Saturday Snippet: The Last Day in Hawaii Edition

Yes, it’s true. Today was our last full day in Hawaii and we decided that it would be a chill day and it was. We walked down into Kona for breakfast with a view. Then we wandered back up the hill and spent the rest of the morning hanging out, doing laundry, Son caught up on some work stuff, and I read (I’m reading Lisa Lin’s The Year of Cecily and it’s charming.)

When he got done, he said, “Let’s go see the chocolate guy.” What intelligent person would say no to that? The chocolate guy is Kona Magic Chocolate, a roadside stand that sells absolutely the smoothest chocolate I’ve ever tasted. The man who makes it grows the cocoa beans right on his property, so the chocolate he makes starts as a cocoa pod and ends up as a delicious treat–both milk chocolate and dark chocolate. Yum! The drive down was fun, top dropped on the Mustang and passing the fascinating lava flows… still amazing to me.

We came back, hung out a little more to finish the laundry and talk about whether we were going to go out to supper or order in. It was still pretty early in the afternoon, so we decided to drive north and check out the foothills of the volcanoes and see this amazing overlook that was about fifty miles away. We went from sea level to 2500 feet above sea level as we wound our way up the mountain. The drive took us through some spooky forest and tiny towns and we ended up at Waipio Valley Overlook.

There are no words to describe this place, so here’s a picture… it was incredible! On the way back to Kona we stopped by the side of the road because the golden bridge that the setting sun made across the ocean was too gorgeous not to get a picture. Here we are, last night in Kona standing in front of another spectacular Hawaiian sunset.

We fly to Berkeley, CA tomorrow and Son spends Monday teaching at UC Berkeley while I hang out on campus, probably writing in the library. I may sneak into his class to watch him teach. I’ve never seen him in that role before. Then Tuesday, I get to meet a zoom friend in Livermore, while Son spends some time in meetings there. Tuesday evening, we’ll meet some of his colleagues for dinner and then scoot to SFO to catch the red-eye back home. I’m sad to leave Hawaii, but I’ll be glad to see Husband again and get back to my real life.

All in all, this was the trip of a lifetime, and I’ll forever be grateful to Son for letting me tag along. Hawaii was just paradise and even better was spending time with my kid. It’s a rare thing to be able to share Mom/Son time, and I’m so grateful for my chance to do this. He is my heart always and this time together was special beyond words.

Stay well, and thanks a million for coming along on this journey with me. I hope you had fun! I sure did!