This was where our long love affair with Kaaawa started. It was about this time of year in 1988, and we had been shopping for a house. At the time, we were living in a two-story townhouse in Tropic Gardens, on the other side of the freeway above Kahala Mall. It was nice, but we hoped to find something we could afford that didn’t feature a large ground-level parking lot right outside the living room window. We had this silly idea that we might be happy just with a place we would go for summers, vacations, and long weekends. So we looked along the north shore and along the windward coast.

One day, we were driving back with our realtor and stopped at Swanzy Beach Park. As we left, we were in the driveway looking toward the mountains. Behind the 7-11 store, you could see this A-frame home just up the hill. We both looked at that house, and its prime location with both mountain and ocean views. “We could live there,” we both said.

And, as it turned out, there was another house for sale just a little bit farther up the hill. We saw it and immediately made an offer. The rest is history. We loved every minute of the next 27 years living in Kaaawa. And we still enjoy visiting good friends, staying overnight, and walking the beach and the back roads the next morning.

Yesterday was another of those mornings.

Just click on the photo to see a few more.