Day 12: Aloha Kona

We woke up early so that we could pack. It took awhile to get everything all together. We checked our email and such then headed out. We stopped at Carl's Jr. on the way to the airport. Nephi loves their breakfast and we rarely eat breakfast together so it is a treat. After breakfast we went to Borders so that I could buy the 3rd and 4th books of the Vampire Diaries (I am almost done with the 2nd one), then we dropped off the movies at Blockbuster.

At the airport the lines were long. It is so hot and humid here I get grumpy quickly. I was annoyed by people's stupidity, but I tried to chill. While waiting to board the plane I called Erin (my sister). Erin has been my savior a number of times on this trip. I have called her and she has done internet research to get me places and look up restaurants, etc. I decided I should call her with no favor to ask. It was nice just chatting with her.

Our flight was SOOOO short. We took off, got up to 10,000 feet, then started our descent into Kona. It was nice. Kona is a cool airport completely outside). The Big Island has a very different feel from Maui, but Nephi and I both really like it. It is strangely desolate...but lush. The lava rock is so cool. Plus it is a huge hill so no matter where you are you have a view of the ocean (even walking out of Safeway). Also, because there are no little islands on this side of Hawaii, you can really take in the vastness of the Pacific.

We rented our car from Enterprise (we ditched Dollar), and upgraded to a Mustang. Sweet. I love convertibles. Nephi is excited just to have keyless entry again. We headed to our hotel (Outrigger Keauhou Beach Resort), and it is pretty nice. We are on the top floor (7th) and we have a view of the ocean. BEAUTIFUL! I am excited to go check out the tide pools.

I texted Janae to let her know we were in and she asked if we wanted to go to a farmer's market with her. We went to go pick her up and got lost (because half the streets here don't have names...it makes it difficult). Eventually we found here and headed to the waterfront. The farmer's market was cool, and we bought some homemade banana bread.

Janae had to go to some festival, so Nephi and I headed to dinner. I had read about this micro-brewery that had really good pizza, called Kona Brewery. We ordered Pele wings (hot teriyaki wings) and a pizza that had pepperoni, green peppers, and tomatoes. It was ah-mazing! It was so so so so good. I can't remember ever having pizza that good. The sauce was good, the cheese was good, the pepperoni was the best I have ever had. I definitely recommend it if you ever come here.

After dinner we headed to the grocery store in search of (what else?) Mountain Dew Code Red. No luck, but Nephi got some other drinks.

We attempted to go to the laundromat in the hotel, but it was busy so we decided to go in the morning. Now we are vegging.