Day 13 - Coffee and Luau

Last night was thankfully uneventful as we woke up at a pull off with a great view above the coast. Since we have now completed our drive around the big island and come full circle back to the Kona region it was about that time to give the van a good cleaning, and pack up all our things so we could return the van at 11. Having some time after everything was ready and we enjoyed our view over some coffee and headed down the mountain for a coffee farm tour at one of the producers of the famous Kona coffee. This region provides a very limited belt of about 23 miles by 3 miles where coffee plants flourish and they produce the Kona coffee. A specialty bag consisting only of Peaberry coffee beans can cost $80 for 16 ozs. We learned this farm buys from over 100 local coffee farms and processes the coffee for market. Getting close to time to return the van we headed to the return site dropped it off and Uber’d to pick up a rental car for a day. We had decided we did not want to be stuck at the resort for the last day should we want to explore more. Off we went now feeling like I was sitting on the ground after driving the huge van. We arrived at the Marriott resort for our grand finale of the past 2 weeks, with a luau planned this evening. I did not want the last day to be sad given all we had done so, yes, I splurged on this last night where we had an ocean front resort with a balcony overlooking a lava flow gardens and view of the ocean. There was a large infinity pool and a second pool with beach sand. We headed to the bar and received our free drink and then up to the room for some rest before our luau. I am not really one to sit for a show very willingly so while I was looking forward to the dinner part, the show was more for Annemarie and of course, how can you go to Hawaii and not watch a luau? Arriving for our priority seating, told you I splurged, we were given real flower lais and a gift box and seated at the table right in front of the stage. After a short rain delay, I was quite entertained by the different cultural dances. I still don’t know how they can more their butts that fast. We watched as they dug up the pig from the hot coals, then ate the delicious meal that included the pork, and my now favorite ube sweet potatoes with some kind of coconut cream sauce. It was delicious. What a great ending to an epic vacation. Tomorrow we relax and get ready to return home.Læs mere