Wednesday-zipping, swimming &lighthouse

I'm glad I'm writing this down, because it's hard to keep track of days. I think we're on Wednesday. First, I had to cut and pasted all the previous messages into the blog. Sorry about any spelling/grammar issues. I'm still mastering the touch pad.. I'll blame it on that anyway. I can edit at home.
This morning we took off fairly early to give ourselves plenty of time to get through Lihue and on to Princeville for our 10 a.m. ziplining reservation at Princeville Ranch Adventures. The "book" recommended this company because there are actually 7 ziplines and a swinging bridge all in a beautiful cattle ranch valley with views of the mountains... in a land called Hanalei. (I never even knew there was such a thing.)
Our guides Rhonda and John took 10 of us for the Zip Express. That means that we chose not to have sandwiches and a swim in a waterfall for an extra $40 each. We're doing a waterfall tomorrow anyway. Four from MN, 2 each from GA, CA and us.. all ready for a challenge. The guides gave the safety pep talk and fit us into our fashionable harnesses and helmets. Then, we warmed up on the shortest zipline... testing out the starting and stopping techniques. (I just hoped I could land on my feet each time.. and I did .. for the most part and so did John.) Then we walked through the pastures and the trails to each zipline, each with its own name and characteristics. Of course, the longest one was right by a big bee hive (not THAT close) I was so concerned about getting a good run at it so I wouldn't be the one stuck in the middle of the line needing to be rescued that I forgot about the bees. (I had my bee sting kit just in case.) I think we got some good pictures, though it's hard to focus on the point where someone is going to be and then quickly take the picture at the right time. I may have good pictures of the others in the group and not necessarily us. Photos should provide an idea of the terrain and the lines. The time went by fast. We left at about 10:30 and got back about 1:30. Then we went in to Hanalei for lunch and a check of the guidebook to figure out what was next. I picked Queen's Bath for the next adventure. Back to Princeville and follow-the-map exercise to find the trailhead leading to the rocky cliffs, past a little waterfall to a swimming pool size tidepool. We lucked out. Surf wasn't too high and not so low that the pool wasn't being replenished with ocean. John had his snorkeling gear and we floated around in comfortable temp water and watched the fish... and they watched us. One school came up to explore several times. I wish I'd taken along an underwater camera. We had the pool to ourselves (with the fish). A few other people came by to look while we were there, but no one else swam while we were there. When we got out, the next couple arrived. It was truly magical. We have some photos of the pool itself and I think it will show how the water gets in. Fun to be in the pool when a wave comes in and swooshes the next bunch of water in.
This would be the last trip this far north so we detoured to the lighthouse on the way back. I remembered to bring our National Park pass so we got in even though there was only 10 min. until the place closed. The lighthouse is now a bird refuge and I guess we hit the "show time". There were signs around the fence to explain about the special bird species. We'd see a sign, then the bird would fly over. Look at the next and that bird flew over. We think we saw albatross, red-footed booby and frigate bird, plus a pair of nenes. (nay -nay). It was a quick trip, but just in time to be able to get in.
We knew were were close to the Kauai rush hour returning to Poipu, but we just took our time. Nice thing about rush hour is you can't rush. There's time to look. Most of the road is 2 lane and Kauai is famous for its traffic back-ups. We stopped at our local grocery and got a bake it ourself pizza and added our own fresh pineapple.
Wow. What a day... and tomorrow will be big, too.
Tomorrow morning we have to be at the Wailua River at 7:15 a.m. for a kayak trip to a waterfall. Mom, we may paddle by Fern Grotto, which I think you said you saw. The morning trip was recommended because ... fewer people will be on the river. There are at least four different companies all taking people up the river. We could have guided ourselves, but the "activity" person at Kiahuna said the trail to the waterfall is a little tough to find. I didn't want to have a Salzburg moment on our last day in Hawaii. If you don't know what a Salzburg moment is, ask us, Sara or Chris. I was willing to pay extra to avoid it.
Coming back early will give us some time to recover from paddling. We haven't even been to the nice swimming pool or to the closest beach. We'll see what we can fit in. We're going out to dinner tomorrow night and then time to pack. (WAHHHH)
Our condo's owners are coming the day we leave. We've been e-mailing through the week and they have been helpful with tips. (like the blue vanilla shave ice.) Their parents are already here and we may meet them tomorrow. They want to take a look at the bedspread to see if it needs replacing. If so, Tracy and Seth may be packing an extra suitcase. It may be paradise, but home maintenance is a continuing issue.. sound familiar?
Time to put out tomorrow's stuff. (bug spray? check. sun screen? check, etc., hat? check... etc.)

Tuesday night - shave ice and cemetery hikes

The surf lesson was the big event of the day, so we had a more leisurely afternoon. After lunch, we headed up to Hanapepe for the weirdest approach to a hike I've seen. First you drive by the giant oil storage units until you get to a dirt road, then you park by an old dump to "Glass Beach" - yep - glass from the old dump... but you're not supposed to collect this. On one side of the road is the beach and on the other side an old and not cared for Chinese cemetery. The Filipino part of the cemtery is a little better, but not Forest Lawn for sure. We liked the ripe cherry tomatoes growing in the weeds on the side of the cemetery. It appears that people still visit the cemetery, but cleaning it up would make a great service learning project. (No photos. Camera is recharging.)
Past the cemetery, you walk along the cliff edge (and a few old tires and engine parts) for an amazing rocky coast view. Back to the car and...hm.. only 10 miles up the road is JoJo's, the great shave ice stand, so we went back for a second shot. This time I had blue vanilla (our condo owner's favorite) and John had root beer. So cold it makes your tongue hurt... and YUMM. Might have to try the kind w/ the ice cream on the bottom tomorrow.
Then... back to the condo, a little reading time and a walk over to the shopping center and the 5 p.m. Tahitian/Hawaiian dancing "show". We're guessing the three dancers were probably high school age. They performed solos and together, both tahitian and hawaiian. They didn't use the word hula and the narrator seemed a little inexperienced and unsure, but whatever it was called, I'm sure it takes some amazing lower back, core and calf strength.
It was fun watching the little kids in the crowd - they were fascinated -- and then about 8-10 (and 2 brave moms) got up on stage for the lesson. One little 4-year-old came equipped with her hula skirt, bikini top and lei. She was prepared.
We'll get things ready tonight for our "gulp" zipline adventure tomorrow. Then Thursday is a kayak the Wailua river to a waterfall adventure. Hmm. Maybe Hawaiian Air will bump us and we'll be forced to stay another night - somewhere...Our condo owners arrive the day we leave. We've been communicating with them by e-mail. (hence the tip to try the blue vanilla.)
We're fitting lots of activity into a short amount of time, but there will be plenty left for another visit.
Hottest it got today was 87 for our afternoon hike and that was at Point Allen in heat of afternoon. Coolest was 67 and that was about the same time but 15 miles away. We even had a tiny sprinkle this morning, but nothing that required raingear.
that's all the fun for today!

Tuesday morning - surfing and orchids

This morning we started with a Starbuck run and we have a knack for getting there BEFORE the rush... but still while the darn loud blower thingies are cleaning the ritzy nearby shopping area. Then back to sweep up some sand in the condo. Even though you take shoes off, it still gets in, as we know from Waldport.
I walked over to the Kiahuna Plantation orchid garden (onsite) and another guest and I chatted with Ben, who is in charge of irrigation here - and it's beautiful - and talked about his labor of love, an orchid garden that is absolutely amazing. As I understood it, many years ago he told the boss he's be in charge of irrigation and when he wasn't busy he wanted to start this garden. He started with 15 plants. I can't imagine how many there are now. Maybe 1500. He pointed out a recently planted section and is going to plant more on Saturday. I watched many people just walk by and say hi, but not comment. He was very happy to stop and talk about his work and answer questions.
While I did that, John prepared for his SURF lesson. There will be pictures, though some will be a yellow surfboard with John underwater. Kind of hard to time the shutter to go off when it's a sports highlight moment. I think I got a few. There were 3 in his group, a dad and daughter and John. The dad (50ish) never got on his feet, but John did and rode it in a few times. Yea, team. Folks watching from the beach applauded the good rides.
Just made arrangements to do the Wailua River kayak trip on Thursday to the Secret Falls. (Not sure what makes it secret because I think a zillion people a day go.) So, the last two big days - Wed and Thurs have scheduled activities. Still want to get to the lighthouse to see the bird sanctuary, especially now that we're armed with the bird book.
If you have a little extra cash buried in the backyard, there are condos here from about $269,000. (leasehold, whatever that means... probably that there are lots of extra charges after you buy the place.) Bring a needle and you could string your own leis and sell them by the roadside to make a little extra cash for the house payment. The flowers grow right off the patio and fall on the ground. I think we're going go find some beaches this afternoon.... plus I think it's my duty to try another shave ice somewhere.

Monday - shopping and Allerton garden tour

Today we started off with a favorite Hawaiian pasttime - we went to K-mart and Borders for a few cheap towels and a bird/flower book - successful trip. Our cashier's grandson is going to OSU in engineering next year. she reassured me that the pineapple I picked out was a good one.
Then back to the condo for the daily reorganizing and finding of stuff. Current MIA item. The camera case. camera is now living in the sunglasses case.
John took a boogie board out this morning. I got a few photos. I'm sure he'll be the dot in the waves but oh well.
Then we had a quick lunch and headed to the National Tropical Botanical Garden's Allerton Garden. There's an Illinois connection. Allerton bought a hunk of a beautiful Kauai valley from McBrides. Allerton was a big banker dude in Illinois, with a farm that he eventually donated to University of Illinois. He loved creating gardens and his adopted son loved making water features. His life seems like it would be a good movie. He got "stuck" on Kauai during WWII and couldn't return to Ill until the war was over. Then he got off the plane in a snow storm and decided maybe Kauai would be a better place to live, so he started a gorgeous garden to save tropical plants. Mary Ann, I saw a humongo staghorn fern on a tree. ( Plus a Peace Plant (like in our dining room) the size of a large azalea. The 2 1/2 hour tour went by very fast. Some of Jurassic Park was filmed in the garden. Also, cardinals were introduced to the islands in 1930s and we saw and heard them here today.
Then we made a quick stop at Spouting Horn, where ocean is forced into a lava tube then spurts up out of a hole. wow. dramatic.
Stopped at our local "smaller than Ray's in Waldport" grocery store for chicken and treats. Tomorrow John is spending some of his birthday money to try a surfing lesson. I'll pass on that one, but I promise I'll get in the ocean.

Wednesday is zipline and maybe kayaking up Wailua on Thursday.
highest temp in the car today 88, but it didn't last long. Most of the time it's 70-80.
There's plenty to do and see so we are only making a dent. Who wants to come along "next time"?

Saturday-Waimea and Sunday - hike in north

My blog got held up by robots and a real person has to do something because the robots thought I was spam. It can take up to 4 days for an unlock, so we'll see if that works. I didn't even use any bad words.

Saturday -
We drove Waimea Canyon and then all the way up the east side. NASA and the military have closed off part of the end of the road, which then requires dirt road and 4WD to reach the final cool spots. No place for rental cars, so we missed that.
We did hike a 2-mi hike (1 in, 1 out) to a view point. If we had gone on, it leads to the swamp. Mom - If you and dad did that when you were here, wow. It was tough just getting to the vista.
LANTANA grows wild along sections of the road.
The valley view above is used on the Hawaiian Airlines website. This is from the Pihu viewpoint trail from the top of Waimea Canyon. See the beach below? You can't get there from here.
Quote of the day - mom, dad and 2 girls, say 3 & 6 were on the vista trail. At one point there was a little whining and mom said "Stop whining or you'll lose ice cream privileges" Then later, we caught up with them and the 3 year old looked over mom's shoulder (she was being carried) kind of in our direction and said "This is sure a long way to go for ice cream."
We stopped in Waimea and had "shave ice" - yum. That place had 60 flavors. I don't think I have enough time to try them all.
Stopped at the fish market on the way back and bought fresh ono (moonfish) and baked it with rice for dinner.
John got in the ocean and tried his snorkel gear and flippers. Just practice. Fun to watch the kids and the surfers. Water is turquoise and warm.

Then today, we got up early and headed the other direction and drove to the end of the road on the other side. That's where a famous trail starts and we gave it a try. We made the 2 mi in and 2 mi out with great views, orchids and impatience (sp?) and a bunch of strange jungly looking plants. Some mud, but not bad. I'll be ready for new shoes when I get back. Sometimes it's called NaPali Trail. LOTS of ups and downs. Hot, but then the trail would turn and the temp would get cooler. The end of the trail (the part we did) is a gorgeous beach. (See beach photo.) Think tropical beach and that's what it was. Not a swimming place, - too dangerous -- but still nice to sit on a rock, eat our fig newtons and watch the surf. Only about 12 people there when we were there.


We headed back, dirty and yucky. Stopped for a burger and water, then hit Costco for a fill-up. $3.80 per gal. In Princeville it was $4.12. That's the first I've seen $4 per gallon.
I'm working on laundry right now while we watch the TV news. The anchors wear Hawaiian shirts.Favorite sign of the day (actually yesterday): Watch for falling coconuts.
Unfavorite hiker quote of the day: "I should have brought the boots I wore in Africa." The hiker was unfavorite, not the quote. Oh gag.
onward. If my blog gets an ok, I'll go back to that.

The robots are vanquished!

Humans have approved my blogspot blog!

Friday - travel and set-up day

Travel day was long... no surprise there.
We started at Radisson near airport. Take a memo: don't stay there again. I think this may be the place where Carol's car got hit by the golfball. You can see them stuck in the grates in the parking lot.
We got a sucky room right by the elevator...probably because I used my Radisson points to get it free and the place was full. I complained and we got 3 nights parking off our bill, so that helped a little. Then we remembered that the hotel is right by the train tracks. Not much sleep, but we've had worse.
Relatively easy airport and flight. Seems like lots of kids. Some doing their homework quietly, a toddler followed by gma and mom up and down the aisle saying hi to everyone. I think I could pack Benadryl and sell doses for high price (to those sitting next to the kids)
We had a little wait at the Honolulu airport.. enough time to have lunch and wait for the 30 min flight to Lihue.
I THINK I saw a woman on the PDX flight who was there when Chris was born. A friend of Ria Danis and Pam Sellix in Clatskanie who was a nurse at St. John's. I think her name is Janice. She arranged to change her shift so she could be John's nurse in the delivery room. I saw her twice, but she was never where I could get her attention. She went to Kauai too, so maybe I'll see her again. At least I can find her name from Pam the next time and make a post trip contact.
Short drive, but lots of traffic, to get to Poipu. We could go slow enough to look at the plants and birds on the side of the road and can't identify many.
There are wild chickens/chicks/roosters all over the place. Supposedly the result of a large scale escape back during some big storm that destroyed some farms.
We found the equivalent of Ray's and stocked up on breakfast/lunch groceries and took one walk over to see the ocean. yellow sands, turquoise water. This is the resorty scenery. Think Inn of the Seventh Mountain, only tropical. People were reading in lawn chairs, attempting to surf, playing in the waves. We think that will be our later in the day activity.
Today the plan is to go up the west side of the island. No itinerary beyond that.
I'm not sure we've got all the pieces to be able to load photos, but if you want to see where we are staying: http://www.kiahuna52.com/
If I can figure out how to insert links, I will.
Chris suggested the blog as we instant-messaged (a verb?) this morning.
I'm still having some work thoughts, but will try to banish those... or figure out a place to write them down so I can banish them, but deal with the later.
John's awake. Guess it's time for breakfast and adventures.