Day 2 - Up Country and 1st Swim in the Pool

It was cool and windy last night, so I closed all the windows, and we slept under comforters.  It was pretty cool today -- in the low 70s -- and it rained a little bit, but nothing like yesterday. 

I called the condo manager because we still had not paid our rent.  Came came right over and we had a nice visit.  Actually, he is responsible for the building and grounds, but his wife handles the rental side of the business.  This condominium  consists of 2 4-story buildings, which are angled slightly so that they are further apart at the street.  A koi pond meanders between the buildings and the pool and BBQ area is in front with a fence providing privacy from the busy Ali'i Drive.  There is a small park with an open ocean view across the street. It is 3 miles south of Kailua. The complex was built in the 1970s and is not posh by any standards, but since we were here 2 years ago, it is obvious that a lot of work has been done on the grounds.  Most notably, the koi pond has been cleaned and the swimming pool is now heated.

We took it easy this morning and after a lunch of leftover pizza, we went up to the small town of Kainaliu, which is "up country" and only a few miles from here.  We wanted to stop at Showcase Gallery and Beads, which is one of the nicest shops of locally made jewelry, art work, pottery, etc.  They also have a really nice selection of beads, which was what I was interested in.  We remembered visiting with the owner two years ago, so renewed our acquaintance. He is originally from the Seattle area and once owned a pet shop in the U-District - I think the name of the shop was Feathers & Fins.  He had originally moved to Hilo, but when he realized how much it rains over there, he moved over to the Kona side where it is drier.  I guess if he wanted rain, he would have stayed in Seattle. Well, it rained hard while we were in his shop, so we went next door to the Donkey Ball factory.  Donkey Balls are macadamia nuts covered in a very thick layer of chocolate.  Mauna Loa chocolate covered macadamia nuts are about the size of a marble, Donkey Balls are about the size of a walnut! One macadamia nut encased in a thick layer of chocolate! It was still raining, so we decided to fore go further exploration and headed back to the condo, making a couple of stops on the way.

I decided to try out the heated pool, and it was really nice.  Not close to the 85 degrees I was told it was, but it was warm enough.  I remember before that it was so cold that it practically sucked the breath out of me.

The kitchen in this condo is very well equipped and we have a very cute little crock pot.  So, for tonight's dinner I used it to make chicken teriyaki, which turned out very well.  I used boneless, skinless chicken thighs, some Aloha teriyaki sauce, and added some pineapple juice.  Since it didn't need to cook all day, I stored it in the fridge - chicken separate from the sauce.  I reheated the sauce, added some more teriyaki sauce, some more pineapple juice, some onion, and grated fresh ginger.  I boiled it down for awhile before adding the chicken and some pineapple chunks.  Served with brown rice, it was really good.

I haven't posted any pictures because I have yet to take any...

All in all, a relaxing day.  Looking forward to the possibility of sunshine tomorrow, but it sounds like the high surf warnings will continue through tomorrow.