Hawaii - Day 1

While we technically aren't in Hawaii yet, not even on the plane yet! - it's still day one of our vacation. We came up to Portland last night, getting to Larry and Dorothy's house around 10 pm. In an effort to cut down on the amount of school work Jay will have on our trip he then stayed up until about 3 am (not a typo!) working on class discussions. We arranged for a cab ahead of time to pick us up at 6:20 for a ride to the nearest Max station. I let Jay "sleep in" until 5:50. Our cab driver, while very punctual, was also a very slow driver and didn't actually know where our destination was, leaving Jay to play navigator. At one point our driver stated that the station was through a Fred Meyer parking lot....and so that's where we went - a detour through a strip mall. $17 later we made it to the station and caught an earlier Max then we anticipated.

Check in was a breeze since we managed most of the process online. Jay is bringing his Bike Friday - it folds into a handy carrier - so that was checked. Security went pretty well except for a search of Jay's bag because his bike pedals and bike light came up suspicious! Still 2 hours early we enjoyed some breakfast at Rose's Bakery and soon we are headed to the gate!

We landed in Honolulu about 30 minutes early. Unsuccessful at changing to an earlier flight we are now hanging out in a courtyard, with sandals on, short sleeves...I forgot what this feels like! Next flight is in about 90 minutes.

We arrived at the Kona airport right about 5 pm and hopped on our rental car shuttle.  With a full shuttle we devised a plan for Jay to get our bags off the bus while I zipped inside and ahead of everyone else.  Plan: successful!  By 5:30 we were driving away from the airport in our little economy car.  We headed straight to our sleeping quarters- a yurt-like abode with a bed, closet, desk, tv, and one chair.  Detached bathroom included, as is breakfast.  After check-in and a few tips from one of the owners on local dining, we went back down to the shopping area and decided, since we were super hungry, on Ultimate Burger.  Not quite fast food, all of the beef is locally grown and organic.  The burgers and fries weren't cheap but were mighty tasty!
  We didn't linger very long as were were both pretty tuckered out from our very long day.