One of the problems with blogging about something that happened in the past is that you tend to lose of the detail.  I’ll try to remember the important things as I go.   Fortunately, two of the last four of our days were relatively low key.

MONDAY:

We went on the Kilohana Plantation Hike.  This is the same plantation that we went to the day before for breakfast and shopping.   The hikes starts with a train ride, the same train ride that the people who only want the train ride go on, then we get off to hike, have lunch, and pick fruit in the orchard and then get picked up by the train back to the plantation.

Our group consisted of mostly people older and less fit than us, except for one who was most likely younger than Matt.  She had a “personality” disorder.  At first, I found her annoying, but then as I realized that she wasn’t just weird, but wired differently, I warmed up to her.  What can I say, it was morning, I wasn’t fully functional myself and had late realization.

So we board the train.  The first stop, the one that started the hike was fun.  We got to feed the wild pigs and the goats.  Of course, the goats being goats tried to hog all the food.  There were itty bitty baby pigs there.  The smallest ran into the grass though, and we didn’t get a picture of them.  Matt took pictures and I did the feeding.   During the hike, the learned that there are 350,000 wild pigs on the island, compared to the 65,000 human residents.  And that is why there are no more peacocks on the hike.

The hike was long, but slow.  And interesting. We saw a lot of different flowers and learned about the parasitic banyon tree.  We saw a 100 year old mango tree.  It had long since stopped producing fruit, and a banyon took over, but for a mango tree to still be standing after 100 years is really something.

After the hike, we had an okay lunch.  I had a salad and chips.  The salad had the little purple flowers that supposedly tasted like mushrooms on it, but I didn’t taste that with all the other veggies mixed in.  Then we headed for the orchard. On our way, a horse came over to talk to us.  I thought about my niece Maddie  right then and how happy she would have been over the horse coming over to her.

The orchards …. ahh… the guide cut up a delicious pineapple for us to share.  Never had a better tasting pineapple ever! I tried some new fruits … lychee (pronounced LEE-chee), and I can’t describe it except that its juicy and sweet.  Oh so yummy.  I had a longanberry … several of them, they look similar to the lychee, taste like a canteloupe.  And a star fruit, which I have seen here in grocery stores and never bought, cause I didn’t know what to do with it.  Turns out, you slice it like you would slice a cucumber or zucchini into rounds.  Its flavor is reminiscient of a kiwi.

The highlight of this excursion was Hobo Gray, a friendly cat who hangs out by the train station.  The train driver told us that she was abandoned there six months ago and they have been taking care of her.  She was limping, and he promised that if she wasn’t feeling better the next day, she would go to the vet.  He seemed very concerned about her.  Hobo let us pet her.  We were there before anyone else, so we got to her before it all got to be too much for her.   That was our only cat fix of the whole trip.  All the other cats seem to be true ferals and run from us.

After the hike, we went to the beach.  It was hard to believe that our trip was almost over and we wanted as much beach time as we could get!

TUESDAY:

We didn’t do very much on Tuesday.  A lot of reading and hanging out at the condo, outside.   The event we had planned was water tubing.  This was run by the same company that we went ziplining with on Friday.   So it was the same deal, get there, get gear, take a long truck drive, tube, eat, go back.  The actual tubing was okay.  I think it was definitely geared to families, as it was mellow.  I would have liked some waterfalls or bigger dips or something (nothing that would cause us to fall out of our tubes though), just a bit of a thrill.  It was relatively relaxing, or as much as it can be in an organized group.  The stream was 2.5 miles long, which sounds short, and it was.   The lazy river at Sandcastle (for those who know it) … that is about what this was, plus tunnels and a guide or two.   I would have liked a bit more Raging Rapids (at Kennywood) for the experience.    I thought the lunch was better than the zipline one, but the people who worked this event were not as friendly or nice as the zipliners.

WEDNESDAY:

Was essentially our last full day here in the sense of having the condo.  We mostly did nothing in the morning, although I do think that this was the day I was reading on the lanai, and saw a turtle, and then another.   I called in to Matt and there were at least six or seven swimming around together.  It was cool.  Matt ran in to the condo to get the camera and started snapping pictures and actually got several that shows the turtles.  That was this year’s theme for the trip, turtles. 

Afternoon on the beach, where the “waves” were the roughest all week, but no critters joined us in our swimming.  We stopped at the grocery store to get something for dinner and breakfast the next morning, and packed and read some books.

THURSDAY:

Got up and cleaned up the condo, showered and finished packing.  Sigh.  I can’t believe 10 days went by so fast.  When it got there, it seemed like we had so much time, and then whoosh! it was all over … but we still had some vacationing to do!

We “checked out” of the condo at 10:30 and headed west to Port Allen Airport where we went Powered Hang Gliding.  Let me tell you all … this was frightening!  I’m quoting Matt here, but its like riding a motorcycle in the air.  There is nothing around you.   Yes, we are seatbelted in, but that wasn’t good enough.

I admit that I was this close to making him land and stop.  But what stopped me?  I didn’t want to be only the fourth person to make them do that.  According to their website, only 3 in 18,000 people have done that. I am sure that there have been more students since us, but that three still stands.

It wasn’t the turbulence, it was just the being in the air with no outer protection.   About half way through though, I started to relax and enjoy it.   Matt got the option to steer his plane, I didn’t.  I was offered, it was a “lesson” after all, but I was too scared.  Matt got to go into the canyon and I stayed over the water, that in itself another story, as I can’t swim.  But we were totally safe, because we were 6,000 feet in the air, and at that point, the air holds you in and if the engine failed, we had a long time to glide down and steer to a safe place.  But it didn’t feel that way at first!

Would I do it again?  Probably.  But no time soon.  It’s very cost prohibitive.

Then we went to lunch at Joe’s on the Green, and discovered too late that it was good for lunch as well as breakfast.  Oh well.  We did some souvenir shopping and then …. we had nothing left to do and our flight wasn’t until 10:50.

So we went to the beach and sat in a pavillion and read our books.  The couple who had gone hang gliding right before us were there too and they saw us and we talked to them for awhile.   Eventually, after the sun started to go down (and I got some awesome sunset pictures), we headed out the direction of the airport.   We still had time so we decided to kill some of it at Border’s, then grabbed a quick dinner and headed to the airport at just about the perfect time for that.

In Lihue … well, they never were equipped for security and security is outside … the check in counters are sort of inside …. they are under a canopy, but its still open.  Its weird, but you have to go behind security to check in and check your bags.  First, checked bags have to be inspected by the USDA for plants and produce.  Then you get your boarding pass, get your checked bag tags, take your bags to the TSA bag area and then you get into general security line.  Anyway, the set up is a bit confusing.  And then when you get to the gate, they check your carry on for contraband.  We watched one guy get harrassed over his case of papayas, that I am pretty sure he bought in the airport, cause he was behind me in the main security line.

The trip home was uneventual.  Didn’t sleep as much as I would have liked, but got some sleep in.  The flight out of Phoenix to Pittsburgh was delayed 45 minutes, but we landed only 15 minutes behind schedule.  My best sleep was during that delay.  The plane moved, its like a car, and I was out.  When I woke up, I was surprised we were still on the ground.  I even slept through the pilot announcements. 

We are working to get over our jet lag.  Saturday, we were not up that late, around 11, but Sunday, I was up at 1:30!  Oy!  I hope to be back to somewhat normal in a few days.  Its hard.

In Summary:

Poipu is a nice place to stay.  There are grocery stores and restaurants and Lihue is only 15 miles away.  Our condo, while not deluxe accomodations (our room at the Palazzo in Vegas was much nicer for instance), had everything we wanted and you cannot get closer to the water than these.   It did not really have a beach, as we thought.  Just a small sandy area that was shared with another big resort.   We didn’t spend time there because it was so small and lots of people.  But the turtle sightings were awesome as was listening to the ocean waves all day and night.   The place wasn’t air conditioned and the trade winds didn’t cool the bed and bathrooms like promised.  It was actually hot.

We may stay at the North Shore the next time, where we stayed the first time.  I don’t think we’ll find a condo or house so close to the ocean however.

Don’t think these beaches are like the ones on the mainland shore.  The fact that these are volcanos make the beaches very rocky.   If you surf, or body board or body surf, or snorkel, its great.  If you just splash in the ocean, its great.  But its not like the beaches in North Carolina where you can go out to your neck, still have sand beneath your feet and ride waves inland.   If you try that in Kauai, you’ll break your head.

I highly recommend “The Ultimate Kauai Guidebook” by Andrew Doughty.  He didn’t steer us wrong at all.

This was, by far, one of the best, if not the best vacation ever.

Thursday was a mellow-er day for us.   We were up early again, around 7:00. Not sure if I like that or not.  I am not pleased with being sleepy at 8:30 at night.   But  I am happy that we are still awaking so early, because if we became night people here, well, our adjustment at home would be that much harder.

This was our first run of the trip.  We managed to drag our feet too long and it was 8:30 or so before we got out there.  It was very hot and humid.  At least the lower 80′s with humidity about 70%.   And hills!  Not bad ones, but a lot of them!  We ran for about 40 minutes, I just couldn’t do any more.   A migraine threatened me all day, but I fought it off and won, for the most part.

We also went to the local grocery store, the one about 8 minutes away, instead of going to Lihue.  We just needed to pick up some stuff we didn’t think to buy and had already run out of.   It’s called Sueoka and it’s a cute little grocery store in Koloa.  Which in itself is a cute little village.  Mental note to self … take photos of Koloa.

Then we went to the beach.   I wanted to go back to the beach despite the sunburn.  This time, we moved to the end of the beach, and noticed that there was lots of sand … but not really any waves.  But it was fine with us.  We sat on the ocean floor and let what waves were there carry us. It’s quite relaxing just hanging out.  I think the lack of waves was due to the rock wall that was breaking the waves.  On the other side of the rocks, was a beach called Brenneke’s that is good for boogie boarding and body surfing.  Very large rough waves over there.

While we were in the water, the lifeguards yell out to everyone “Just so you know, there is a Hawaiian Monk Seal heading your way.  They can be very dangerous.  I repeat, they can very dangerous to people, these Hawaiian Monk Seals”.  Or something like that.

There are less than 1500 of these animals in the WORLD.  Even seeing them here in Hawaii is not a guarantee.  They guess that about 15 or 16 live “on Kauai”.   Usually the south shore, where we are staying, but generally in the more remote beaches.  When we were hiking on Thursday out on Gillan beach, there were signs everywhere,  some “informal”,  and way off the water that warned people to stay away from any seals they encounter.   This was a relatively uncommon occurrence, and we get to see one!

We stood on the sand and watched him swimming around.  He was HUGE.  And from the glimpses we got, he looked like any other seal you see in the zoo.  Except that this is natural habitat.  That always makes it better.  He was sticking around, we moved to our chairs and watched him swim directly towards a lady who had not gotten out of the water.  She looked intimidated and managed to get away before he got directly to her.   So very cool, though, to see him or her, its not something that happens every day.

We originally planned pasta for dinner, but decided that we didn’t feel like cooking, so we walked to Bubba’s where I had another Taro burger.  Really, it tastes just like any other veggie burger.

And apparently the cure for sunburn is more sun … cause I didn’t get any more red.  In fact, I got brown.

Friday, the 11th, was our 10 year anniversary.   Neither of us really felt like running, so we went out to breakfast.   We went to Joe’s, which is only a few minutes from here.    According to our books, this place was good for breakfast only, and indeed, the breakfast was good.  I had tofu scrambler.  You won’t find that on any menu in Pittsburgh!  Matt had pancakes.   Then we went for a walk down Lawai, the opposite direction of where we have been.  Thought we’d get to Sprouting Horn, but we didn’t make it that far.  We stopped at a marina for a bit and watched the waves and some scurrying crabs.   Sea life animals are so much fun to watch.

Then … ziplining!  Yay!   There is this phenomenon in Kauai dealing with GPSes.  They just don’t work!  They work to a point, but don’t get you where you are going.  Many times, the “pin” for the location you are going to … its just plain in the wrong place.  This day, the pin WAS in the right place … except that there was lack of road signs and Kauai Backcountry was set off the road.   We drove past it three times, then I finally called them.  And the person who I talked to … seemed dumbfounded!  She was confused over my “can you give me a landmark?” question.  Asked which direction I was coming from … I had already told her we were heading North on Kuhio Highway, to the T … heading towards Hanalei, and that I knew that we went past it.  She was so confused!  And I’m the “foreigner”!  Finally, she said that they were next to “Ooh Baby” which we saw, and that is what I asked her in the first place!    And when we got there, we saw why we drove right on by.

NOTE:  Kauai businesses have a strong need for website designers/maintainers … if anyone out there is enterprising enough to pursue it!

But enough of that!  About the ziplining itself!  Whoa!  It was SO. MUCH. FUN.

We were both a tiny bit scared when we got there.  But also excited.  The first thing that had to be done was weigh in and getting our harnesses and hard hats.  We took a long vehicle ride to the ziplining area.  This ride was pretty long, a good 20 minutes.  The guide was funny and gave us the history of the land.  The land is privately owned … its something like 27,000 acres.  With lots of wildlife living there.  The only freshwater stream comes from the mountain on the property.

Anyway, we get to the top, we get our photo op, and the guides take pictures of the participants.  Then we get our safety briefing.  The first of the seven lines is a “bunny” line.  It was short, not that far off the ground.   Matt and I were the second to last (out of five couples) to go.  Matt went first.  Then I went.  I, of course, “landed” back facing instead of forward facing.    And it was so much fun.  This first line went so fast, it was a warm up.  I needed one more to feel ready.

The second line was the highest one of all of them.  And the second highest in the world.  I was a little intimidated by that at first…. but LOVED it.   And by this time, I felt totally safe, even though I still held on with two hands.  Lines 3 and 4 were the longest, and by far, my favorites.   By the third time, I wasn’t holding on with a death grip any longer, and only used one hand by line 5.  I really could have done several more than seven! I never got the hang of steering though, cause when I was up there, my brain told my hands to turn in the direction I wanted to go, instead of the appropriate, turn in the direction you are going.   When we were done, we were TIRED.  I can’t believe how much that wore me out.   They fed us lunch from Subway and offered swimming in a stream, but nobody bothered.

Saturday we started out going to the Kauai museum.  It looks small from the outside, but there is a LOT of stuff in there to see.  Very interesting, but I didn’t retain much about the history of the island.    The gift shop was nice, and had the nice shell leis that they make on Ni’ihau and cost $200+.  No thank you!

We had read a lot about Duane’s Ono Char Burger, both in our guidebooks and online.  So since we “out that way” we decided to go find it and give it a try.  This is a place that locals go, and its a stand on the side the road.  However, its WAY past Lihue, where we were, about 30 minutes away.   And, of course, the GPS had it wrong!  I did see this place as we drove fast by it, cause the GPS had it showing a few more miles up the road.  So we had to turn around.  And really, there aren’t really many roads in Kauai, so turning around is a bit of an adventure by itself.

Some of the things we heard was that there were stray cats there, but nary one to be found this day.  Also that MINIMUM wait times for food was 20 minutes and sometimes it can take an hour!  Ludicrous.  We waited less than 10 minutes.  That’s all.  I had a veggie sandwich, what they call a combo … cheese, veggies, sprouts on rye bread and really good onion rings and a milkshake that made me sick the rest of the day (I should not eat ice cream) but tasted really great.  Matt had chicken fingers and fries and milkshake.

We stopped at a little fair in Kapa’a.  This has got to be my favorite place in Hawaii.  It’s charming and quaint little village.   This is where the Bikram Yoga studio is, and where the former wonderful vegan and raw food restaurant Blossoming Lotus used to be.    The fair sells Hawaiian clothings and crafts and fresh fruit (but it didn’t look that good, and I didn’t need any anyway).   I bought a Kauai and turtle decal for my car.  I’ve kind of gotten a little fond of those turtles.

I also love driving (riding) this stretch of land because it borders the ocean.  Beaches all along the side of the highway.  Ahh….  We then stopped at Coconut Grove Marketplace and looked around the shops.  I remember when we were here before, that we shopped there.  It’s pretty sad, a lot of the storefronts are all closed up now.

This was when Matt got an ocular migraine, so we just headed back to the condo and hung out here and read and watched The Food Network.

Today, Sunday, we got up and ran.   We ran for about 60 minutes and Matt’s Garmin (GPS) said that was only 4.8 something miles … so I think that was off too.  I tell you … we are really out in the middle of nowhere … there was no way Matt only ran 4.8 miles in 60 minutes!

After our run, we went to the restaurant Gaylord’s for their Sunday brunch.  Gaylord’s is located on the Kilohana Plantation.  Its acres of land that used to be owned by someone (ah, yes, articulate, I am) and the house is still in its original condition.  But now, its Gaylord’s restuarant and some really nice shops.  There are also gardens all over there, and the place offers train rides to take you around and look at them all.  And there is also a hike and train ride deal that is about four hours long and we are actually doing that tomorrow.  But today, we just ate, and looked at the shops and when we were outside, we saw four cats.  None of which came to us, but clearly weren’t feral.  Two black and whites … looked identical.  They were so cute.  The male (it was obvious) at least acknowledged me, but his companion insisted he follow, so he did.   I’ll post a link to the website tomorrow, after the hike.

Then … we stopped to buy some beverages and bread for dinner and came back here to read before heading to the beach again.   We were in the water with TWO turtles.  The turtles were only 10 feet away!  Yep, 10 feet!  Two of them!   I was excited.

We stayed at the beach about three hours and did not get burned by the sun, and relaxed in our condo.  It’s a mess, I want to clean it, but I’m on vacation and I’m really trying to resist. 

This concludes the first 7 days of our trip.  This, is, really and truly, the best vacation ever.

Matt and I are here on the island of Kauai, celebrating 10 happy years of marriage, for 10 full days.  There will be alot of stuff to talk about, so I am writing it all down as we go.  Partly for my own personal memory and also to inform everyone of what we’ve been up to while we were here.  And yes, I’ll go into detail! 

Monday was travel day.  We were travelling USAirways.  I have to admit, I was worried about our layover in Phoenix.  If our flight out of Pittsburgh was late, we were in trouble.  But, for the first time in a long time, neither flight was delayed, and the one to Kauai was even early to land.

Flying first class is awesome.  It’s wonderful to be in those bigger seats and only the two of us in a row.  I was disappointed that neither flight had foot rests though.  I liked that we could have beverage service right off the bat, although I didn’t need any.  I do have to say that the flight attendant on the first flight was “friendly-bordering-on-annoying” though.  The meal we were given was actually appropriate for me.  I wasn’t sure how veg-friendly it would be, or how filling, so I had a Qdoba breakfast burrito before the flight.  The breakfast I was given was yogurt/granola, a croissant and fresh fruit.  I ate the fruit and the croissant, and a few bites of the yogurt.  Just mostly to confirm that I, indeed, do not care for yogurt.    Matt slept through the meal.

In Phoenix, we had the dilemma that it was breakfast time there, but we were already up for over  6 hours and WANTING lunch, and KNOWING that there was no way the meal on the plane would be suitable, I had to find something and settled on pizza, which turned out to be VERY good.   Later, when the flight attendant asked me which meal I wanted, I told her neither.  She asked me if I would like it later, and I said “no, I’m vegetarian”.  She was nice though, and brought me a salad (which was tasty and made of REAL greens) and a roll.  I thought that was very thoughtful.  It’s not her fault her stupid “boss” didn’t offer vegetarian meals on these particular flights.  Nor kosher or gluten free.  Wonderful, eh?

When we landed in Kauai, our first stop was to Wal-Mart.  Now, I hate Wal-Mart you probably know and avoid it like the plague.  But sometimes, in paradise, we gotta go where we gotta go.   So to Wal-Mart we go.  We wanted some groceries and beach supplies.  They didn’t have beach supplies at all.  But fortunately, after exploring the closet, we found everything we needed here at the condo.

Our condo is nice, our view is beautiful.  The ocean waves right outside our door.  I’m listening to them rush right now.  It’s very relaxing.  With the screen doors and windows, it keeps it cool.  The bedroom and bathrooms, however, are stifling.  A bit of advice to any future beach condo renters.  Get a second or third floor space … then you can keep the windows open all night and sleep with the breeze!

That night, we went to bed early.  I tried to stay awake until 10:00 p.m., which would have meant I was up for 24 hours, thinking it would be cool to say that and also would help to adjust to island time.   But, alas, I fell asleep at 8:45 p.m.  Matt was later than that.  Of course, we were up before 7:00 a.m. the next morning.

Tuesday, we got up and had breakfast and took a walk.  It was already hot at 8:00 a.m.  Uh-oh, that doesn’t bode well for running!   We then came back here and was lazy for awhile and went to Poipu beach.  The beach was nice, but not practical for what I call swimming … going out into the waves and riding them.  There are too many rocks, and I was afraid I would be knocked over by current and get my head banged up and at worst, die, and at best, be bruised.  So we sat on the edge of the water and let the waves hit us there.  I enjoyed that.  Eventually, we did go back to our chairs and sat down and read.  I thought we were in the shade, but I am lobster red, so I guess not.     The nice thing about the beach is that there is a grassy area, so we didn’t have to sit in the sand.  And trees … which, apparently, do not offer any sun protection.

Cool beach happenings … we noticed a bunch of people standing by the water and pointing and taking pictures.  We eventually got up and joined them and saw a HUGE sea turtle swimming.  He came nearly to shore and worked his way back out.  I really wish we would have had our camera.

Another thing, we were surrounded by chickens and chicks and even, I think, quail.  Chickens run all over Kauai, and the roosters are confused, as they caw “Cock-a-doodle-do” all day long.   While we were sitting in our chairs, reading, some chickens came over to us and just hung out.  A mama with her babies were in the area too.  Now … in all of m life, I I never thought I’d share beach space with chickens.  It’s surreal.   See, I always say “Chickens are our friends”. 

We decided to go out to the best pizza in Kauai for dinner.  Our GPS had us going the wrong way (apparently when Kauai lists an address as 2-something, you need that 2- cause its not the same as 3- ).  It was the best pizza!  I had zucchini and green onion, and the zucchini was sliced rounds and not chopped, and looked very pretty.  On our wrong way drive we saw birds sitting on cows.

Wednesday once again found us up early.  And boy, did we fill it.  We didn’t have any way to carry water, so we postponed our run until tomorrow, and decided to hike instead.  However, before we did that, we headed up to Lihue to go to the “big” grocery store.  We started out at Hilo Hattie’s so I could get some sundresses, and then to K-Mart for long sleeves and SPF 50!  for the beach.  The store was okay.  I thought the selection small, but was impressed with the amount of organic and other healthy options it had.  But food here is so expensive.

After that trip, we went on the hike.  We chose a hike nearby that was recommended by our travel book.  It was a bit “off the beaten path”.  The directions say to follow the road until it dead ends and go on the unpaved road.  It started out unpaved, but then became rocky and very hard to navigate … especially in our Mustang.  The trail started at Gillen beach and travelled up some cliffs.   We, however, walked down the wrong path and was at the group of four beaches first.  These beaches were wonderful!  Nice and isolated, although swimming would be trecherous.  It was perfect for walking and hanging out though.  We walked probably an extra mile to get to the trail start and had to navigate a stream.  Matt managed to jump over it, but I removed my shoes and socks and walked through.  Then I had sand in my shoes.  Oh well, I am in Kauai after all. Anyway, the trail was made of lithified sand dunes.  The water really rages up against the rocks there.  We took some awesomely beautiful pictures.

After the hike, we came back to the condo to change.  That is the lovely part of this trip, we have a lovely comfy space to keep coming back to.    While we were here, the management company knocked on the door and wanted to swap out a couch.  But then they changed their mind.  Whatever.

Out to dinner at Poipu Tropical Burgers that was NOT nearly as bad as the reviews said.  Our service was friendly, the fries were good.  I liked my housemade veggie burger, and Matt said that his burger was “ordinary”.  But ordinary doesn’t mean mad.  We walked around the shops there, and we will probably go back at the end of our stay for souvenirs and gifts.   Then we had some gelato.  Yum!  So much cheaper than Vegas’!  I chose french vanilla and pumpkin spice and Matt had chocolate and french vanilla.

The only really “bad” thing to report is that Matt (it had to be him, he was the only one closing the windows) killed a poor innocent gecko, that was hanging out in the window track.  Apparently, he closed the window on the poor dear thing and then when we opened the window, he was crushed.  We didn’t even notice until we went to shut it again.  We are very remorseful for this senseless killing.

So that is days 1-3!  More fun to come!