J and K Adventures: Kailua-Kona Hawaii: A tale of two Condos

Jeff and I spent the time after we returned to Springfield from Arizona recovering from the flu (and Jeff from pneumonia) and catching up on chores. Before we knew it, it was February 13th and we were on our way to Portland for the night before take-off But fate put a bump in the way of a smooth departure. The trouble light in our little car started flashing and it almost stopped running. We parked it at the Clarion Hotel and Jeff jumped into action. He called AAA and with some negotiations and a lot of phone calls, arranged to have the car towed to a Ford dealership for repair while we were gone. There went the excursion budget! Guess we'll have to snorkel with the Manta Rays and go parasailing next time.

Luckily the rest of the journey went smoothly as we flew from PDX to SFO and then to Kona. I was surprised that the airport was in the middle of a lava field. We got talked into choosing a 4-wheel-drive jeep Renegade for our rental car and headed for the condo.

You may remember that our condo in Arizona was almost perfect. The Kailua Shores was not so much. Positives were a great location in the middle of the most touristy area of Kona, a nice view (through trees and over a church) of the shore, a comfortable bed, reasonably clean and enough space and storage.

Negatives were too many to name, but primarily, it was extremely noisy. Located next to a major street and just a block away from Alii drive, the main tourist street, it was a constant blast of noise from trucks, motorcycles and loud car exhausts. Combine that with the church bells, blowers and mowers, car alarms, a two-day drumming festival (not kidding) and chopping down and grinding up of trees (also not kidding) and we were eager to leave whenever we could. It might have been tolerable if we could close the doors and windows, but the condo had no air conditioning so the windows and doors were always open when we were there. (Luckily the weather, although cloudy, was warm and balmy and never really too hot or humid).

We are nothing if not adaptable though. It was reasonably quiet in the morning and evening, so that's when we spent time there. We could even hear the waves at night. During the day we explored both north and south of the Western side of the big island. It also helped that friends and family were sending pictures of snow, ice and rain that made us grateful to be in Hawaii, noisy but warm!