November 2014 – Picture This

Hanalei Bay

In the afternoon, we drove west out of Princeville back to Hanalei Bay where we had eaten the night before. The bay is a beautiful half circle with lots and lots of sandy beach.

We first saw the river and then visited the Hanalei Bay Beach Park and walked away from the river, past the pier to the catamarans and back. Denver seemed to be vary far away and that made us smile.

Catamaran tied up in Hanalei River

Stand-up paddleboarders on Hanalei River

Hanalei Bay Pier

Hanalei Bay Surfers

He’s almost up

Small catamarans beached at Hanalei Bay

Dee smiling because… Aloha

Being full of adventure and curiosity, we hopped back in the car and drove away from Hanalei Bay and Princeville to another beautiful beach. Lumahai Beach isn’t considered safe for swimming. It’s been seen by millions in the movie South Pacific.

Lumahai Beach was the same as Hanalei but different. It boasted the same ocean and the beach was made of the same almost too brilliant sand. There was no pier and there were no catamarans. There was a living tree almost destroyed by fire with a hole clear through the trunk. The tree made the biggest impression on me.

Tremendous parking under the trees

Still going

Taro Fields in Hanalei Valley from Princeville Overlook

It was time for our first official Kauai vacation nap. We retraced our steps and just at the top of the hill that separates Princeville from Hanalei Bay and sea level, we stopped at an overlook that shows taro fields in Hanalei Valley.

Princeville, Hawaii – Queen’s Bath

Queen’s Bath is a bit of ocean front in Princeville where the waves have carved bowls out of the old lava. During high tide the water fills those bowls and during low tide those bowls of water are pools for swimmers – human and non-human. Because we could walk to the path down to Queen’s Bath, that was the first place we visited on Kauai.

Since we are from Colorado where it is perfectly natural for things not to grow, we still can’t get over the lavish greenery and squandered beauty of blooming flowers everywhere. It was a visual feast and we gorged ourselves!

The path was wet from the most recent rain, and quite slippery. Sometimes Dee had to hold my hand so I wouldn’t be scared. Another thing that kept surprising drylanders like us was the amount of water that was being thrown away; in Colorado, we would sue!

Steep Path to Queen’s Bath

Random Water Fall

Path to Queens Bath

And on That Note ... — And on That Note …

At the base of the path – or may-be the beginning of the shoreline – there is a sobering sign cautioning visitors that we could actually die. We read the sign, thought about it, and went toward the water anyway, because we are responsible adults. We were glad we did.

We saw sea turtles. They were probably doing serious things like trying to eat enough to survive in an area where their natural predators were less concentrated, but from where I stood, they were just cool to watch.

There were some small swimmers and fliers in little pools. There were some adventurous human folks in the biggest bath. A couple canoes with outriggers went by making me think that would be fun, but as I watched, I realized that they had the energy and stamina of much younger people. Shoot! They were much younger people. I decided that watching the various activities was excitement enough.

Princeville, Hawaii

You wake up early your first day in Hawaii - the full moon is a bonus — You wake up early your first day in Hawaii – the full moon is a bonus

image of Dee sleeping — Dee is good at lots of things

Getting up early in Princeville is easy when you go to bed early in Princeville. At least, that’s what I thought. Dee, may-be not so much. I even woke up before the chickens, but that was beginners luck.

Chicken with apparent Spanish ancestors.

This chicken looked at me like I was the intruder

Waking up early and watching everything wake up proved to be the perfect way for me to start our first day in Kauai.

View from Master Bedroom

Stairs to Master Bedroom Balcony

Kauai, Hawaii

We flew to Kauai, Hawaii.

Why?

Well, because the Trans-Pacific Highway is not a thing and the Great Canoes of the Hawaiian Islands were never committed to a port of call in California. Once we got past thinking we had options, we locked on to the Airport in the town of Lihue.

We had reserved a place in Princeville and had printed out – and left behind – the very nice confirmation letter sent to us by the owner. No problem, we figured we’d review the details (like the address and the lockbox combination) on line as we got close, so we chatted with the car rental people about all sorts of things like: what they thought every visitor to Kauai absolutely must see and do. We should have been asking for the best way to access the internet without a local account. The car folks did their thing with the map and off we went to Princeville.

You know how you can scarcely move from one building to the next in some parts of the country without having to dodge a “Free WiFi”

House in Princeville — Here’s where we stayed. Here is the car that got us there.

sign? It’s not like that in Kauai. We reached the home we were renting , but we couldn’t remember the lockbox combination to save our lives so, we did what everyone does when they’re in that situation – we went to dinner!

Image of Bouchon's Hanalei Grill from the website — Happy Hour for Us

Yes, it was a little early. Yes we told ourselves “It’s five o’clock somewhere.” “Yes,” they told us, “unless you are a local subscriber, WiFi is a problem.” Then we asked, “Do you guys do Happy Hour?”

After a little comfort food in the form of sushi and a beer in front of an open window looking over a valley that has probably been lush green since creation, we realised that we could call the folks in Denver that put us on to the place and they might be able to help us over our first vacation bump. For no good reason that I’ve ever come up with, that worked!

Armed with the combination, (and well fed) we forced the lockbox to surrender the key and we were in. Inside, there was WiFi. There were beds. Life was good again. I was so happy I took one of the Coconuts from the yard and put it on the table on the deck for a centerpiece. Not realizing how we would feel about them by the end of our week, we admired the chickens roaming the yard. We went to bed early.

Deck Area Outside Living Room / Kitchen

Living Room / Kitchen