Touring Homes on Big Island With Hella Rothwell

Elizabeth Weintraub and Hella Rothwell by Hibiscus

What’s most enjoyable about my wor-cation in Hawaii is the non-accountability, I suspect. To do whatever I want whenever I want to do it. Yet with that kind of freedom comes a certain sense of responsibility, to make sure the right thing takes place and not the wrong thing, so maybe it’s not such a sense of non-accountability as you might think.

For example, if I were to consume a dozen angel food cakes, I might gain 50 million pounds, and then I couldn’t fit into my skinny jeans. So I think twice about doing that, and then I might do it anyway. When you have a friend who encourages you, well, Siri, just knock it off, that’s all I have to say. You are NOT my friend, Siri.

I will tell you who is my friend, even if she doesn’t want any new friends because maybe she has all the friends her life can allow at the moment, and that person is broker extraordinare Hella Rothwell. She flew into Big Island yesterday from Oahu to show me homes in south Kona. We missed snorkeling due to time restraints but that is still on the menu for some other day. To look at 3 homes, it took us 5 hours.

Dome house in South Kona

Hella Rothwell could not believe that we Realtors in Sacramento can show 7 homes in two hours in Sacramento. But the Big Island is different. All 3 of these homes were basically in the same neighborhood, too. It was like Goldilocks and the Three Bears. The first home was a dome home which, at first blush, you might say, oh, yeah, like Barbra Streisand and A Star is Born, except this is not Arizona. Nestled in the trees way up a hill, with very small rooms, not much open space and not much of a view except from the deck.

Next was a coffee farm with almost 3 acres, sporting a 2-bedroom cottage with one bath that is, let’s say functional. The view was nice. The gardens lovely. Pineapple to die for. But the road up to the coffee farm was more than a mile, straight up, very bumpy, and at one point we had to get out of the listing agent’s car, because our rental car wouldn’t make it, and walk, and I imagine my calves are thanking me for that today.

The last house had a beautiful view, owned by an architect who designed it 30 years ago. He must have only wanted to sit in the living room and then go to bed because they are the only two rooms that were exceptional, which also offered a panoramic view. I think this house will stick in my mind for a long time. If my husband said, buy it, I would.

Hella Rottwell and Elizabeth Weintraub at Huggos on the Rocks

We capped off our tours with a trip to Huggo on the Rocks where Hella Rothwell treated me to a Mai Tai and a platter of nachos. Watching the waves roll over the rugged rocks. Life doesn’t get any better than that.