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...