Of course when the plane landed in Kona the very first thing I did was retrieve Ella from baggage. She was quite refreshed after her nap and didn’t complain too much about the Macadamia Nut Pancakes she could smell all the way from first class.

From the airport we went immediately to collect our rental car.

Ella loved the orange color (trust me, it was orange, orange, much brighter than this picture shows). She thought it would be easy to spot in parking lots. However, since 3 different rental agencies bought fleets of the darn things, no matter where we went there was always at least one other identical car. In fact at one point, I deliberately parked between two of them. I do so wish it had occurred to me to snap that pic.

Once in our room, Ella went straight to the balcony. She had to see the view, then she had to have her picture taken for Melli.

If you are at all concerned about the fact that I allowed Ella to sit unassisted on a 7th floor balcony, please rest assured that even though you can’t see it, there is a very big flower box behind her. She was in no danger of visiting the lobby head first.

After unpacking and checking out the amenities — no sleep number bed, Ella was sad — we headed for the lobby. We thought we’d explore a bit and see if we couldn’t find some eats.

Ella spotted a sign that got her all excited. She climbed atop it and was chattering a mile a minute. I thought for sure she wanted alcohol and told her no way. She got quite miffed and said she didn’t want the drink. She wanted a little pink umbrella to match her outfit.

The bartender gave her a little pink umbrella and Ella was very gracious, but I could tell she was disappointed. I asked her what was the matter. She said she thought the umbrella would be bigger so she could use it for beach shade.  Even though it wasn’t what she wanted, I am glad she got the umbrella though. It helped us make our Punny Monday.

Since out Macadamia Nut Pancakes had long since worn off, Amoeba and I were quite hungry. We asked Ella what she had in mind for lunch and of course, since she is an elephant, she yelled, “Salad!” Then she hopped down from the sign, scrambled across the lanai, and climbed up on an occasional table in the lobby. It is astounding how fast that little elephant can move.

I had a heck of a time convincing her that this wasn’t a gourmet tropical salad, but was instead a center piece for looking at only. She thought that was a horrific waste of perfectly good food.

Finally we convinced her to walk down the block with us to an ocean-side cafe. We sat beneath a big umbrella in beach chairs on the sand and ordered our lunch from a swimsuit-clad waitress. Amoeba and I had Kalua pork. Ella had a tropical fruit salad and a goodly portion of my french fries.