Last week I shared some photos from our recent getaway to the Big Island of Hawaii and our stay in Hilo. Today I want to share photos from our stay in Kailua-Kona on the west side of the island. We stayed in a condo there with a great view of the ocean, and we enjoyed watching the sunsets as well as surfers and whales during the day. We ate many of our meals out on the lanai, which featured local produce we got at the various farmers markets we visited during our stay.
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- Kona sunset
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- surfers
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- breakfast on lanai
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- salad for lunch
We also made a trip to the Paleaku Gardens Peace Sanctuary, a 7 acre tropical botanical garden overlooking historic Kealakekua Bay. It’s full of many different tropical plants, including some I’d never seen before like the Sausage Tree (Kigelia Africana) which is native to Africa and sports large, sausage-like poisonous fruits. There were lots of more familiar things too, like hibiscus, heliconia, gingers and orchids, and with great signage to help identify the plants. Scattered around the gardens are various shrines, including a Hawaiian Heiau, a Native American medicine wheel and a labyrinth that my wife walked. The Buddhist Stupa was completed in 1991, and is one of the many religious themed shrines on the grounds.
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- Paleaku Gardens
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- palm trees lining the path
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- Sausage Tree
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- hibiscus flower
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- informative signage
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- Stupa
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- Lynda walking the labyrinth
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- fern
As I mentioned earlier, we enjoyed visiting several farmers markets as well as the monthly Kona Kokua Village Stroll and Art Fair and a great local book store. My wife and I both got ceramic coffee/tea cups to bring back home with us, as well as coffee, chocolate, honey and some art prints. I made a trip to a local wood store, and got enough pieces to have them shipped back home. My wife made her customary visit to H. Kimura’s Fabric store, which is a family owned and operated business in the town of Kealakekua, and has been around since 1926. They have an amazing selection of fabrics, and my wife found several to bring back home for her art projects.
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- local bookstore
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- me at farmer’s market artist stall
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- Hawaii woods
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- Lynda at H. Kimura’s Fabric store
We had a great time on our getaway, and I always come back refreshed and full of ideas for various projects, this time mostly woodworking. And as is our custom, we took our ‘last day’ photo on the shore by our condo. We like it so much, I plan on making a frame for it so we can hang it up with our other artwork.
last day photo
I hope you have enjoyed a look at the photos, and I’ll be back soon with more happenings from Happy Acres!
Lovely memories.
I have wintered in Kailua-Kona numerous winters and your memories sparked two places for me to check out as I had not found them on my own. You have really learned how to explore, take it all in AND pass it on. Thank You
Thank you Carolyn! We had planned on going to visit Puʻuhonua o Hōnaunau and South Point again, but didn’t make it this trip. And Paleaku Gardens was even more lovely than we remembered it from a previous visit!