A Place of Refuge, but Not the Fetility God

Since we did not have anything planned for Thursday, we decided to find a beach to snorkel. My mom told us to go to the “Place of Refuge”…we thought it was also a place to snorkel. We were also told it was THE place to see Sea Turtles. It wasn’t...and we didn't.  I think there may have been a place to snorkel next to the Place of Refuge, but we never found out.

First, for lunch, we found a place called “Annie’s Burgers”. They were huge and delicious.   Then we traveled to the Place of Refuge.  The Place of Refuge was a place the ancient Hawaiian’s considered sacred. If someone committed a sin/crime and was able to swim to the Place of Refuge, they were forgiven (that’s the short version). Interesting.

We walked around a bit and then left to find somewhere to take advantage of the swimsuits we were wearing. Unfortunately, the one day we left the house is swimsuits, was the one day it drizzled all day long. We never found a place to get in the water, but we did find the “Painted Church” and some shaved ice.  Mike was able to explain to us some of the Bible stories that were depicted on the wall in the church...there was one picture we didn't understand...but he did.  I guess all that Catholic school wasn't for noting. I was amazed he knew the story...and I'm thinking about sending my kids to Catholic School. (Will they still get spanked?  If so...they are totally going there.) After that, we went back to the condo to relax for a bit before dinner.

For dinner, we got cleaned up and headed to downtown Kona for a nice seafood dinner at The Kona Inn. When we arrived, starving, the hostess informed us they were out of seafood. What? How does a seafood restaurant run out of seafood? We still aren’t sure. We decided not to eat there (since they were out of food?), so we walked (a long way) to another restaurant we heard good things about called Huggos. I’m here to say- there was nothing good about that $200 meal. I have no issue spending good money on good food. But when the food isn’t good…  We were all frustrated by this point...and we still talk about how awful the food was at Huggos. Bleh.

The view from our table was beautiful. The restaurant sat right on the ocean…we watched and listened to the waves crash as we ate. I wish we could do that at home.

Hopefully we’ll try another good place, or an actually good place, later in the week.

p.s. Here is another funny picture of Mike...he was in rare form for the camera this week.  See if you can tell what he's "acting" out...My favorite is still the falling branches from the Southern Most Bakery.  Too funny.