Paradise is for real!

January 24, 2009

Aloha!

Have I mentioned that I could really get used to this Paradise thing?? Whew! Okay, to start with dinner last night (Friday). We decided to head to Café Pesto as 1) we love the food there, and 2) don’t have to get dressed up! (Not that one has to get dressed up for anything on the Hilo side, for sure!) Restaurant was comfortably full but not crowded, and we got a great table by the window. A guitarist was singing away, which made the decibels rather loud, but other than that, no problems! Mom started with a bowl of beef stroganoff soup. It looked great, and she said it was terrific! R and I had salads – wonderful native-grown lettuce and tomatoes, mine with pesto dressing, R’s with a garlic herbed vinaigrette. Mom followed her soup with the Volcano Mist salad – native greens, mozzarella, tomatoes and eggs with a generous helping of very delicately battered onion rings! YUM! R and I both chose their filet steak, (also Island “grown”) with pats of Gorgonzola, garlic mashed potatoes and wokked veggies. GREAT! To finish up the meal, Mom had crème bruleé, R had a Granny Smith apple crumble (with Macadamia nuts), and I had their chocolate flourless torte with raspberry sauce … again, we waddled from the restaurant! Back and in bed by 9; such night owls we are!!

Awoke about 6:30 a.m. to see Holland America’s ship the Rotterdam cruising right past our balcony! How neat! Again went to Ken’s House of Pancakes for breakfast (a very good habit!) Mom had eggs, bacon, toast and milk. R and I had their cheese & bacon burger, R’s with fries and mine with hash browns. Ken’s is apparently one of the few places on the entire island open 24 hours, and they serve anything any time!

Back to the hotel to get assembled and check out. Into the car and going by 9. Took a very, very leisurely path back up past Volcano National Park and towards Kona, our final destination. Stopped at an amazing black sand beach at Punalu’u; truly BLACK, and very coarse. Then took the 12 mile South Point road to the southern-most point in the entire United States! Really windy; a bit scary, but there were folks jumping off the cliffs and into the water! It was really clear in the water … we were tempted, but managed to resist…being scared of heights, I’m not sure I would have survived the drop!!

From there we headed around the south end of the island, stopping at Manago Hotel for lunch. For anyone who hasn’t been there, it’s quite a place! A family-owned and run hotel for the past 70 years or so – very basic; TV in the lobby, none in the rooms; no telephone – but a really good, basic restaurant that serves basic style food. One menu, posted on the wall – R had their fresh ahi, grilled in garlic butter; I had their specialty, pork chops; Mom had shrimp stir fry. They always serve three side dishes, which change daily. Today we had incredible macaroni salad (and I’m not normally a macaroni-salad gal!), stir fried vegetables and sugared, stir-fried bean sprouts. Everything was great, but the portions are HUGE – and truly quite a bargain, as the bill for the 3 of us was something like $39! (A REAL surprise in Hawaii!)

From the Manago it wasn’t too far to our hotel, the “Kona by the Sea” – and it is absolutely STUNNING!! We are in apartment 206, second floor, directly facing the ocean which comes crashing in at regular intervals! We’ve got 2 bedrooms and 2 full bathrooms, a lovely and fully equipped kitchen, dining room, living room, and balcony; also flat-screen cable TV and internet access; who could ask for me?! (Have taken lots of pictures, so you can see!) I could definitely get used to this! Got settled in, and, as there is a washer and dryer in the unit (and yes, I continue to have laundry issues…) I started washing. Mom and R settled down for naps; a lovely and relaxing afternoon! Eventually, though, it occurred to us that what we were really lacking was wine! So, headed over to Costco. for gas and wine. … and ended by picking up a roasted chicken and wonderful spinach/bacon salad for dinner at the apartment! Oh yes! Wine, too!!

Had a lovely dinner on the balcony watching the sun set; just a beautiful setting, and great food too! (As R said, we were really needing a break from restaurant meals!)
And so ends another wonderful day in Paradise!

More tomorrow, where it looks like we may hit the water after all!
Much love,
m