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Gotta love Kailua Kona, Hawai'i !!!
We were tired and yet so invigorated, travel does
that to you. After picking out our rental car, we pulled out of the Kona Airport looking forward to seeing new sites and it
felt like we were on a big adventure. At first, the island landscaping was a lot of lava rock with weed like grass,
but as we neared central Kona, more greenery and buildings seemed to pick up the pace and we could not wait to see
the sights. It was our original plan to go straight to the BnB, but with the mystery of the town we could not resist, we drove
into Kailua Kona town and took it all in. Wow! the water! Wow! look at the tropical greenery! Wow! look at the cute buildings!
I think it was then we fell in love with the town.
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| Like my shoes? They are Bubba Gumps. |
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| Hey old timer...(not Jim, of course:) |
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Our first visit to Kona was at the Bubba Gump building. Fun fun fun. After a good walk we were now ready to go to the Inn.
On the way to the Inn we stopped at a local grocery store and picked
up a few things. My favorite snack for over the past year has been a bag of Ritz Toasted Chips and a tub of Betty Crocker
Whipped frosting, either the Fluffy White flavor or the Vanilla flavor, they both are good depending on my taste buds or
availability at time of purchase. You scoop some Frosting with a Toasted Chip and indulge in a sweet and salty sensation.
Yum yum.
The drive up to the Inn is very interesting, we still enjoy
it. The tropical greenery gets more and more dense the higher you go up on Hualalai Road. As we spotted the driveway
at the horseshoe turn I was happy to see the entrance was on the skinny end of the property. The driveway was long and it
lead us up to the main house garage where we parked and got out. Someone was barbecuing and people were moving about in a
room we knew as the Library, from the websites Virtual Tour. Dinner was about to be served and we were just in time.
It was fun meeting everyone and the dinner was delicious. I shared
my Ritz Toasted Chips and Whipped Frosting for dessert and everyone heralded my enthusiasm for the unusual combination.
After all was done, we gladly retired to our room and prepared to sleep, our first night in Hawaii, yeah.
About two hours into our sweet slumber something woke us up. It sounded a though someone
was walking around in the jungle across the dry drainage canal outside our room window. About the time I wanted
to be scared we heard a couple of snorts and a few minutes later a piggish like burp. Funny and wierd, we were going to look
into that the next day. The next morning dawned soon enough and we were ready for our first full day in Kona.
In
our curiousity we had to find out right away what was going on across the canal at night, wild PIGS. Yes pigs, hungry pigs
that love love love macadamia nuts! The mac nuts have a softer green shell around them that comes off, then under that is
a very hard brown shell that needs to be cracked open to reveal another soft coating and then finally the prize, a beautiful
mac nut! When the mac nuts are ripe they fall from the tree to be harvested, and so the pigs come gleefully at the dark
of night to feast. The loud cracking sound is the hard brown shell being crunched and the burping - well - they're pigs!
Our intent was to spend as much time at the Inn as possible, looking around, praying and
talking with the owner. It was very obvious that the place needed cleaning desperately, everywhere! and some heavy duty
landscaping, almost every bush was extremely overgrown and plants were taking over other plants. In everyroom the interior
paint was old and had various Gecko 'markings' on the walls, and the decor needed to be updated... Yes the owners really needed
our help and we wanted to buy the place within six to eight months so it all seemed like a win win situation.
As
the 'vacation' days passed, we were able to see some more of the town. What a fun and unique place to live, wow, could this
be in our future? Hawaii? Really?
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| Aww, there's my handsome man! |
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| The white and yellow plumerias are the most fragrant Lei. |
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As communication with the owner continued thru out
the week, it wasn't painting a pretty picture. He did not agree with our financing ideas, in fact his 'seller financing' offer
was quickly going south. I had financing set up that would give him 60% if he would carry the balance of 40%. It may not
sound like a very good offer, however the 100% added up to a very generous offer. He did not like that at all and I
did not understand his thoughts at all and tearfully wondered what was happening to all my dreams and expectations. That's
the trouble with expectations, they build a box around a thought and hold it there instead of letting it happen naturally.
Sooooo, by the time we were getting ready to leave and go back to California, I was down and depressed. In our most recent
conversation with the owner and his wife we had talked about some simple options that he had come up with, it sounded like
this:
"You guys come on over here to the Inn and stay in the 'Cave' Room, as we call it. We will see how it
goes and how you like running a bed and breakfast. We will trade the room for BnB duties and you can arrange to buy it if
that works out."
Oh...the 'Cave' Room has no windows, thus the name. Well, it kinda does, just in the kitchen
area which is open to the cave area, so not all natural light is lost. It is very small and there is alot of work to
do in it before we could move in...
back to Page 4
My Moving... Experience - Page 6
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