21 September

Sunday morning. We were up and out of the condo early. Growling stomachs driving us out the door. We were treated to a visit by our friendly gecko. This time outside the condo. He was chasing a bug up the stair rail and finally stayed still long enough for us to snap a photo.

We drove to the Mauna Kea resort for breakfast on their veranda. Monica is still drooling over her yummy banana filled french toast. We walked around the grounds for a while pretending to be wealthy resorters and toyed with the idea of coming back bathing suits in hand to be served umbrella drinks on the canopied beach lounges. Then reality set in and we headed home to pick up our beach gear.

Along the highway between Kona and Waikoloa locals use light colored stones to make messages on the dark lava rock. Oddly, none of the messages are obscene, they promote a favorite sports team or high school, or provide insightful social commentary (though Tony really wanted to see a Calvin urinating on the mainland). The messages were to relatives or friends, and there were a few animals outlined including a hump-back whale and a sea turtle.

We had yet to see the "best" beach on the island so we went back to where we started our trip, Kekaha Kai State park, in search of Makalawena Beach. After loosening several fillings on the rough road, we parked the car and started walking. We found the "trail" described in the blue bible and started out. This was indeed the 10-15 minute walk, however, the book neglects to mention that the trail is composed of chunks of lava rock slightly smaller than the surrounding boulders, though much sharper and designed to shred flip-flops. We got about half way there when Monica's reed flip-flops ceased to be proof against the rocks' points. Defeated (hah!), we headed back to the Kekaha Kai beach we visited the first day. Tony was much more careful about applying sunblock after the first day and managed to remain virtually tanless thus keeping his credibility as a sysadmin. We left the beach an hour before sunset and rattled our way back to the highway. We barely missed the sun setting as we pulled into the condo parking lot.

We spent the evening cleaning the condo and packing for our long trip home. Aloha Airlines cancelled our direct flight from Kailua-Kona to Oakland. The trip home included an air tour of the islands flying first from Kona to O'ahu, then from O'ahu back to Maui, and from Maui to Oakland. Monica handled the condo journal entry and we caught most of the Emmy Awards before collapsing exhausted but happy.

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