One of my early morning tasks was to check on the availability of an end-of-the-day shower. My intent is to stay here all day and enjoy a last day on the beach, but I didn't like the thought of getting on an airplane covered in salt and sunscreen. As it turns out, there is a locker room near the pool, so I'm all set. It's funny, but I never knew that it even existed.
I started the day - again - with the breakfast buffet. I've been feasting on fresh papaya here, and I think it will be a bit of an adjustment to go back to less access to these wonderful tropical fruits. As usual, I had my camera with me at breakfast and I was trying to catch the crazy birds that flocked to tables as soon as the diners got up. They didn't really cooperate. I took a couple of pictures, but I have my doubts that any of them will turn out. That's part of the fun of the digital camera - no processing fees, so I just keep snapping away. Of course I'll have to pick which pictures to upload for sharing since there is no way I'm going to subject everyone to looking at 500 pictures!
Don't you think he is posing for me?
After breakfast I headed out for a long walk, starting on the grounds of the hotel, and then wandering off onto a trail that leads south from here. I thought I’d check out Hapuna Beach, but before I reached there the trail became so overgrown that I decided to turn around. There’s always that little issue of finding the way back. It was time to head back, check out of the hotel, and move to the beach for the rest of the day.
It was overcast day, but I still sat under an umbrella (when I wasn’t in the water that is) at the beach. After all, there’s no sense in coming home with a sunburn from the last day of the trip. The water was much calmer today; the strong current from yesterday must have been hiding somewhere else today. The sun came out at the very end of the day, then after a half hour show it disappeared behind the clouds again. Still, it was a nice end to my day at the beach.
A relaxing dinner at the hotel followed by one more walk was a nice end to the day. I left for the airport a little after eight, and found something interesting on the road. There were reflectors embedded in the pavement - yellow down the center line, white on the right side of the road, and red on the left side. It was a very dark night, so the reflectors were a nice touch on a very dark road. Of course they wouldn’t work too well at home – they’d probably get ripped out by the first snow plow the barreled down the road.
It was Halloween at the airport. All of the American Airlines agents were wearing witches hats and had sparkles on their faces. Oh wait, it was just the women. I wonder why the men weren’t playing too…
Funny, I actually saw some people at the airport who I had met during my stay here. One was a woman I met last night while we were both watching the manta rays. She was in Hawaii with her husband who currently needs some assistance in walking. He was in a wheelchair at the airport, which could be a bit difficult for boarding a plane since in Kona you actually walk up a set of steps (mounted on a truck) to get into the plane. Not a problem though – the airline staff took him to the back of the plane to one of the "food" entrances and lifted him aboard with one of their magic trucks. That worked! I spoke with them again when I got on the plane myself through the normal “people” entrance, and they were both delighted with their special treatment.
The plane we took back to Los Angeles is a turnaround flight. In fact, it was the same flight that I took to get to Kona just over a week ago. Maybe I’ll manage to be on this flight again in the not too distant future. (In case you haven’t figured it out yet, I would have been happy to stay in Hawaii!)
Photos for today can be found in my Kohala Coast and Bugs, birds, and just for fun! photo galleries.
