The Big Island

• Hallmike's Profile
• About this blog
• Entry from Kailua-Kona

Trip Start Nov 16, 2007 Previous
Entry Trip End Nov 25, 2007

  Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, United States
Wednesday, November 21, 2007

4:45 am wake up call for the flight to Kona on the Big Island.  We had to fly back to Honolulu and change planes.  Once here, we went to get our car - we had reserved a Jeep 4x4 but of course they were out of those!  They gave us a Trailblazer instead.  Just another slight adjustment to be made after all the other changes on this trip.

It was way too early to check into our hotel, so after a late breakfast we did some shopping.  I (MJ) found an art gallery with pieces by Dale Chihuly so we went inside.  I have been a fan of his since the '80s.  There were several beautiful pieces but one really caught my eye.  The sales lady explained all about the piece and removed it from it's glass case so we could see it better.  Long story short, I decided to buy it!  It was the first time we'd ever got a hug from a sales lady! lol  I look at it as an investment I can actually enjoy looking at

The Big Island

.  They are going to ship it to our house in about a week.

Then we met our tour guide for our hike through the rainforest to see waterfalls.  We had a great guide who threw away the script and went free-form.  He told us all about the history of the area and showed us plants and scenery.  He was very knowledgable and really cared about his land and his culture.  His goal was to teach the younger generation everything so they could carry on the traditions and revitalize interest in the past so it wouldn't be lost forever.  It was a wonderful hike and we would recommend it to anyone.  We got his email so if you are coming here we'll give you his nane and he'll give you the "locals tour".

After the tour we drove to our hotel and checked in when our old friend the travel gremlin struck again. The hotel did not have any ocean view rooms with one bed like we had reserved months ago. We could either get a non-ocean view with a king bed OR an ocean view with two double beds.  I wasn't happy about either choice but was worn down from the long day and chose the view over the beds. 

We hauled all our stuff to the room and saw how small the beds were and decided to try a slight deception

North shore cliffs

.  We put our wedding rings on the married hand and went back to the desk.  I told the clerk, Casey, that we weren't happy and asked if there was anything he could do since we were on our honeymoon and had this booked months ago.  He still said there were no rooms available, but check back tomorrow.   Then chickie did a great impression of a pissed off new bride and he suddenly got a scared look in his eye.  She was just acting but it seemed to work.  Casey told us he would do some checking and he would call us in our room and told us not to unpack yet.

A few minutes later he called and asked which was more important to us - the view or the beds.  I was starting to get cranky so I told him we had paid for both months ago and we were not  happy.  He told me to hold on while he checked something and suddenly a room magically appeared before him.  He gave us an ocean front with two king beds!  I still don't know where this room was hiding all this time but it sure was worth pestering them for!

The Big Island is an interesting place from what we've seen so far.  There is a LOT of lava flows that look fairly fresh because they don't have any vegetation growing on them yet.  The older flows have scrubby brush and grasses.  This side of the island gets very little rain and is a desert but the other side is lush and green.

Tomorrow we get to sleep late and go to the top of Mauna Kea (the tallest volcano in the world and depending on how you measure it, the tallest mountain too) for an observatory visit to see the stars.....

Post your own travel photos for friends and family More Pictures

us by a waterfall

MJ's new art purchase

Slideshow Print this entry Share Kailua-Kona hotels

Previous Entry