Slept in late today -- late night last night ringing in the new year. Wandered down to the lanai restaurant and had a great breakfast. Princess loves the Belgian Waffles and we ate with the Aloha cat.
this is Coconut Syrup and it is delicious!
It was an amazingly pretty day, Princess, Lily, and Angel went out to the beach to tan. As it is impossible for me to get a tan, there is no point. I sat in this lovely chair and people watched and tried to catch up on my journal. It was great people watching. Lots of people out by the pool and walking around. The fashion police would fill their ticket quota.
As I could still fit in my red and white polka dot bikini (even after eating all this delicious vacation food) I went to the beach too and relaxed under the shade of a palm tree. Angel went and got us a couple of shave ices (coconut and pineapple). Graceful me proceeded to spill it all over my pretty new frog sarong. I love relaxing in a place where you can hear the water and have sand in between your toes. There was great people watching on the beach too. Some things just aren’t right. I had promised them at least one beach day -- and this was it.
hum? stud muffin? not.
enjoying the shave ice -- the sign said no chairs beyond this point
After we cleaned up for lunch, we ended up at the Queen’s Marketplace near our resort. It was not as high tone as the King’s Shops. They only had a food court -- we were not really in the mood for food court food. There was a Macaroni Grill -- in Hawaii, really?
We went back to the King’s Shops to the Eddie Aikau restaurant. He was a famous surfer who died trying to rescue people. There was the annual surf competition about to start on Oahu’s Northshore in his memory. The restaurant was right on the water and reminded us of Florida. Lots of surfing decor, and there was even a mini lifeguard stand at the front. Koi in the pond and they were swimming near the window -- very calming to watch them.
Tried new things -- Hawaiian chowder with purple sweet potatoes, pork spring rolls, watermelon salad, pork quesadillas, and fish nachos. Starting off the new year right with adventurous foods.
Had we missed any shops here? So we hit a few again and saw some things we had overlooked. We found some nice sarongs we had missed before and some interesting Crocs.
On our return to the Queen’s Marketplace, we encountered a shopkeeper who was trying to get free legal advice from Lily. And in doing so we learned how overpriced the rent was and how horrible the landlords were. These shops had to provide their own architect and construction inside at their own cost. The rent was astronomical and the price points were not enough to cover it from my calculations. But that conversation didn’t really lend itself to the “I need to commit more retail therapy” mood.
Even though these weren’t the high end shops, we still found some goodies -- a reversible Kona Coffee bag, Filthy Girl soaps, and pretty Hawaiian dolls.
At the Quicksilver shop I found a great t-shirt for the surf comp. I wonder if the waves will be high enough for it to start when we hit Oahu.
It was getting late in the day and we wanted to explore the “fancy” resorts. We went to the Four Seasons. They had a security guard at the resort area entrance and only valet parking. At the resort there was an old timey shuttle to take their guests to their areas.
They had a very comfortable sitting looking area with beautifully striped cushions. It was dark but the pool was all lit up. It was massive and appeared to have an opalized tiles at the bottom -- and they even had a lift to assist handicapped people in the pool (I had never seen one of these before, especially at a fancy pants resort).
Four Seasons are always nice -- and this place was no different. The Beach Tree restaurant was located near the water, right on the beach (but it was on a deck). It was packed with people and we couldn’t get a table. So we hung out in the bar area hoping for a few chairs and a table there. On the palm trees they had hung spot lights which highlighted areas where the waves were crashing -- it was a very dramatic effect.
The night was cool out and Angel and I walked through the resort toward the nice expensive restaurant. On the way we passed one of their “suites” which was all lit up and no curtains pulled -- OMG this was bigger than my house and one of the plushest looking hotel rooms I have ever seen. It looked like something out of Architectural Digest. Also they had little golf carts with warming trailers that reminded me of Jurassic Park.
As they had no availability either, we left the high end area for the real people resort area-- Kailua/Kona. This is where we had gone to Walmart. We drove down the main drag that had the classic junk and Hawaiian chain shops. No parking on the strip but all along behind the buildings. We had parking issues, but they were resolved with no one getting knifed or any cars keyed. (But it did cross my mind, I dislike rude drivers.)
Tripadvisor had recommended the Java Lava cafe. Our table was outside near the sidewalk, where they had a keyboardist and a guitarist playing and were singing. You could hear there were other bands playing at different restaurants and bars along the strip. It was a cacophony of different classic rock -- loved it. If you didn’t like one you could just focus your ear on another and one was sure to please.
Inside the cafe were local artists work -- they had a great one with a girl surfer on a pink board and a huge wave. One piece was a horse through a wide lens, but Angel couldn’t figure out how to get it home. Decided after seeing all the activity and shops, we would have to come back to this area tomorrow.
The cafe didn’t have a full menu due to the “holidays” what’s up with that. So we had to get a pizza -- this was becoming a pattern, I doubt I can fit in my bikini when I get through with this trip at the rate we are going. But I will have a few months before I go to the beach again. I haven’t met a goat cheese pineapple pizza I don’t like.
Upon returning to the Marriott, Princess decided she needed some dessert. As she lounged by the pool eating her chocolate mousse, she encountered a few teenagers, who were not guest of the hotel, smoking funny cigarettes while young children swam in the heated pool. Not being one to tattle, she let sleeping dogs lie. She was far enough away that she did not suffer a contact high. The chocolate mousse was so good that no one else got to enjoy it.
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