We took turns playing single parents with my wife and I attending our respective conferences this month. While Melody visited Amelia Island, Westley and I compared noodles from Sit Lo and Lollibowl, impressed the clerk at Akiba HQ with his gundam knowledge, and sailed through submarine titles like the Hunt for Red October and U571. I also checked out Vince Gilligan’s new series Pluribus, which had an intriguing premise but slow pacing. Listening to Planet Money episodes on board games inspired us to try Catan, but luck outweighed skill in our first playthrough, leaving Westley more frustrated than entertained. Melody and I swapped places on MLK weekend as I took off for Kona to attend Hawaiian Eye, with a nice upgrade thanks to my new platinum status on United. After checking in, I crashed my friend Lejla’s family dinner with RegenXBio at Canoe House, then returned to the hotel to practice my talk. On Monday, I joined the Adverum team for breakfast loco moco before taking the stage to present the year 2 LUNA trial results. I took a short nap and swam at the hotel pool afterwards, then dined at a food truck event over crispy pork belly and tofu from Ho Jah and a kiwi smoothie from Hi Bao while connecting my cousin Steve and old friend Janie over their Africa connection. I watched a movie, worked on manuscripts, and attended faculty meeting rather than sleep aboard my red-eye home, which made my morning of primate imaging harder. I hope to rest and recover before my birthday next week.

We awoke Wednesday to start our journey across the north side of the island past Rainbow Falls and ‘Akaka Falls. Grazing on soft mochi from Two Ladies Kitchen, crispy nachos from Birria Boss, and dense malasadas from Tex Drive-In’s, we made our way to the postcard view at Waipio lookout, then picked up takeout in Waimea and skipped the Pololou black sand beach for more turtle-gazing at Puako Bay and an earlier arrival at the Outrigger Kona Resort. We spent the evening enjoying hotel pool volleyball and cup noodles that had us slumbering through NYE. We kicked off next morning with our first snorkel at Kahalu’u, where Westley overcame pain from his foot scuffs to explore the shallow reefs and diverse marine life, followed by lunch and relaxation poolside, and foosball and 8-ball in the hotel game room. Our friend Melanie joined us for a sunset dinner at Papa Kona, then shared Gecko Girlz shave ice and ice-cream while watching public volleyball matches and checking out her new condo. She joined us again on Friday morning with Texaco musubis at Manini’owali beach, where the turbulent waters and white sands were better suited for wave jumping and castle building. We lunched afterwards on yummy Pau Hana poke, window-shopped with Gypsea gelato, then dined on a red dragon roll and corned beef from Food Truck Friday. Our bucket-list manta ray night snorkel unfortunately started with Westley scraping his knee on the parking lot pavement, but watching the gentle giants gliding across our bellies helped him overcome the pain. We returned to higher tide and more turbulent waters at Kahalu’u Saturday, but were rewarded with sightings of multiple sea turtles enjoying their breakfast before we enjoyed our own breakfast of Paradise Bakery malasadas. Afterwards, we supplemented Reel Aloha’s poke plate with fried apple and haupia pies from McDonald’s, then learned about Hawaiian culture at Pu’uhonua o Honaunau. Exhausted, we vegged out with Looney Tunes in our hotel room before heading out for Yelp’s 8th best burger at Island Ono Loa Grill and sending the Parks to the airport. Due to low enrollment, our Dolphin Discoveries snorkel tour to Captain Cook’s monument was “upgraded” to include Two Step Beach, doubling our snorkel time and Melody’s enjoyment. Without a hotel shower, we warmed up to TK noodles, snacked on shave ice, shopped for coffee beans, dined on Black Rock pizza, and lounged over more chocolate and MTG before our late flight home. We kept Monday’s schedule light to recover from the red-eye, as we look forward to more future travel with friends.