Hawaii trip - day 7

Saturday, April 14

All vacations must end eventually; on Saturday, it was time for us to check out of the hotel and fly back to Texas. But first...

During our drive on Friday, I had taken special note of the scenery around Waimea... as we drove head east, uphill away from the ocean, the landscape looked a lot like west Texas -- mountainsides covered with yellow prairie grass and very few trees. But as we approached Waimea, the climate became cooler and more humid and there was an increase in vegetation. The town itself was very picturesque, with a number of scenic hillsides. I noticed quite a few locations that would have made for some good photos, but we were pressed for time, so I didn't really have a chance to shoot anything. On Saturday after breakfast, I had a couple hours to go back and take a few pics...

Hawaii or west Texas?

picturesque landscape near Waimea

Mauna Kea as seen from the hills above Waimea

After checking out of the hotel, we grabbed some lunch and did some shopping at the King's Shops near Waikoloa Beach. I tried to interest K in a t-shirt that we saw...

I couldn't convince K to purchase this one...

Next, we headed to the Kona airport to catch our Hawaiian Airlines flight back to Honolulu.

boarding our plane at Kona Airport

We had a 2-hour layover at Honolulu while we waited for our flight to D-FW...

Honolulu International Airport


Who knew the rap group NWA had their own airline? ;-)


a round of farewell drinks at Honolulu

Our flight back to D-FW was pretty uneventful. We left Honolulu around 8 pm and arrived at D-FW around 8 or 9 am, local time. It was dark when we left Honolulu; by the time the sun came up, we were just north of Portales and Clovis, NM. We were following approximately the same flight path we had taken home from Phoenix last month (see March 21 post) . It was chilly in Dallas (low 40's -- brrrr!) I had to dig out a jacket and pair of socks from our suitcase after we picked up our luggage. We went home and went to bed... I slept a solid 6 hours before waking up around 4 pm. Those flights will really take the energy out of you...

Well, that's pretty much it. What an awesome trip; we got to see and do lots of neat stuff. Big thanks to Mom for offering to keep the kids so K and I could share a special anniversary trip.

Stay tuned for one more Hawaii post, a few follow-up comments and a final selection of photos. Until then...

WSC

np: Old & in the Way - "Panama Red" on KHYI 95.3 FM