Kona, HI - Day 7
Tuesday, March 30
The countdown is over — Grandma Janie is coming to visit us in Hawaii today! Like so many people across the world this past year, we’ve only seen Andi’s mom a handful of times and we’ve all missed her. Now that Janie’s been fully vaccinated, she’s ready to travel again and decided to come to Hawaii to spend the duration of our trip with us. Tory and Aden are so excited!
Andi and I decided to take the kids to the beach late morning, and then do school this afternoon before we head to the airport to pick-up Janie. Today, I suggested we go to Kekaha Kai State Park which is located near the Kona airport on the west side of the Big Island.
We’ve been on the island for two weeks now, and Andi and I both feel like we’ve gaining a lay of the land. There aren’t many roads that weave throughout the island, but there are lots of beaches and things to do! So many beaches, in fact, that we can pick a new one to visit every single day — and we do. One book that’s been a helpful tool in learning about the Big Island is Hawaii: The Big Island Revealed. I read it cover to cover and have found it to be a solid source for island recommendations.
While recommending Kekaha Kai State Park beach, the travel book made zero mention of the absolutely pitiful condition of the road getting there! The 1.6 mile road was lined with giant potholes and oddly, speed bumps in some spots. This was likely the worst road we’ve driven on in all of our travels here. A few cars were parked on the side of the road, but most park visitors were making the drive to the parking lot no matter what type of vehicle they were driving. It didn’t look pretty for some. Our rental car is an Escalade SUV so we didn’t have any problems navigating the holes in the road, but it was most definitely an uncomfortable ride.
From the parking lot, it was a short five-minute walk to the beach. Along the way, Tory stepped on a kiawe (pronounced key-ah-veh) twig shooting a thorn right through the bottom of her flip-flop. Surprisingly, she didn’t say much other than that something was stuck in her shoe. She pulled the twig off the bottom of her foot to reveal a giant, mean-looking thorn. Luckily, she wasn’t hurt. You definitely have to watch out for these when walking along the beach! Kiawe trees seems to thrive everywhere there’s ocean and sand.
The end of the walking path opened up to this gorgeous view. Wow! This might be the prettiest beach we’ve visited on the trip thus far, and bonus — it wasn’t busy at all. Maybe the gnarly road driving in detours most visitors?
We found ourselves a shady spot nestled along the tree line and set up our beach chairs and towels. It was so peaceful listening to the trees sway and the ocean waves crash along the shore. There was a little plane noise overhead from the airport every now & again; we just tried to ignore that part.
A handful of people were snorkeling just off shore and another man was diving with a speargun in the distance. The four of us relaxed on the beach for the next few hours reading books, listening to music and playing in the sand.
The many colors of Hawaii’s landscape are truly breathtaking. I think of the rainbow on Hawaii’s license plate often because it really is like that here — so many colors all around with green desert grasses and lush trees, brightly-colored flowers, the clear turquoise waters of the ocean, bright blue sky and stark black lava. Photos simply don’t capture all of this island’s beauty.
It was nearly 2:00pm by the time we left Kekaha Kai State Park. Andi suggested we grab take-out poke bowls for lunch on our way back to the condo. He phoned in a COSTCO pizza order for the kids, and then drove down the street to Pau Hana Poke while we waited for the pizza to be ready.
This restaurant seemed like the perfect place to cross ‘eating poke’ off our Hawaii bucket list. There were several different fresh fish selections in a cold-case. Each bowl contained a choice of fish, rice and two sides.
Once we had our meals, we drove back to COSTCO to pick up the kids’ pizza. The parking lot was packed as always. We don't have a COSTCO membership anymore, but Andi thought he might be able to order from the food court since it was located outside the building. Nope! After my failed attempt at purchasing the pizza, I made Andi park the rental car amongst the zoo of people and walk up to the pick-up window to get it. Luckily, a nice lady in line let him use her membership card at the check-out. Meanwhile, I was in the car watching the transaction while sweating profusely! I hate uncomfortable situations like that. Thankfully, it worked out and we got the pizza.
After school, it was time to pick-up Grandma Janie. Andi, Tory and Aden drove to the airport to greet her while I stayed back at the condo to make dinner for everyone. Janie said later it melted her heart seeing Tory and Aden waiting for her at baggage claim with a handmade “welcome to Hawaii” sign and a flower lei.
We’re excited to have her join us here as we continue our Hawaiian adventure.
