How I Spent My Summer Vacation, Part III, Kauai

We arrived in Kauai. You may have heard of it. Movies get shot there.

Ah, Island State airports. Like stepping into an episode of Magnum. Or that Rockford Files episode where he goes to Island State (I don't remember Hawaii Five-O). Anyway, the airports on the Big Island and Kauai are identical, which is convient. Island State airports are all open-air plans, of course. So we got to the airport and our bag didn't. So we waited for the next plane, which luckily had our clothes on it. Then we upgraded to a convertible.


We got to the B&B early. We didn't realize we were early, but the folks that ran the place were really nice and so it was all cool. Their house is on the beach. beach-->road-->house. Very close. And they tried to make us reservations for dinner at this cool veggie restaurant that is only open for dinner once a week. The reservation didn't take, but we got seats at the counter and the food was so amazingly good. omg. It's on a historic main street in a little town (towns are little in Kauai and off from the highway...at least the ones I saw). Anyway, this town had a used bookshop on the historic main street, where--get this--we bought Beyond Zork. Oh yes, we bought a computer game from 1987. It's a text game, runs in dos, on 5.5 inch floppies. We actually had a copy of it already, but now we have the ephemera too! Maps and booklets! The Zork series is the best computer game series ever! It's comedy-adventure, and we own and have played all of them. Text games are so hard. They're awesome. You should play them.

That night, after dinner, we walked across the street to the beach, sat on the rocks, and watched the stars and listened to the waves. It was very nice and relaxing. Our first morning on Kauai meant our first Kauai hike. On this island, there is one main road, but it doesn't go all the way around the island. There's about a 10 mile (?) gap where there is no road. So, on day one, we drive to the end of the road on the west side, which leads into Waimea canyon. So we stopped at all of the lookouts. It is beautiful. And red.


Then we made our way into Koke'e Park for hiking! And more views! We stopped at a visitor center, where we saw nene (geese) in the wild (as opposed to in the zoo).


The guide there told us (and everyone else too. I mean, she had a script memorized) to head up to the Kalalau Lookout for a spectacular view before we went on any hikes.


And there I saw wild chickens eating Cheetos. The chickens? They are everywhere. They have no predators. Why did the chicken cross the road? To catch a plane to Kauai, where chickens are free. Chi-ckens!!!


So we came back down and went on what was supposed to be an easy hike, where we could see berries and lots of native plants. Um, when you're out of shape, double the time hikes should take. So we're walking, and stopping to listen to birds that we can't see, and walking, and looking at plants, and walking, and then, Husband says "Did you see that?" Apparently while we walking on the trail and I was looking at trees, Husband saw a wild pua'a (pig). The trail got better the farther into the woods we got.

We saw every kind of forest, native and not. The Koa and redwood were particularly amazing.


We met a family, from our home state. The mom attended the same college we did. People from Landlocked State are everywhere.


Our trail map? Not so good. The trail goes through the woods and comes out on a dirt road. You're supposed to be able to hike it back to the main road where we parked. At some point, we made a wrong turn because there are no signs. NO SIGNS! Luckily, a very nice local and his mom gave us a ride back to our car. It's the first time I've hitchhiked. Hopefully I won't have to again. But the hike was still lovely.

Exhausted, we returned to the B&B, put on out swimsuits, and went body surfing. I got rolled. I had so much sand in my suit. It was particularly bad because the liner? Sown on one side, open on the other. I was wearing a sand-pad. and then exhausted and lovely sleep.

The next day, we drove to the other end of the road, the north end, for another hike. First we checked out a couple of shallow caves.


So this hike was the first 2 miles of an 11 mile hike. We hiked to Hanakapi'ai Beach, where a waterfall/stream empties into the ocean. Beautiful. Worth it. But omg. It's all up and down, exposed, rocks and dirt. Not an easy hike for an out-of-shape person. Getting there was okay. We stopped and rested. The super wind blew Husband's hat off and he lost it to the cliffs.


So once we got there, we picnicked, and walked around, and sat on the river rocks with our feet in cool stream. The water rushing. Lovely.


Then we decided to hike back. It was getting cloudy, and we wanted to be back in plenty of time before sunset. No lights you see. So we started back (the fact that all of the locals left was our deciding factor). The clouds passed, so no rain. But, it was the hottest part of the day. Have I mentioned that I overheat easy? Yeah, my face turns red and the end of my nose throbs with my pulse. The steepest, most exposed part was the first part we encountered heading back. We took a lot of breaks. But made it back safe and sound, though with many beers being sung off the wall and much complaining.

That night, we discovered The Two Coreys. That's a fun show, if you grew up with Coreys. And the next morning, we headed home. Where our luggage didn't make it. And we had to come back to the airport to pick it up that afternoon. Back to the big city, back to work. Le sigh. vacations are wonderful.