines. Instead, we traveled on to the next National Park site on our list, the Pu'uhonua o Honaunau National Historical Park. This is the site of one of the Hawaiian royal living areas as well as a place of refuge, both areas well maintained and appropriately restored. The royal village was reserved only ...

This morning we took on the daunting task of circumventing the Big Island, starting here in our resort. We knew that it would be a long day, so we got an early start on the day, heading south down the Queen K. highway just after 7:00 a.m. We returned to Lava Java's today, and this time we were rewarded with their enormous cinnamon rolls. We took them outside to watch the harbor and look at the Diamond ...

... strategy of splitting our time between the eastside in Hilo and the westside in Kailua-Kona served us well. Finding accommodations during the Christmas holiday season proved to be difficult as the choice of accommodations even a month previous to the actual trip was limited. It was thus that we ended up at the Kona Seaside Hotel - the same hotel chain as the Hilo Seaside. As I compare the two hotels, it is apparent that the Kona Seaside is a better hotel ...

... flower they are.  Whatever they are, they seem to be the preferred home of certain spiders, who had the bushes just COVERED in their webs.  Larry said that the flowers must draw the bees that these spiders eat.  Good ecological balance here, I guess.  Now for a picture of my Himalayan cat headcover: Plus the strangest palm tree we've ever seen: And a bird I ...

... veggies for din din! Ohhh! So wierd walking into stores and hearing Aloha! and Mahalo when I leave! I need to learn more Hawaiian words! Tomorrow looks like more beach time, and possibly some shopping in Central Maui (I even found a Hawaiian scrapbook store, WOO!). Mahalo for reading, and Aloha! My dad will be using his laptop more during the week so my entries might be a bit more sporatic...Lata gatas! Miss ya lots (most of you ;) Sar

... Loa and Mauna Kea, the two big (both almost 14,000 feet) volcanoes on the Big Island. It's also worth talking about the volcanoes on the Big Island, which is composed of five volcanoes. Kohala, in the far north, is not expected to erupt again. However, that can not be said about the four remaining volcanoes. Mauna Kea, in the northeast, the highest point on the Big Island, has not erupted in millennia ...