We got to Kona on the Big Island of Hawaii on Saturday, November 4^th.  The 5 hour plane ride was 2 hours longer than I had taken before, but Keith had been on longer flights going to Vietnam and back in the ‘60s.  And Carol and Allen had been to Ireland, so I guess I was the only “rookie” to transoceanic travel.  (Not that it bothered me; I can nap easily on planes.)

Sunday morning, we went to an orientation at the condo association activities center.  After listening to presentations by various companies, we were able to schedule our entire week's activities at discounted rates all for the cost of 3 hours of our time listening to a time-share presentation.  That evening we went to a luau on the grounds of the Marriott Hotel in Kona – the food and entertainment were awesome!

The next morning (Monday), we went on a half-day snorkeling trip with Captain Jay and saw lots of bottlenose and spinner dolphins.  We got some cool underwater photos, lots of good exercise and a slight sunburn on our backsides.  That evening we attended an owner's dinner at the association clubhouse (Carol owns a timeshare at Paniolo Greens in Waikoloa Village, north of Kona); they tried to teach us the traditional Hawaiian Hula after dinner - it was fun!

On Tuesday we attended the dreaded timeshare presentation, which was held at the Kona Coast Resort right by the ocean.  It was quite a beautiful location, which prompted another round of picture-taking.  No sales were made to our party, but we got a nice lunch out of it.  Next we hit "Hilo Hattie's" to buy Hawaiian attire, which we wore to a dinner cruise that evening.  The Captain Bean's Dinner Cruise was wild - lots of good, loud music (we were fore-warned, so I bought earplugs), plenty of food & drink and energetic Polynesian entertainment - young men and women dancing on the huge tables and in the aisles.  They were quite good! 

12 hours on Wednesday were spent taking a bus tour around the perimeter of the island with our driver/guide Donnie.  He was VERY knowledgeable & entertaining.  We highly recommend the bus tour, as you get lots of bang for your buck!  We saw & learned many things that day (& of course took lots more pictures).  With our 3 digital cameras, we took over 500 photos, which are all downloaded onto my computer.  We’re just sharing a sampling of them here. 

Thursday morning @ 5:30 AM found us winging our way over to the island of Oahu for a day trip.  When we arrived on Oahu, our bus driver Ed took us to see Honolulu, Waikiki and Pearl Harbor.  Another long, overwhelming, day.  Visiting the USS Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor was akin to seeing the Vietnam Wall in Washington...  We also toured the USS Missouri, which is parked nearby.  That is the battleship on which the peace treaty was signed with Japan that ended WW II.

Friday was our "down" day, and we were READY.  It was the only day we were able to sleep in till 7 AM!  We drove over to the east side of the island (the "wet" side), taking lots of photos of greenery and waterfalls on our way.  We stopped @ places we had seen on the bus tour, so we could do further exploration.  We visited the home of our friends, Richard & Bobbi, who have a lovely place south of Hilo.  They bought the land and constructed their own home there a couple of years back.  They are very good at that; they lived in a log cabin they had built themselves up on Mt. Baldy here in CA prior to moving to Hawaii.  We had a light lunch containing lots of tropical fruit & other goodies.  After that Bobbi directed us to a wonderful outdoor hot pool by the ocean a few miles from their home.  Hot water comes into it from streams heated by the volcano, and it's heavenly.  Not quite as hot as our CA hot tubs, but warmer than bath water.  The pool had a natural dirt bottom and was ringed by lava rock; you could see and hear the surf at the far end.  We stayed in there relaxing and turning into prunes for quite awhile.  When we left their home that evening, we felt quite relaxed and rejuvenated after our hectic week.  On the way home we stopped in a town located near the headquarters of the famous Parker Cattle Ranch and ate an excellent dinner in a lovely restaurant.  Friday was definitely a good day.  If we ever return to the Big Island, I will aim for more days like that - just to “hang loose”, as they say over there.

Saturday, November 11^th (Veteran’s Day) was our last day in Hawaii.  That meant the dreaded suitcase stuffing with dirty clothes and WAY too many souvenirs, checking out of the condo after cleaning it, and heading for the airport in Kona.  On the way there, we left some Hawaiian "graffiti" on the roadside.  It is actually socially & legally acceptable. There are no trees growing in the black lava that stretches for miles, so the "romantics" don't have anyplace to carve their initials. They bring up white coral rocks from the ocean and spell out their messages. It makes it easy to break up, since all they have to do is move the rocks around.

After standing in line for 2 hours, we boarded the plane for the 5 hour trip home.  We arrived back in CA that evening.  I, for one, was wishing we could have stayed longer in Hawaii - it truly IS a paradise.