The morning started with meeting up for breakfast. Since we did not have to be out of the hotel until 11:00, I decided it was time to finally swim in the pool. Mary Ellen joined me for a few minutes to stick her feet in the hot tub.
We knew it was going to be too early to head to the airport so after checking out we headed off to find a botanical garden; there were several to choose from. Time to find them on the map. Making sure the garden was ON the way to the airport was paramount.  We ended up at Paleaku Gardens Peace Sanctuary. This was a lovely area for walking, viewing, and contemplating. It’s a place that I would go back to in a heartbeat next time I am in Kona. Not only were there great views of the water but plants of all kinds. There were areas set up for all different religions for meditation. I will have to say one of the most fascinating things that I saw was a fig tree with roots that were sticking up out of the ground like long short walls winding through one of the displays.
We headed to lunch at South Kona Grindz where they had the most delicious pineapple BBQ burger I have ever had.   If you are near the Paleaku Gardens Peace Sanctuary, I highly recommend it.
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Sadly to say, it was time to head to the airport. Our car was due back by 4:30.   Right before we left the skies opened up, and it was pouring.  As if Hawaii was sad to see us go. Once we got down the mountain, the rain stopped. We dropped the car off at Alamo; the woman who checked us in did ask how Linda H. had been faring after the car had conked her on the head.  The Alamo shuttle dropped us off right in front of the Delta desk at 4:00.  There was nobody there, the desk was empty, the computers were all covered,  so we were kind of wondering what was happening. We stood there for quite a while, an hour and a half to be exact. Eventually one of the airport employees came over to do something, and we asked him why the desk was closed. He let us know that the desk didn’t open until somewhere between 5:00 and 5:30. We all wish we had known that before getting there so early. I guess we were so trained to be at airports way ahead of time, that we didn’t even think that the desk might be closed. Delta sends constant texts about boarding times and giving us the location of our luggage, but NOTHING about the counter being closed. Two of us will be following up with Delta. 
With our luggage checked in, we headed to security. And wouldn’t you know it, I got dinged again even after assuming the Sumo pose. It was only my right knee. I guess I will have to make sure not to wear the same pants again. Maybe that’s what was doing it.  We went to find our gate and realized that it was outside. Luckily the next gate over was an inside gate, with AC and bathrooms, so we sat there waiting for our plane.
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Our arrival at LAX was a  few minutes early, and it’s a good thing.We have not figured out how this happened: while we had all booked flights together at the same time, on the same day, somehow we were divided up amongst three different flights heading to ATL.. Some of us wondered if we didn’t miss something when we kept getting flight updates in the months before our trip. As it worked out, Mary Ellen and Linda H. had to hustle right off the plane because their flight left right at 6:00 a.m. Luckily, it was only three gates away. Linda C and I were on the 7:00 plane, while Victoria and Kathleen were on the 8:00 plane.  Luckily we’re all back together for our flight from Atlanta to Richmond. There were many food choices in the ATL airport, so we all got something different and waited at A26.
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It was a great trip and there are some places I would certainly like to visit again.