David & Fawn's Getaways: Hawaii Adventure - Day 3

4:30 am - We both woke up and couldn’t sleep any longer. But, as we thought about it, we had slept 8 hours, so that was enough. So, we showered and ate breakfast so that we could attend the resort orientation meeting. We figured out that neither one of us were up to attending Church today. The meeting started at 9 am—the same time as the orientation meeting.

9:00 am – We listened to an informative presentation about the Big Island. We were told it has more square miles than all the other Hawaiian islands combined. The host gave us general information about the different areas of the island and invited vendors to give their pitch throughout the meeting. We found that the events we had signed up for were just right for us. One of the vendor reps gave a great presentation on a volcano & lava tour that sold us almost immediately. Mostly, because they do all the driving, so I’ll be able to see the sights too. They also know where the stop for the best view. So, we signed up for that tour on Wednesday.

10:00 am – We walked the ‘Botanical Path’ near our condo and saw that there is a beautiful golf course between the resort property and the ocean. This is a photo I took—it looks like post card photo. But, then again, most everything we see looks like a post card photo.

We also saw some cool fan shaped palm trees at a building next to ours. The buildings we are in all look about the same. This is a photo from the end of the building.

Fan Palm - Another View

10: 30 am - Back at the condo, we both felt beat already, so we took a nap, read and just relaxed until lunch.

12:30 pm – Lunch was peanut butter sandwiches with local honey—very tasty.

1:30 pm – We left the condo to explore some of the local beach parks. We weren’t up to swimming—just watching. We drove up Ali’i Drive and found a beach park that actually had a parking place left. The parking lot bordered an archeologically sensitive area that had some old building foundations.

This area had signs that said 'Kapu' on them.
We found out later 'Kapu' means death, but the modern
translation is 'No Trespassing'.

We also saw a peaceful little cove with a house—or maybe a resort property right on the beach. What a beautiful setting!

What would it be like to wake up with this view every day?

At the beach there were a lot of kids with boogie boards having a great time in the waves.

It looked like the perfect spot for family fun. We just sat on some of the flatter lava rocks up further on the beach and watched the surfers for about an hour. There were kids of all ages on their boards—most of them looked like they spent a lot of time at the beach.

3:00 pm - We drove further north on Ali’i Drive looking for more beach parks, but didn’t find any. We did come across a local farmer’s market with all kinds of fruits, vegetables, jewelry, clothing, etc. It was great fun browsing. I know we shouldn’t have been shopping on Sunday, but we did. It’s something we do so rarely, that I can’t remember the last time it happened. I bought 2 Hawaiian shirts and Fawn got a cool bag. All were made in Hawaii. Most everything else was made in China or the Philippines

4:30 pm. We drove back to the condo through all the resort communities. There are a lot of them! There were also several houses and lots for sale and some for rent as vacation beach houses. A great idea if you can afford the sale price. Back at the condo, I went to the office to ask for a new shower head for Fawn’s bathroom and an ironing board to iron my new shirts. Someone from the hotel staff came quickly with both. We were impressed.

5:45 pm. We went to dinner at the Aloha Friday’s restaurant right near our condo. I ordered a real Hawaiian pizza! It had pulled pork, pineapple, tomatoes, onions and yummy cheese on top.