Hawaii – Kona with Colleagues

In 2002, a couple of colleagues and I wanted to escape from work so we decided on a long weekend trip to Kona, Hawaii.

We met up in San Francisco to catch the same flight to Kona. If I remember correctly, I upgraded to first-class and left the other two in coach. What can I say? I’d become a travel snob by this point!

Renting cars is hard!

We arrived in Kona without any issues and went to find our rental car. We stopped by the rental car desk and were directed to go out to the Hertz van. All three of us were seasoned travelers who have rented cars many times. Somehow, we couldn’t find the Hertz van! We circled back and forth with the desk about finding the van for at least 15 minutes. The funny thing was that we could see another Hertz desk on the other side of the fences outside the airport where we were waiting. We finally found a van with a tiny sign saying Hertz. We got in and drove around the parking lot for what felt like another 15 minutes. All in all, it took a lot of time to find our rental car. We kept saying to each other, “what are we missing” and “we know how to rent cars!”

Rental car acquired, we headed off to our hotel. The hotel was just south of Kona’s main town on a peninsula so all rooms were waterfront. The entry to the hotel was open-air and beautiful and really set the stage for a Hawaiian vacation. The sunset at dinner was magical.

Driving Around

One day, we went around the north side of the island and visited some small towns and viewpoints. Another day, we went south to the southernmost tip of the island and visited a black sands beach to watch the turtles play in the water.

Mauna Koa

One of my favorite activities was an evening trip to the top of Mauna Kea. We left in the late afternoon and took a van up to about 9,000 feet, where there was a little store and place to eat a light dinner. After that, we went to the top of the mountain. The drive to the top was like driving on Mars (or so I imagine). There was very little landscape other than red rock everywhere. And only a few cars on the dirt road. Some of the roads were a bit scary with hairpin turns and very narrow spots. But it was well worth it to get to the top.

One of the observatories opened, and one of the staff came out to talk with our group about the observatory, what they do, how it works, etc. We then stood at the top while watching the sunset and the mountain cast a shadow on the clouds below. It was an amazing experience. To top off the evening, we went back to the 9,000-foot level and went on a little path away from the store’s lights. There, we spent an hour or so with a telescope looking at the sky. I was able to clearly see Jupiter and its moons as well as Saturn and its rings. I’ve never had a similar experience to this, even 18 years later. I highly recommend it if you are even on the Big Island.

Botanical Gardens

On our last day, we visited the botanical gardens on the east side of the island. Again, I highly recommend visiting these. The entrance is quite unassuming but once you park, you get a full-scale view of how big the gardens are by a long walkway that heads down to the water.

Airport Security on the Way Home

My friend reminded me of probably the best line I’ve heard in airport security. Remember that this trip was less than a year after 9/11. Airports were still odd after that event and every experience was different. In this case, we were flying out of Kona (a small airport). At the X-Rays, we had to take off our shoes. All three of us did so and ran them through the scanners. One friend and I gathered our stuff and got out of the security area. We turned and realized we lost the third member of our group. She was talking to the TSA agent. The agent wanted to rerun her shoes through the scanner. After doing so, he asked, “Have you been to a volcano while on this trip?” Her response… “This entire island is a volcano!” And with that, the TSA agent let her through.

Since 2002, I’ve revisited Kona, Kauai, and Oahu. Kona is still my favorite. It’s a low key place to visit but there’s plenty to see!