Are we having fun yet?

Well, the job we came here to do is done and has been for a couple days already. 


So we have been playing!


Yesterday we stuck kinda near home. We stopped at the "Kauai Fair" that's always set up down in Kapaa and looked at the wares for gift ideas. Then we grabbed some McD's for lunch and headed for the beach to sit and eat. And get a little sun - at last. All the while we watched for photo ops.

We enjoyed our cheap fast food lunch, then headed to the thrift store, then further up Kuamo'o road to see Opaeka'a Falls. They seem to always be rather dry so we were hoping there would be more water flowing and it was quite nice, very veil-like. And the usual tropic birds were there flying and swooping. On that same road we saw some stairs leading up a small hill and wondered what was up those steps so we had to check it out. Another cemetery! Japanese tombstones all facing the east. There was a heiau at the base of the stairs, a Hawaiian burial ground. An old burial ground and a new one!...

Next we stopped at the Wailua river dock to see the river, kayakers and whatever else offered itself to our viewfinders. WE headed next to Lihue to see an old falling down bridge that Rick spotted when we hit Walmart the day before. It was hard to get to and ended up not being very photographic. But the street we headed down to look for it had a few interesting offerings including a couple of long-forgotten concrete buildings whose wooden floors had rotten out years ago and trees had grown up in their places.
Last time Rick was here we went to the Ninini Lighthouse and while there some Air Force transport planes flew overhead so low it was as if we could reach up and touch them. He wanted to go back and see if they'd be flying again so we headed for the lighthouse. It was a lot easier than the last time! We got out there and had some liquid "snacks" and just as we were leaving a normal passenger plane flew overhead. Not what he was looking for but still cool.

We wanted to head to the Kipu area, it's one of my favorite areas on the island. It looks like Jurassic park or Africa, so lush and green, with these trees with light smooth bark and flat sections of leaves. We continued on out that road and found, much to my dismay, that the Kipu Falls area has been fenced off, no more access to that! I'm just glad we got to see it, and I videoed Dane swinging on the rope and falling into the pond at the base of the falls. On the way to finding that road (I wanted to see the "Menehune fishponds", which were "meh" at best) we ran into the Niumalu Yacht club. Not a lot of yachts but I always enjoy visiting a marina.
Today we headed a little further south and west, to the Poipu area. On the way we stopped at an abandoned sugar refinery. Then we grabbed lunch and ate at Shipwreck beach, where we can watch the surfers. After we ate and soaked up some sun we headed out the dirt road a ways to see the cave I saw on a map. It turned into a nice little adventure, the cave was interesting and there was shady, cool waterways on the back side. There were alien looking sandstone formations near the water. Lastly we headed to the Spouting Horn, another "meh" site.

One more big day of fun tomorrow. We're leaving early and staying late. I want to see the sunset on the west side so we can't even start heading home til well after 7. Since we'll be out there I want to try a long exposure on the crashing water at the Poipu area.

I think maybe Thursday we'll stay home and recover from all our fun...

Supermoon - Kauai Style

While Rachyl was driving us to the airport for our flight to paradise she mentioned that there was going to be a "super moon" Saturday night. For any of you who don't know what that term means, it's that the moon is at it's closest - and therefore its largest - point in its revolutions around the earth. 

So I immediately started putting together a plan of attack.  I wanted to take advantage of that seldom phenomenon and get some really cool full moon shots.

Easier said than done.

I wanted stuff in the foreground and I wanted it over the ocean.  So in our travels to and from stores and such we started looking - where to go?  We decided on Kealia beach.  It's close, there's always lots of waves and there's all kinds of stuff to put in the foreground, trees, shelters, a lifeguard shack, etc.  The moon was going to be rising right above it, not far off in one direction or the other.

So we headed out around 6:40 for the 7:08 moonrise and Rick turned on his phone to the app that gives you the times of sun and moon rises, zeniths and settings, and lots of other useless info.  It actually, at that point, had a countdown to the moonrise running! 35 minutes to go!

We had a little time to kill so we headed on into Kapaa to pick up more beer for our third (and hopefully final) day of hanging drywall on the ceiling (it's looking pretty nice!)  Then when we headed back to the beach people were already lining up for the big show.  Apparently we weren't the only ones who knew about the supermoon show.  Why did you tell all those people, Rach?

We picked our spot and set up our gear and waited.  There were clouds on the horizon so we didn't actually get to see it until it was a bit above the ocean.  But once it started to come out it was fantastic!  Rick sat in his spot while I ran up and down the parking area taking pictures here and there with my new camera on a spindly tripod.  There was a breeze (in Hawaii?  hoodathunk?) and the tripod shivered in lots of my pictures.  The trees, of course, were also moving and the shots had to be of long duration so the movement became blur.

Overall, though, I ended up getting some nice stuff.  I won't win any awards with them but I like them...


Welcome to Kauai!

Wasn't I just here? It sure feels like I just left! But the growth of the koa trees and refuse from the winter winds displays that it's been a while. 

Fortunately we arrived the day before a meeting day so dad told us that we would not be working on our first full day here. He gave us strict orders to GO PLAY!!!
So play we did. 


Before we knew that we'd be having a fun day, though, we decided to try to walk to the beach down below us via "the trail". So we headed out on foot down the road, cameras in hand, ready for an adventure. One of the first thing to greet us was one of the local dogs chasing a chicken that was keeping itself just barely out of reach - until it got to a fence. Then it was trapped and the dog won. Rick was wondering if maybe the dog's owners give it orders to fetch a chicken at least once a week for their dinner! The dog ran it home while it was loudly begging to be let free! 

 We made it out to dad's cousin, Winnie's, house to inquire where this trail is that I've been hearing about for years. Well, it isn't. Due to neglect it has become overgrown and now has goats residing on parts of it. So we came back to the house and let dad know that the trail is no more. 

Then we found out that we would not be working all day so we decided to go on an adventure. In all our exploration on Rick's last visit (that was pretty substantial) we didn't get to a pretty little beach on this side of the island, Anini beach. The name is actually an accident. It used to be Wanini beach but hurricane Iniki removed the "W" from a sign and the new name stuck - Anini. It's a beach that's slightly inset (I guess not enough to be officially called a "bay") that's protected by a long coral reef, very calm water and not a lot of sand. I drove to the end of the road and we parked and got out to walk out into the water like we saw others doing. There was a small river flowing into the water right there and a curved sandbar was formed around the delta. So we could walk out and around to get to another section of beach that led to a point before heading on around to the north and west. Once we got to the other section of beach we still walked in the water most of the time because there were large overhanging trees that had limbs low enough that Rick had to duck beneath them. Then the weather is typical Hawaii spring weather, sun - showers - downpours - sun, etc. We would wait out the heavier rain showers under the large-leafed overhanging trees. We took our time meandering the beach and when we decided to go back to the car it decided to shower a bit longer than it had been doing. And we couldn't take a shortcut, we HAD to walk back on the sandbar (we hadn't noticed this on the way out). 

Next we headed over to Hanalei to get something for lunch and found the Subway shop inside the Big Save grocery store had been replaced by an over-priced sandwich shop so we looked around more for something more to our liking. We ended up getting sandwiches and fries at L L. I got a teri steak sandwich which I was very happy with, not something you'd find on the mainland too often. Teriyaki steak is gristly but I'm used to that. It had some kind of sauce, mayo or ranch on it and it hit the spot. Rick got a regular cheeseburger. 

We took our food to Hanalei beach and ate it in the car since it was raining. When we first got there it was so heavy with rain that we could barely make out the hills on the opposite side of the bay.
I had turned on the headlights because of the rain and, as usual, forgot to turn them off when I parked (I drove because I know my way around, Rick will drive when we get our rental car). So when we were done eating and decided to just head over to Walmart because it was still raining, guess what? The car wouldn't start! Rick ended up wandering around, trying to find someone to give us a jump. I just sat in the car and eventually waited long enough that it had built up enough juice to get start again. I drove around a bit to see if I could find Rick and after being unsuccessful headed back to the beach park to pick him up there, knowing he'd head back there. 


It had actually stopped raining again and was looking beautiful so we decided to explore a little more. With all this rain the waterfalls on the sides of the mountains are flowing so I wanted to get closer to see if I could shoot some of them. I turned up a road on the mauka (mountain) side of the highway and followed it to its end. It wasn't a long road and there was a Japanese (I think) cemetery at its end. We got some shots of the crusty, moss-covered, lava rock tombstones and decided to head back towards home, then on to Walmart, then to Ahukini Pier for some more photo action. 

We got to the aforementioned pier and walked around to the picnic table on the land overlooking the pier instead of immediately heading to the pier itself. There was a flock of chickens hovering, waiting for a handout. We cracked open our beers and started snacking on some nuts. One rooster was particularly curious and too brave for his own good, he'll end up in someone's cook pot one day. But we enjoyed his friendliness. We shared some of our nuts with him and he rewarded us by allowing some very up close and personal photography. At one point we looked down the road toward the parking lot and there was a chicken family trotting toward us "They have FOOD!!" they were saying... 

That was most of the day. We managed to squeeze in a meeting and then crashed around 10. Tomorrow no more playing - WE WORK!

About Me

My photo
After 2 unsuccessful marriages I spent 12 years as a divorcee, only to fall prey to another man's wiles. We had a fun 5 years together and then he decided he wanted more freedom so once again I'm single.

So I'm freshly divorced at 57 and have 5 great kids and now 7 grandkids. My kids are still a major part of my life but I'm busy helping my aging parents on Kauai.

I've lived in California, Hawaii and Oklahoma before finally settling here in Washington. I love Washington and come back to visit family, friends and take care of my garden often but will be temporarily a resident of Kauai.

I've moved 30 times in my life (no, my parents weren't in the service, at least not since I was about 2) and finally planted roots when I got my little house that I've owned since '91.

My family are Jehovah's Witnesses, I've been one since '72.