Day 28 – Parking

That seemed to be the theme of the day, whether the monk seals parked on the beach, “tourists” parked in no parking zones, we parked our behinds at the house or at sunset, it was that kind of Sunday.

The day started with us making dessert, to let the rain showers pass by. I attempted to make a sapote mousse pie. It required more work than I originally planned. Let’s hope the tasting of it later is worth the work.

We parked our behinds down for breakfast of papaya boats, while the rain showers continued on and off. We set off for a beach walk, initially we planned to park at Cannons tiny spot, but it was already taken. Next stop was Haena Beach Park, but as we parked the heavens let loose with a torrential downpour. Next…go back to the house park the car, walk to the beach access road and take a long beach walk away from Tunnels Beach. Good thing we did, we had two monk seal sightings! Even the seals were parking it on a Sunday!

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As we walked the street back to the house, we noticed cars parked in no parking areas on either side of the driveway. There is a reason for the no parking signs, we couldn’t see safely out of our driveway when we tried to leave today. What is ironic is that they parked in front of no parking signs. Please if you are a tourist and parking is full at Tunnels Beach, don’t park in the no parking areas for the residents sake, you create a safety concern!

After we arrived home from our walk, we had a lunch of leftovers, then went out and did a few food errands. We stopped at Hanalei Dolphin to pick up poke for dinner and then did a little sightseeing of side streets. We went down one and noticed a for sale sign. I picked up the brochure for the house. When we got home, I looked up the asking price, yup we found the most expensive house on the island, 38 million bucks and it can be yours!

We parked our behinds at home for the afternoon. We were entertained by geckos and the orchids. We read and napped the afternoon away (well, this is still a vacation for us).

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Dinner was simple, poke from The Dolphin and then it was time for sunset and “Cloud TV”. We parked ourselves on the sand to watch the best show of the evening.

is the cloud holding a martini glass?

Sundays are good days for slowing down and just parking your behind somewhere, but not in a no parking zone though!

July 23, 2017 0

Day 7 – From Burnt Toast to Burnt Toes

The morning started with burnt toast. It really wasn’t my fault, it was the rainbow’s fault, it distracted me.

We took it as a sign to go for a beach walk, before continuing breakfast. Hopping in the car, we drove a short way up to Cannons Beach, just past Haena Beach Park. The hidden flora entrance has been relocated from six years ago, but we found it. We followed the tunneled path to one of my favorite walking spots.

The views here always take my breath away. Makai sky was filled with gray clouds and the mauka sky was brilliant blues, a contrast in colors.

As usual with a Kauai sky it rapidly changes.

Returning to the house I attempted breakfast making again. This time I was successful, not burning anything. We enjoyed sautéed swiss chard (from yesterday’s farmer’s market) and fried eggs with a side of unburnt toast smeared in mango jelly.

Breakfast time included making more grocery lists and we headed out to pick up a few more supplies. We did get stuck sitting in traffic, waiting for one lane bridges to be safe to pass. We didn’t care when the views are beautiful.

We stopped for lunch today at Hanalei Dolphin. There was room at the bar for us. We split fish tacos and a house salad. Perfect light lunch to share.

We decided to spend some of our afternoon on the beach. I debated between wearing flip flops or my water shoes. I should have gone with the water shoes. On our last trip here, after we hiked part of the Kalalau trail, we took off our shoes, walked across the sand to get in the water at Kee Beach. At 2 p.m. in the afternoon the sand was so hot, I burned the bottom of both feet, they peeled like crazy. Today, I went with flip flops, mistake for my sensitive toes. I burned each of my big toes in the sand. The healing thing to do was to get them in the water and float for a bit.

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Following the float we walked back to the house and prepped dinner and dessert.

Kauai Shrimp ready to grill

fresh mango in lumpia pastry. I have no clue what this will be like.

I even had time to squeeze in a little nap before dinner. Dinner was simple fresh local greens with local veggies, even peppers grown by the neighbor thrown in, topped with Mike’s marninated Kauai Shrimp. Dessert turned out to be very good, next time I’m going to fill the sheets with sliced bananas.

We had a bit of time before sunset viewing, so I decided to go on an orchid hunt in the yard. I was blown away by our friend’s gift for gardening.

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Sunset viewing hour was upon us and off we ambled to Tunnels Beach. Clouds hid the sun hitting the ocean, but having fisherman in the water provided us with another type of wonderful viewing.

Today I burned the toast, I burned the bottom layer of my toes, but hey at least I didn’t fry myself sitting in the sun!

July 2, 2017 0

Day 34 – The final full day ends

It was bittersweet to wake up today, knowing it was our last full day on Kauai, but we are ready to start the journey home.

As usual we started the day with Kauai Coffee and a bowl of fresh fruit. After our nourishment, we needed exercise and off we went to walk Hanalei Bay. From end to end it is said to be 2 miles, so we did a lovely 4 miles on the beach.

We walked out first on the pier to gaze at the mountains that circle around the bay.

As we left the pier, we watched a little towhead boy, walk with his surfboard. This little boy is the epitome of what Kauai is and the surfing culture that is Kauai.

P1020557 — surfers start young in kauai, he is about 3 years old

P1020558 — walking in the lot to Black Pot

The walk was beautiful and it represented the lifestyle of Kauai. We watched tai chi on the beach, surfing lessons for tourists, paddle boarders enjoying the calm of the morning, a single woman doing yoga, a dad and his son riding waves, families laughing in the water, friends walking and every one was in the moment enjoying it.

We left with not a heavy heart, but one of satisfaction, that we had this time to enjoy the beauty and peace of Hanalei Bay.

We returned to the house to clean and pack. Unfortunately, last week my feet were burned on the sand and the blisters that developed finally gave way, so we spent time working on my feet and trying to figure out the proper shoes to wear home. Reality of re-entering our life we left behind is fully gaining on us.

We returned to Hanalei to have our last lunch out. We settled on Hanalei Dolphin at the bar. Mike had the fish taco.

and I gobbled down a cajun marlin burger. First time I’ve had marlin, a bit of a dry fish, but so tasty.

We both agree though that Da Crack has the best fish tacos on Kauai.

After lunch and not a good night’s sleep (no not because of the roosters), we had to nap and my feet needed more loving care. After nap time, we did a bit more cleaning and laundry.

As usual when we eat out at lunch, we don’t do a big dinner, so we just noshed on leftover food. Then it was time to have our last sunset.

Down we went and shared the night with our friends with Cheri and Mel. Stories were shared, promises made not to go public with them, laughs abounded and pictures were taken. Cheri is a great photographer and in time I will have the evenings photo session to share with everyone. The sun didn’t dazzle us, the fun night we had will be the memory we cherish.

August 13, 2011 0

Day 11 – A Simple Day

We slept in today, after yesterday’s hike we needed it. We drove to Cannon’s Beach for an early morning beach-combing expedition and really to get our muscles moving again.

Last year this was a great beach to shell on, not so much this year.

This is all I came up with.

P1190148 — Not much in terms of good shells

While I was off shelling, Mike was working on artsy photos.

Unfortunately as we left the beach, we discovered a dead Newell’s Shearwater Bird. It was disheartening to see this threatened species dead.

After we trudged home, we ate breakfast and hit Hanalei Center and Princeville for some shopping. We did stop at Hanalei Dolphin market for poke, a sushi roll and tonight’s fish for dinner opah.

After lunch, we went to Hanalei Bay to watch our friend, Eric , in a photo shoot for Columbia Sportswear. While we wanted for the fun to begin, we snapped a few pictures of the pier and surroundings.

P1010153 — Used in the photo shoot later

Eric warmed up on his fabulous new board from Boga, http://bogaboards.com/

While this was going on, I just tried to blend into the scene.

After Eric’s warm up it was time for him to go into wardrobe. He is modeling the spring 2012 line. Remember he is modeling, this is not his choice of wardrobe.

We didn’t stick around for the actual shoot, as we know it could be an all day affair. It was fun to be there and watch the start of his new career, adventure sport clothes model.

We created an amazing dinner of grilled vegetables from the farmer’s market (zukes, onion, tomatoes, garlic), placed it on a bed of arugula and then topped it marinated lilikoi grilled opah, can you say mouth-watering heaven?

And you guessed it, we followed everything up with the sunset.

July 21, 2011 0

Day 2

Our day started with a hike on the first two miles of the famous Kalalau Trail (four miles round trip). It was a glorious sunny morning, perfect day to hit the trail. I attempted this trail last year, but for some reason I lost all self confidence and turned around at the 1 mile marker, refusing to continue. Today that didn’t happen.

The trail starts with a nice uphill. Thankful for hiking in New Hampshire’s White Mtns. this was easy.

Kalalau Trail, 1 mile — see I made it past the one mile marker

Kalalau View — Stunning views down the Napali Coast

We had a fun water crossing. It was easier to just go in, wade through it, shoes and socks still on.

Kalalau Water Crossing — Mike wades over

Once on the beach, I kept singing “I made it, I made it.”

The trail was muddy, but not the typical mud you expect, it was like walking on ice. For us it was fun, but for other trail trekkers, they were not enjoying it.

Mud Trail — What most of the trail was like MUD

Once we were off the trail it was time to wash off all the mud at Ke’e Beach.

After a brief swim, we headed back, showered and had lunch. During lunch I discovered that I love to eat Poke. I’ve been avoiding it for the last year, silly me. We headed out to fill up the propane tank and stop at Hanalei Dolphin to pick up more poke, because Mike has to share now and some Ono for dinner.

We returned back to the house, dropped things off and then made our Tuesday pilgrimage to Waipa Farmer’s market in Hanalei. We love this little market because of what it represents, teaching the Hawaiian children about their culture and supporting the Hawaiian people.

We love the spectacle of people waiting for the 2 o’clock opening. They rush in once the imaginary rope is dropped.

I was happy to see the Right Slice Pie lady there. I’ve been reading about her wonderful pies, so I went to her first, while Mike was on a fruit buying spree (papaya, lilikoi, mountain apples, pineapple and bananas). So I picked up two slices, mango papaya and a mac nut one. More on this later….

After the market, we decided beach time was in order so we set off for Tunnels. It was a bit choppy with flag warnings out, so I wasn’t going in to do a float swim, but Mike, being a swimmer easily swam in the ocean. Our view while laying out was beautiful.

Then we packed up and went back to make dinner with the ono fish. We had the best salad ever of fresh fish and fresh greens.

Ono fish salad — Ono fish on a bed of greens

Dessert was a slice of mango lilikoi pie. I’m not a pie eater, but this was out of this world. The flavors were plentiful and the crust fluffy and not tough.

And then we ended our evening with a sunset view from Haena Point, or I renamed it Sarah’s shelling beach for my niece.

The past two days have been busy, tomorrow just a morning workout and a lazy day on the beach. But having an island mindset it could change….

July 12, 2011 0