Friday, July 10
Woke up and packed up, breakfast at the airport instead of the Marriott, non appealing menu at the hotel. The shuttle was awaiting us, so we were there easily by 8:30.
Flight AS932 direct for OGG to LAS leaves at 10:36 am. The flight in from San Jose was a little late, so we took off closer to 11:10am. No issues and we were in Las Vegas by 7:20pm, about 10 minutes late, and to South Point, grabbing a bite to eat at Baja Miguel’s by 9pm, really our 6pm!
A nice 3 weeks, but we are both anxious to get home. Western Canada RV trip in 3 weeks, for 3 weeks!
Thursday, July 9
A nice morning to pack up and clean up the condo. We had lots of food and crap to get rid of. We left about 11:30 am. Hertz check-in was quick and we racked up 1503 miles over the 3 weeks we were visiting. It is a BIG island!
Our flight to Maui is at 1:56, AS 1259. We arrived at the airport, checked in quickly and arrived in Maui right on time. Gate 12 is new at Kona and is air-conditioned.
The Marriott Airport shuttle showed up quickly after Sandy called and we were in room 231 by 3pm. Lots of food trucks on both sides of the hotel and the Costco directly across! The Krispy Kreams was just down the road, per 97.9 Wowie FM station we picked up in Waikoloa, so I made the trek, easy-peasy for dessert. We ate in the hotel, basic so-so food, I had the cobb salad and Sandy had the cheeseburger!
Wednesday, July 8
Breakfast was eggs and steak and fruit, leftovers. We had to run to pick up a dozen eggs and the packing continued. We were shooting to get the family out the door by 11am, they left about 10:30. We recommended they drop their baggage at the curb, while Tommy returned the car to the Hertz counter, less stuff to carry on the shuttle bus. They arrived with plenty of time.
Their Hawaiian flight to SMF was on time and they had a more pleasant flight on the return home. So they told us. They made it home to Rohnert Park by 12:30 am, ouch.
We ran into Kona in the afternoon. Sandy wanted to visit the Quilt Passions store, lot’s of cool stuff and fabrics. We shipped 2 large USPS flat rate boxes home from the new Post Office (by the new Safeway) and picked up a pizza from Kona Crust, NY style pizza, NOT, but it worked.
The afternoon and evening was to pack and relax and munch …
Tuesday, July 7 – Rosie Family last day
Breakast at the Kona Biscuit, slammed and shorthanded, the meal was painfully slow. I never received my meal and when it did, I refused and asked that it be taken off the bill. The portions are so huge, that Sandy split hers with me.
Off to Waipio Valley overlook through Waimea and then the trip to Hilo, quick stop at Akaka Falls, for the Farmer’s Market. We thought Wednesday, with a cruise ship in port would be overflowing, but it was a litlle smaller than usual.
Back via Saddle Road and a last dinner 5:30 pm dinner reservation at the Ocean Restaurant on site. The meals are quite food, the mac-nut ono was fantastic. The sunset heat was brutal, we wrapped up quickly.
The evening was a confusion of packing the Matthew clan up. They are departing about 10am tomorrow for their 12:56 pm flight to SMF.
Monday, July 6 – Beach Day
Our last day with Doug and Lauren, so we headed to A-Beach for a bit of water toys and fun.
Rylan took to the water just great but with the wind blowing, all didn’t last long and headed back to the pool for a lazy afternoon and family steak BBQ before driving them down to the airport for their 9pm ‘ish departure on Delta 486 to LAX, a 3 hour layover and their flight to PHX. They arrived safely in LAX in the early hours of Tuesday.
Sunday, July 5 – Pool Day
Something new at the Ocean’s Beach bar/restaurant. They have Sunday brunch, twice a month. Reservation for 10 today at 11am. Good eats.
Girls went shopping to the King’s Shops and the boys stayed with the girls at the pool.
Dinner at the Manta, Mauna Kea resort at 5:45pm! The manta rays did not disappoint after dinner, the girls were excited to see them do their loops in the shallow water.
Tomorrow night, Doug and Lauren head home.
Saturday, July 4 – HAPPY 250th America!
Another leisure day, went to the Queen’s Marketplace for keiki activities. Walked around in the blistering heat, Sandy was a litle deydrated.
Lunch at Lava-Lava beach club It’s hard to not choose this place for lunch/cocktails, the breeze is always super and the menus have improved from 2 years ago. The 2 water babies spent from about 3-6pm in the pool having a great time with the parents, uncles/aunties and granparents, we all got a turn in the water. Aidyn has really lost her fear of the water, she is a little Evil Knievel!
Dinner was mom’s spaghetti for all of us. We passed on the trip to Kona to see the fireworks, we were all a litle wiped out.
Friday, July 3 – FISH ON
An early rising for Doug, Tommy and Scott. On the Huntress (again) at 5:30 and back to the harbor about 3:30-4pm. Jackpot score: 60-70 pound yellowfin tuna with Tommy, 700-800 catch and release blue marlin with Doug and a 150 pound marlin with Tommy later in the day. I took a by, no sense in getting my back in another ‘situation’.
The girls had a spa day at the Hilton and I got to program, by hand, the KX3 for a POTA US-4565 activation. All I need to do is find the time. Without the proper tools and cables, it is tough for me to use the memory keyer. As Tracy always said, use a checklist!
Thursday, July 2
Leisure breakfast, Scott and Maryann, and Rosie and Tommy to Volcano and a tour of the island. The rest of us – at the pool and lunch and maybe naps!
Dinner was burgers at the Matthews 14E residence!
Wednesday, July 1
Mayhem – today we picked up the Matthews families at the airport. They arrived at 10am and we met them to help offload the luggage, child seats and just unburden them as much as possible. They picked up a Dodge Durango at Hertz, seats 7 or 8, perfect for them!
The day was spent waiting for 14E to be ready (right at 4pm), watching the FIFA USA game and swimming in the pool! A nice relaxing time for all, but the girls didn’t have their nap, a little concerning for dinner time.
To ease the day, we had a reservation for 10 at the Roost Steakhouse in the Queen’s Marketplace. Wednesday is 2 for 1 18 ounce prime rib, so … we had 8 orders! For the $65 price, not too bad. Not Lawry’s, but it panned out just fine.
Early to bed for us and the girls, a good sleep for all!
Tuesday, June 30
A nice leisurely morning, with a quick breakfast and lunch at the Four Season’s. It’s a beautiful view and lunch is pretty good.
Dinner was at the Napua (Restaurant at Mauna Lani Beach Club), outside to the left of the Mauna Lani Resort. It is the ONLY restaurant on the island that is covered by the REZZY American Express Platinum card. The Ono was very good, we all split two meals, the drinks were pretty good and the $100/quarter credit is pretty cool. Interesting that this is the only restaurant on the island that qualifies.
Makaiwa Bay snorkeling is open for the public after 5pm, before that the gate is closed to residents of the Mauna Lani Beach Club the only.
Monday, June 29
Tried the Kona Biscuit for breakfast, located in the Queen’s MarketPlace. Good eats, lots of variety and they turn the restaurant into a steak dinner place on Thursday-Sunday evenings.
Drove to the Mauna Lani to check the festivities for the 37th annual Turtle Independence day launch on the 4th. The turtles aren’t quite ready, so there will be no release, but plenty of keiki conservation activities. We’ll see how it goes!
We headed down to the Hula Lamp shop to pick up one more lamp for bedroom #1, this one,Wailani, does the hula!
Lunch at the Ocean Beach Club on the premises, the mahi tacos were pretty good!
Doug and Lauren arrive this evening on Delta flight 311. It’s a little tough picking up folks in the dark, but we managed. We took them to the Marlin Bar about 8:15 and we pretty much closed down the place by 9:00 pm
Sunday, June 28
A slow day today, we went to Macy’s, Safeway and Costco for a few more incidentals. Nice and easy!
Salad and Costco chicken leftovers for dinner.
Saturday, June 27
Field Day and Kilauea #50 eruption. Not sure what to do, I elected to play radio and call CQ FD. I was at Giada’s Beach south of the Hilton from about 10-12 noon. Nada, I’m pointed the wrong direction and running QRP. I picked the wrong time of day for west coast contacts, later in the day would have been better, but still on the west side is tough to the mainland. Back at the condo, I played a bit more and managed to connect with an LAX station for ONE whole FD contact.
Should have taken the trip down to Volcano, would have been more fruitful.
Spaghetti and salad for dinner, yummy!
Friday, June 26
7:30 departure for the airport, arrived at 8:00 am, dropped Tony and Tess off. Their checkin was simple and painless.
Breakfast down Alii Drive at the Lava-Lava Beach Club, yummy MacNut pancakes and Eggs Benedict.
A stop at the new Safeway, very nice. The old one, above the Walmart is still there, but for sale, I guess.
Back at the condo to relax and we did a quick stroll through the Friday 2-4pm Farmer’s Market in the Queen’s Marketplace. No real produce, but lots of trinkets.
Dinner was chicken tacos, a nice way to unwind.
Thursday, June 25
Our day for the volcano! It is predicted that Kilauea would fountain between the 25 and the 27th. Off we went down the coast. First stop was Kona Joe’s, then Miranda Farms down in Ocean View/Naalehu and then the Volcano House for lunch. A little cloudy in places.
The view from the Volcano House was pretty good, but we drove out to the Jagger Museum, now demolished for another vantage point. The Park Service, interestingly enough, kept the bathrooms! No spouting or spitting, just a lot of steam and different yellow and orange swatches on the ground due to the sulfur build-up.
From there, we drove out to the East Road and the Devastation Trail overlook. The East Road was the one we travelled with Nana long ago, it is now closed because of the collapse of the caldera. From there, it was a short 0.85 mile walk to the overlook. From this location, you can see both vents, from the Jagger Museum, you see the south vent and the north vent is hidden.
We kept driving Highwy 11 down to Hilo, up over Saddle Road again and arrived at the Queen’s Market Tommy Bahama’s for dinner. A long day and Tony and Tess are packing for their 10am Southwest flight to Sacramento.
Wednesday, June 24
Waikoloa snorkel lunch cruise from A-Bay! We woke up to a pretty good wind from the northeast. About 8:20 or so, we got a call that the boat was having problems and the departure time was pushed to 11am with a return of 2pm. Well, that allowed us to rethink the snorkle trip, none of us wanted super choppy water to contend with. So, we worked it out to our favor – the trip was cancelled for us and a refund was issued.
With that, we decided to head over to Hilo and look around. Our first stop was the Hilo’s Farmer’s Market (Wednesday and Saturday), it’s increased in size. Stop 2 was for lunch at the Hilo Bay Cafe for lunch, quite good! Stop 3 was the Kilauea Kreations II quilting store next to the S. Tokunaga Store, a fantastic fishing tackle store and finally, a trip to the Big Island Candies.
Back over Saddle Road, rainy and foggy until the crest. We arrived by 4pm, all is good!
Tuesday, June 23
Movie day, we went to see Disclosure Day at the Queen’s Market luxury movie theater, kinda like Coral Cliifs at home.
I think I fell asleep for parts of it, but over all, it was pretty good. We shopped at the Kings and Queens Market place, things are a little slow, crowd-wise. After the movie, we hit the market for a few more ingredients for our Costco steak dinner, yummy!
Monday, June 22
An early bird for our charter on the Huntress at 6:45. Onboard were Capt Jack and deckhand Chris for a nice half/day fishing cruise. The slip is easy to find, pass the gas dock and at the 2nd speed bump.
The seat rotation was determined with Tess, Tony, Sandy and I. Well, Tess hooked into a 175 pound marlin about 2 hours in the trip. It was quite the exercise for those 45 minutes of fighting time. The rest of us got skunked out, we were hoping for one more, oh well. We were back on shore at 1pm.
We headed back to the condo to clean up and and had a delicious spagehtti dinner.
Sunday, June 21
Again, a slow startup. We had Huevos Rancheros, with Tony and Tess. Excellent!
We headed down to Don’s MaiTai bar, only to find that the MaiTai flights are no longer. We had pupus and We had pupus and drove back up to Costco for a few more items to the condo – dinner was at the Manta in the Mauna Lani complex.
The Manta did not disappoint! After dinner was a quick stroll to the viewing platform for the Manta Rays. Kinda a little to late for the party divers se more. <ondat
Saturday, June 20
First morning, beautiful weather, and comfortable beds!
Nice and leisure breakfast that Sandy whipped up. We took a trip up the coast to Kamuela for the Farmer’s Market, it has grown a little and the produce is still amazing. Strawberry papaya, 3 for $5 and the white pineapple at 7$/pound.
Tex’ Malasadas didn’t disappoint and the apple, pineapple and Bavarian cream fillings were delicious. We probably should have held out until AFTER lunch, oh well …
Our appointment was at 12:30 for the Hawaiian Vanilla Company lunch and tour. Again the farm didn’t disappoint and the chicken burger meal was amazing. These vanilla folks really like their product and their efforts show.
We returned via the middle belt road, stopped at Ace Hardware, Foodland and KTA in Kamuela for a few more items. Monday, we have a fishing trip and we need to bring our own food and drink, we are all set now.
Dinner was burgers and corn, delicious. But, we first hit the pool bar for a Mai-Tai and other adult beverages. Things are getting a little more expensive, non happy hour price, $18, still yummy though.
Again, early to bed, I think we are getting our bodies adjusted.
Friday June 19
Woke up at 3:30 am for our flights to Maui and Kona. There is no direct flight from LAS to KOA so we are forced to make these connections in either Kona or Honolulu.
Flight AS9111 and 1140 were both on time. Hawaiian Airlines gives off the vibe that they are bought out and fading away. It was great to be on time. Luggage arrived as well, the Hertz car was another Buick and we were at the condo, Waikoloa Haliikai 14G by 4:30 or so.
Tony and Tess arrrived on time, around noon or so and made their way to the condo via Uber. I pre-checked with the front desk and the Waikoloa Coast management outfit, they had the pool keys and car pass ready.
A quick run to the Island Market and dinner was some delicious wines, champagnes and charcuterie, delicious. Groth Sauvignon Blanc, Rose of Grenache and then some bubbly Schramsberg Blanc de Blance 2015.
We were early to bed!
Thursday, June 18
Quick trip in the afternoon to South Point for our early trip.