Back from Vaca

 Greetings from The (post-vaca) Hill,

From the last post to now I was planning for vaca, on vaca and then recovering from vaca.  DH and I celebrated our 30th wedding anniversary by taking a trip to Kauai, HI for a week.  I can show you some pictures but the reality was too beautiful for words.

Secret Beach

Day 1 - Road across the north end of the island.  Fav spot was Secret Beach.  Could have stayed there longer but didn't have swimsuit on and jumped into the ocean with my cell phone in my pocket.  Goodbye good mood, hello dead phone.

" Secret Beach is one of the most picturesque beaches on Kauai. Walking on the lava rocks to the left of secret beach is only safe on the calmest summer days when the surf report calls for waves less than 2 ft high. The rocky coastline leads to a beautiful waterfall. A reasonably steep path leads down to the beach."

I laugh as I read "reasonably steep path"  it was actually a VERY steep path.  

Lydgate Park

Day 2 we visited Lydgate Park which got smacked really badly from the floods last month.  There were huge trees and branches all up and down the beach.  The encircled swimming area while taped off with yellow crime scene tape was open to the public.  This is where we did our first (and probably only ever) snorkeling. 

"Lydgate beach park is a popular beach, picnic and playground area that includes a 2 mile bike path. The boulder enclosed swimming area offers some of the safest swimming on Kauai and has a lifeguard. Lydgate beach park is the best place to learn how to snorkel, and also suitable for small children and those who don't know how to swim."

In other words it is a park for the less adventuresome.

Pancakes and Hula

 Day 3 - We listened to the local radio station, watched the news and learned about the Lions Club annual fundraiser "Pancakes and Hula" in Hanalei.  It was a wonderful local even to attend.  Pancakes were excellent and the entertainment was exactly what I had hoped to see while there.

By the way, it is pronounced Hana-lay (not Hana-lee as in Puff the Magic Dragon.)

Later that morning we drove up to Waimea Canyon.  This picture does not even do it justice.  It was so spectacularly beautiful.  I just stood in awe.

Waimea Canyon

"Waimea Canyon, on Kauai's West Side, is described as "The Grand Canyon of the Pacific." Although not as big or as old as its Arizona cousin, you won’t encounter anything like this geological wonder in Hawaii. Stretching 14 miles long, one mile wide and more than 3,600 feet deep, the Waimea Canyon Lookout provides panoramic views of crested buttes, rugged crags and deep valley gorges. The grand inland vistas go on for miles."

Jo-Jo's Shave Ice

 On the way up to the canyon we stopped at Jo-Jo's to have our first shave ice. The difference between a snow cone and shave ice is the way the ice is treated. For snow cones the ice is crushed.  Shave ice is just that, a big block of ice shaved off using a very sharp knife.  Instead of ice pieces you actually get something more akin to a snowlike consistency.  Mine was flavored with red raspberry, pistachio and Jo-Jo's punch syrup.  So good.

Rambutan

 At the entrance of the canyon as we started to leave was a van selling locally grown items.  One of those was this little beauty.  It has soft spiky things on the outside and the inside is the consistency of grape flesh but it doesn't taste like grape and there is a good sized pit in there.  I fell in love with this fruit and ate a ton of it before we left the island.

Kipu Ranch ATV Tour

Day 4 - This is the day I had been waiting for and it did not disappoint, our 3 hour ATV tour of Kipu Ranch.  The scenery was beyond description.  Our guide, Lumbo, told us about the history of the land and  explained that today it is still a working ranch raising herds of cows.  He picked plants to show us and told us the stories behind them.  If you go to Kauai this tour is a must.

Me with a Pearl Harbor survivor

 Day 5 was our trip over to Oahu to visit Pearl Harbor.  This was a day filled with unexpected revelations.  We arrived at Honolulu around 9:00am and rented a car for the day until our outgoing flight at 8:00pm.  The highlight of my day was getting to meet Mr. Dick Girocco.  He was working in the next building over from where stood when the bombs came down December 7, 1941.    I talked to him the whole time Randy toured the Pacific Aviation museum.   We didn't talk of that day. Instead we got on the subject of our family heritage.  His mother was from Austria.  When she was 5 or 8 her parents planned to immigrate.  They traveled to London to catch a ship - the Titanic.  Turns out they didn't have enough money for even the cheapest fare and had to sail on the ship behind her.  Lucky day for his family. 

As we did on Kauai, we drove the circumference of the island to see what it had to offer.  Our rental car company offered a GPS that provided a guided tour of all the important sights on the island.  We had fun when every few miles or so our "tour guide's" recorded voice told us about what we were seeing out our car window.  It was lots of fun.  While the island of Oahu is beautiful, we were struck with how populated it is.  Much more so than Kauai.  By the end of the day we were ready to get back to our less populated island paradise.

White Chocolate Pineapple Macadamia Nut Crunch

 Day 6 -We really didn't plan anything for this day.  So it was a free day to do as we pleased.  Since it was at the back end of our trip we decided to do a little souvenir shopping. We went to a few local markets, the ABC store and finally the premiere destination for island takaways - Hilo Hatties.  Here they opened an oyster for me and inside was not one but two pink pearls.  Below is what the area looked like.  Some call this a rip off because once you have the pearls they try to sell you an expensive piece of jewelry to house them.  You can say "No" though as I did and keep the little treasures. 

Picture from blog "Travels with Seven and Mad, 2008"

This is the day we had a great visit with our new friend Tina.  She was also staying on the property and we had touched base throughout the week but we finally got to spend a large block of time with her and enjoyed it so much!!  She is from the left coast and we are from the right so we had a great time sharing the stories of our life.  Now that we are back home we are keeping in touch.  I believe folks you connect with cross you path for a reason.  Don't' know what ours is yet but is special to have a new found friend.


Day 7 - Our last day on the island.  We spent the morning packing and putting the rental back the way we found it.  We checked out at 11:00am but our flight didn't leave until 10:00pm so we spent our last time on the island visiting places on the south shore.  I will let the pictures speak for themselves.

Visited Spouting Horn.  Have a vid but it wouldn't load.

Randy went.  I didn't.  It was over water and SWINGING.

View of the river from the bridge.

We spent our last hours on the island here.  Turned into one of my fav spots.

This was my last chance to beachcomb

This is a newly washed up piece of coral.  The purple beauties were still soft and alive when I took this pic.

Found a little "antique" while there.

This is one of the several types of pine trees on the island.

And it was here I had to say Aloha to the iconic roosters that roam the island.

Randy and I could not have asked for a more perfect visit to paradise.  Now we want to go back because after all the places we saw and all the things we did there is still so much more to experience here.

Later...