We didn't spend much time in the Big Island towns, in fact now that I think about it, we were only in town for meals. (Why spend time in town when you've got this breathtakingly magnificent landscape all around you?) But we did venture a couple of time into Kona; this photo was taken from our table during breakfast one morning.

We also found this excellent restaurant there. Restaurant pickins were slim on the entire island, very few surviving the lack of tourist business caused by the pandemic.

Some days finding a place to eat was a real challenge (even though we had a full kitchen in our condo, we didn't want to cook on vacation).

A few of the interesting Kona residents, just hanging out...

Another restaurant quite close to our resort. All of those stores below are empty...so sad to see things so run down...

All 17 of us went to a luau together at the nearby Mauna Kea Resort. The sun was right in my eyes...can you tell?

Learning a few hula hand movements....

Kassie was quite good at it!

Abram collected unclaimed seedpod leis. That boy is always collecting something!

Kristoffer and Dana's lovely luau gang...

Once Kyler discovered this nearby macadamia nut company and its to-die-for macadamia nut brittle, our gang made multiple stops throughout the week to satiate our new food obsession.

They also have fantastic ice cream there! And the nicest ladies working too!

When you visit the Big Island, we highly recommend the Hamakua Mac Nut Company.

Freshly-picked macadamia nuts...

I have also discovered that Hamakua nuts are available on Amazon, the taste of Hawaii shipped right to my door!

The rest of our family visited Volcanoes National Park on the other side of the island. Kim and I didn't go, but instead we tried to drive to the top of Mauna Kea Mountain.

We got as far as this observation area about halfway up, but the park rangers wouldn't allow our rental car to go higher.

So we had to turn around and come back down.

Not a lot of wildlife in Hawaii, but we did see lots of wild goats, some turkeys,...

...a frigatebird...

...and even a wild pheasant which Google tells me is a kalij pheasant, not native to Hawaii but introduced there from its Himalayan home as a game bird back in the 1960s.

Lots of yellow-billed cardinals waiting around the resort restaurants for their own meals...

Pretty little saffron finches were all over the resort and flying around the airport.

I never could identify these birds, but they were all over the resort grounds too.

My little birdman Abram and I loved seeing the amazing birds! We did get to see some nene geese flying above us at the beach, but no photos of them.

One of the coolest things we witnessed was the manta rays that come up each night very near where we stayed.

We were standing on a sidewalk just above the bay and they come right up to the seawall and turn around...incredible!

Snorkelers get into the water every night just to experience swimming alongside them.

When they turn around, they flip over and show their white underbelly...

Truly amazing creatures! But none of us had any desire to swim with them...I'm happy to see them from above.

A fantastic week, all around!

Memories made that will last beyond my lifetime. 'Twas a wonderful week...

...living on island time.