Day 13 Kailua-Kona

It's Sunday, so we go to church! I had asked some people for a recommendation and twice I was told Living Stones church. Checked the website, looked good so off we went. It was a mile from our resort, and is oceanfront. The building is smallish, so they had tents and chairs set up outside with video screens to accommodate everyone. It is a large church with two campuses and four services at one and two at the other. We got there in time to sit inside, but outside can't be too bad with the ocean right next to you. We enjoyed the worship and message, people were friendly. After church we walked about half a mile down the road to another marketplace with lots of souvenir shops and a couple of food trucks, had lunch(brisket, smoked Mac & cheese, Cole slaw with macadamia nuts and corn bread) and then walked back to the car and went back to the resort.
This evening we had another "must do" tourist experience in Hawaii- a luau! It was outside, next to a beach-seems like everything is next to the beach here! They served Mai Tais and other drinks, and had live Hawaiian music. Then a conch shell was blown and King Kamehameha and his queen and court were rowed in from the ocean and the processed from the boat to the luau stage and were presented. There were a number of activities as we waited for the dinner to begin. Hula lesson, lawn bowling, Hawaiian checkers, temporary tattoos and then they pulled the whole roasted pig out of its roasting pit and shredded it for our dinner. The food was good and besides the pork there was teriyaki beef, marinated fish, Kona coffee chicken, poke tuna and lots of sides. The couple across the table from us was from Eastern PA, and there was a guy with an Orioles Hawaiian shirt on! It really is a small world! Larry fits right in with all his Hawaiian shirts, wishes he'd brought more and will probably pick up a couple here too. After the meal, there was a great show of island dances, examples from Hawaii, New Zealand, Samoa, Tahiti. There was hulas and the grand finale was a guy twirling fire knives, he was really good. It was a three hour experience and we really enjoyed it!Read more