Hawaii
We have one of those timeshare things. Seemed like a good idea at the time, but as the years pass, it is less and less of a good idea. We got this week in Hawaii - wow, a week in Hawaii!!!... so it turns out, that it's on the big island, at the far tip (only a few miles from the southern most point in the US), about half way between the only two real cities on the island - Hilo on the East cost, and Kona on the West. Basically it's a 90 minute drive to anything.
The place didn't have AC, was still a half mile from the beach (golf course in the way). It was also a single bedroom unit, with no separation to the area with the sofa - and the sofa had what felt like straw for padding in the matress, so we ended up putting Delilah in the closet to sleep - which see actually did fine with, but good the maid didn't ask...
The beach was also a "volcanic rock" beach, so can't walk bear foot. Finally, turns out on this south shore, there is a cold water upwelling, so the beaches here are almost as cold as San Diego... Humph. There were some turtles which were neat, and there was also a shallow tidal pool that was warmed by the sun to an almost acceptable temp, but still less than "paradise".
We went to Volcano National Park, and chased after illusive lava flows. We saw a bunch of beautiful vistas, but the lava had flowed so far outside of the park, that by the time we got to about where it was, it was already dark, and after walking half a mile only by small flashlight to get to the site, we were still far from actual Lava glow, so missed that as well. Rats!
We decided to abandon the time share a day early, and did a Luau and stayed in the big city of Kona the last night, which was the way we should have done it in the first place... We did get some good snorkeling in, and lived what little bit of night life they have to offer there, prior to rolling up the streets.
The Big Isle is pretty, but rustic. We definitely prefer Maui, but are glad that we were able to have this experience to add to the list...
