Saint Michaels Church

Today is the last day. We cleaned, sorted, and put the final touches on packing. Although we didn't have to check out of the VRBO till 10 am, we were thinking it just made more sense to head straight to Kona. We thought it would be fun to spend the final day hanging out on the other side of the island. The drive is about 90 minutes, taking the Saddle Drive route, which runs between the 2 volcano formations. Throughout the trip, we heard plenty of the world-class observation centers atop the peak, but for much of the trip the telescopes were shrouded in clouds. Today we drove quite close and the skies were completely clear. It was really cool to see the 3 or 4 white observation structures (I think there are more but that was what could be seen from our vantage point). The terrain was also pretty remarkable.... just completely unlike anything around Minnesota (go figure). Our tallest point put us at around 6880 feet above sea level. At one point we passed the recreation campground that Christal's church used for Campmeeting week. Eventually, we caught sight of the ocean again, with Maui in the background.
Our first stop in Kona was near the Kona Inn Shopping Village, right alongside the beach. We first spent about 45 minutes hanging out in the tide pools looking at sea urchins, sea turtles, and watching the waves crash in. Then we headed up into the shops. It was a cool boardwalk-style shopping setup. I found a guy who designs and prints his own stuff. He used to live in Chicago but eventually decided that choices matter, and he felt it was time to live the kind of life that would feel more meaningful. To him, that meant moving to Hawaii.
We walked around a bit, checking out this and that. I did also get a 4 pack of Hawaiian hot sauces... one a pineapple habanero and another was an interesting coffee-infused hot sauce. Around 11:30 we tracked down a lunch spot. We wrapped up this area by checking out a few more shops and came across the oldest church on the island.
Next up was trying to track down a bag that Phia was hoping to find. (She had found it on the first day, but of course being the first day we told her to wait... because it would be almost certain we'd come across countless others before the end of the trip. Well, oddly enough.... we didn't. We didn't come across any others! Thankfully a store owner knew what Phia was looking for and directed us to check in on the local KTA grocery stores to possibly find one.
It worked! She found one.
So then we headed up the hill a bit further to visit the small but really nicely done Sadie Seymour Botanical garden. The place was established as a memorial garden for the astronaut Col. Ellison Onizuka (1946-1986). It is designed to represent the plantings from all the major regions of the globe. Again... small, but really cool.
From there we had a few more hours to burn so we made our way back to the beach. By now the surf was coming in pretty strong, so the warnings were out. We didn't swim but we did hang out at the beach edge to experience the surf crashing in on us. Definitely something we had never experienced before!
Now it was finally time to head back. To return the vehicles and get dropped off at the airport. Here we will hang out a few more hours before boarding for our late night flight to Seattle.
With these final words it seems appropriate enough to acknowledge that our 2024 Hawaii Vacation has come to its end. From here on out, we are edging ourselves back towards daily life in the "real" world. Nonetheless, what a great trip it has been.

With Gratitude,

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