Takin' a Break

Again, we've run ourselves ragged and will stay here and "take it easy" today. We'll paint. Or caulk.

We're going to paint the storage shed on the carport and the new decking around the side of the house by the carport. I guess we have to do some caulking too. Sounds like rest, huh?

So let's see, where did I leave off?

After our last day off we spent Tuesday back on the road. We headed north again and I took Rick back to a couple places I'd only been to once before but wanted to return to. The first was "Secret beach". The hike was easier than I remember and there are now houses at the trailhead. The beach was just as beautiful as I remembered, as well as the "lava pools". We saw opihi (limpets) and these black blobs (opihis without shells?) on the rocks and a sandpiper bird running after crabs.

We did some lunch in Hanalei again and hunted around for a SD card so I could continue to take mini-videos for a project I want to do. Then we headed to Princeville for a walk down to Queen's bath, a big pool on the shore in the lava rock.

On the way out we saw a honu (green sea turtle) and the crowds said there had been as many as 20! But not when we were there, of course. The pool was murkier than the last time and the little fish would nip us if we stopped moving. I think the water had not been refreshed for a while.

These places involved walking so we only had a little time left before we had to return home to have dinner with Kalani and Dee. So we opted to check out the Blue room and forego Kee for another day (or another year). It was interesting but nothing to write home about. Up a hill to a large cave filled with water and water still dripping into it from various places in the ceiling. I think if it were earlier in the day and the light was coming into it it would have been better. But now I can say that I've been there.

Our dinner with Kalani and Dee was nice, salad, pork roast and, of course, rice. But we were a little wiped out and got to bed earlyish.

We hit the road early yesterday, we were actually out before 9 because we had a long day ahead. It worked out really nice because we made good time and squeezed a lot in. Rick spotted the Kipu area so we went ahead an saw the Kipu falls. In the 10 minutes we were there I got probably 10 mosquito bites. Rick liked the look of the rope swing so we might go back so he can give it a go. I'll just take pictures and swat bugs.

We cut across the south end of the island and stopped in Port Allen to see Glass Beach and the rock outcropping past it. The waves were putting on a great show, lots of flying, crashing water. I know of a large blow hole out there that has a small one right next to it that makes a big breathing sound just before the big one erupts. We also saw the "melted metal" (rusty car parts strewn on the rocky shore) and the Japanese cemetery.

Next we swung through Old Hanapepe Town and visited the swinging bridge. Sorry, not really picture worthy, neither was the water that it spanned.

From there we went straight to Waimea. We visited the Waimea Plantation Cottages and got some interesting shots of hammocks, Adirondack chairs, outrigger canoe, etc. The large banyan trees had all the hanging tendrils trimmed off. They looked nice but lost something without all the tendrils that normally hang all around.

We also visited the Lucy Wright Pier there in Waimea for some awesome photo opps. The day was moving nicely and the weather couldn't have been more perfect.

After eating our Subway sandwich lunch we headed up the hill to see the "Grand canyon of the Pacific", as Mark Twain called it. It's actually called the Waimea Canyon. From there we went up to see the Kalalau Valley and it was beautifully clear. The water sparkled, the hills looked like velvet and, when it started to sprinkle, Rick even managed to get a small rainbow in the picture! He was quite impressed, it's very large and extremely pretty.

We got back down the hill after following in a bunch of cars behind a Ford Flex that was doing between 15 - 25 mph the entire 20 miles, even with the guy behind him honking and having a long line of cars! He, of course, would speed up at the few passing areas that were on the road.

The drive out to Polihale was fairly uneventful. We stopped before reaching the end of the road, we started to hit some deep sand and decided not to try to drive through. But where we stopped was perfect, a bathroom with real flush toilets and trash cans up on the hill and then lots of sand and surf. The prelude to the sunset was awesome, the best sun rays I've ever seen, like a first-grader's picture of the sun. The sunset was lop-sided and colorful.

Finally, on the way home, I got a call from Mom. She wanted cake.