Sandy's travels

Yesterday was a bit challenging. It was our last day on Big Island.  Our condo was to be vacated by 11:00, we overstayed a wee bit longer since no cleaning lady had arrived yet.  We had left it all neat and tidy, when it was time to leave we hopped in the car and made our way out to Waikaloa once again, for something to do.  Wandered around for a bit, looked at some lovely art pieces, and a bit of jewelry before getting back on the road once again to return to Costco for a hot dog before we left!   But first, we decided to follow a friends footsteps earlier in spring and find the Kona Saltery. Thank goodness for gps on the phone.  Found it easily.  A charming gal came out to greet us and tell us where to go to explore all the different salts they process!  She left us to look at them on our own for a couple of minutes promising to return.  Which she did bringing in a plate of small chopped up bits of tomatoe, cucumber and pineapple.  She expl...

Hello and Happy Easter from the day before last day for us on Big Island Hawaii. Thinking we should have a trial run at packing our suitcases today.  We both bought new carryon cases here!  This seems to be my normal practice so I was very happy to see my partner in crime, Barb doing the same thing!!  Actually, Barb had bought hers first, and has already done her trial run and hopes everything is going to fit!  I also bought a gorgeous Hawaii pattern backpack so it's my just-in-case bag! Tonight we are going out for dinner again, with real dishes and cutlery!  Such a disappointment last evening.  We had made reservations at Sam Choys and arrived promptly expecting it to be what we enjoyed in past visits.  Gee!  Not many people so far…..oh but the view up there is gorgeous looking over Keahou Bay below. And the sunsets phenomenal.  We were told sit wherever you wish.  Awesome, and we ordered a couple of pina coladas, virgin ones which wer...

The past couple of days there have been new families arrive here at the White Sands Village for Easter break.  And, each of the families must have two or three screamers with them and they were all in the pool together today.  Needing a little peace and quiet we decided on an outing for Malasadas and lunch today at the Punalu'u Bakery, which is advertised as the southern most bakery in America.  We were thankful it was open after that long drive, and it was doing a fair trade today. I think it's become a destination stop off on the way to Volcano National Park.  There were no tour busses in there when we arrived so we found an outdoor table and chairs and had something to eat and bought a couple malasadas each!  For those who don't know, a malasada is a Portuguese donut of sorts.  So many flavours, fillings, and kinds.  Barb had a couple of apple turnover pastries, I had one vanilla filled and one mango flavour malasada!  I know, I know, I shouldn...

This morning I had a look at some of the purchases I've made or acquired here on the big island and discovered my need for a new carry on bag to get said purchases back home.  I must say, I have worn nearly all of the clothes I brought with me this time, but my suitcase going home would weigh close to or over the 50 lbs allowed so better safe than sorry, especially since my right arm is haywire right now. 😠 We picked up a few groceries to see us through to Monday when we fly back home. Saturday night we are going to Sam Choys Restaurant for dinner up behind Keahou shopping mall.  The view is incredible up there and sunsets magnificent!   Although we leave here later in the evening, we arrive back in Vancouver on the 11th. Westjet!!!   Suitcase and groceries bought it was time for lunch so Barb twisted my arm to return to Costco for another gourmet repast.  An aromatic steamed tangy weiner in a succulent warmed sesame seeded bun wrapped in a tantalizing light ca...

For some reason, the photos did not carry over tonight on to the blog…. I'm typing this with my left hand and it's very trying!! 😕😣 Sent from  Sandy's iPad 

It's always wise to leave with more time than you expect on the islands because traffic is heavy and slow on Ali'i Drive, then we needed to find a parking space as we were catching the noon Glass Bottom boat tour.  Long story short, we parked in the hotel lot, going through the lobby, I tripped on my flip flop and fell down delaying us a bit, we got to the dock and we were told to go stand under the big tent thing, not where we had to be so we missed it.  Barb phoned the guy, sweet talked him into letting us go on the 3:00 pm trip, very kind of him to accommodate us.  Problem was, the Norwegian Spirit of America cruise ship was anchored out and tenders were transferring folks in and out and there were a lot of people, contributing to the mix up!   Once we finished the Glass Bottom boat tour, we walked across the street and had supper on the upper deck of one of the restaurants.  Then returned back to our condo to relax and wrap my arm with ice.  Everything ...

As planned, we left the condo around 10:00 this am to drive over the Saddle Road to Hilo and the Farmers Market in town.  We had hoped to be able to see the most recent lava flow from Mauna Loa which came within 2 miles of the road to Hilo.  We 'think' we saw it.  The darkest lava.  However as we climbed we were up in the clouds and drizzle soon which turned to misty hard-to see-through rain!  It rained all the way from near the summit down into town.   Photos compliments of Barb below. Luckily it didn't rain while we were at the market.  It has all changed since my last time here, they have built and are still building solid roof but open air structures for the vendors.  We found a spot to park over near water side and walked across.  On the right the building holds all the fruit and vegetable sellers whilst in the opposite side are the clothing racks, Knick knacks and other 'stuff'. The market is considerably smaller than what I was used to...

Last evening as we sat on our patio enjoying supper it began raining and we could look down on the P pool and see it sort of splashing on the water.  We eventually went to bed a bit later on and it was still pouring down.  Today when we went out for a drive we saw some huge mud puddles along Ali'i Drive.  The air felt fantastic, scented and clean. No blog yesterday, not much exciting to report….other than our trip out to Captain Cook village to visit the Farmers market there.   We chatted with some interesting folks here and there, bought a few things and then decided we needed lunch and a gourmet hotdog was on point.  Barb had the wheel and got us up to Costco really quickly.  All the people in Kailua Kona were there, word must have gotten out about the hot dogs!  What do you think Rick? I was sitting out on our patio enjoying my morning coffee just after 8 yesterday morning when I thought someone hit the building.  Turns out it was a 3.8 quake c...

This morning the tech came to look at our issue with the wifi!  It turns out the modem died.  The tech, a young and really fun and interesting Hawaiian gal replaced and got everything talking to one another and we are back in the land of wifi! Neither of us had breakfast today, waiting on wifi lady to arrive so once she completed her task we decided we'd go to town for lunch.  Parked across the water….er, anchored I guess the proper terminology, was the Royal Princess almost directly across from where we sat at open air dining by the water!  Love that.   Lunch done with we went back to the little market in the bush, I do not remember its name, off Ali'i Drive.  I wanted to pick up a couple things.  Whilst there, we stopped at a booth where a really lovely talkative Japanese gal works.  Turns out she and her honey (her term) share the load and ownership.   He was there yesterday.  She is a wee bit of a thing and honey is a big tall guy. ...

Sent from Sandy's iPad > On Mar 30, 2023, at 6:31 PM, Sandra Barton < sandrabarton@shaw.ca > wrote: > > Before I begin, I'm piggybacking Internet off my cell phone as we have no wifi here right now! We suspect it could be due to some works across the street….so the blog post may or not go. > > This morning our destination was Waimea town and Parker Ranch. We were so disappointed. The Parker Ranch store is no more! Many changes to that mall now. All due to the pandemic! No tourists, and many businesses depended on tourism closed. It's all very sad! So we grabbed a couple sandwiches and drinks, filled the gas tank in the car and headed south to The Bioreserve! I have been several times and it never disappoints. This garden is on 37 acres and was privately owned and created before being donated as a non profit nature reserve. It is located at 27-717 Old Mamalahoa Hwy, Papaikou if anyone is planning a trip over. The photos here a...

Before I begin,  I'm piggybacking Internet off my cell phone as we have no wifi here right now!  We suspect it could be due to some works across the street….so the blog post may or not go. This morning our destination was Waimea town and Parker Ranch.  We were so disappointed.  The Parker Ranch store is no more!  Many changes to that mall now.  All due to the pandemic!   No tourists, and many businesses depended on tourism closed. It's all very sad!  So we grabbed a couple sandwiches and drinks, filled the gas tank in the car and headed south to The Bioreserve!  I have been several times and it never disappoints.  This garden is on 37 acres and was privately owned and created before being donated as a non profit nature reserve.  It is located at 27-717 Old Mamalahoa Hwy, Papaikou if anyone is planning a trip over.  The photos here are all from Barb, thanks for doing them all Barb, I didn't take my phone with me!!! So I think I ...