One More Day to Aloha

We spent a lot of time reading reviews about the best places to eat. We had 3 different books and compared the reviews carefully. But we only ate out twice. The first time was breakfast somewhere between Lihue and Poipu. Neva said "turn here." So I did. It was good. Guess who took my picture at breakfast? (Hint, it's fuzzy and my head is cut off.)

Jan, photo by Neva

We didn't eat out again until our last night on the island. We had finally found a restaurant in the books that we wanted to try. When I called to make a reservation, I discovered it wasn't open on Sunday evenings. So we missed out. When we checked into the Kauai Beach Resort, they took away our car and parked it somewhere out in the boonies. So we just had dinner at the hotel. It was very, very good, a pleasant surprise. I had salmon, Neva had a New York steak, and neat freak Char gnawed her way through some yummy looking ribs. We probably wouldn't have done better elsewhere.

The groceries we bought on our first day in Princeville lasted us all week. As we left for the airport we fed the last bits to the chickens.

We missed doing a couple of things that we'd talked about. We never made it to a fabric store. I didn't get to buy any material to put away in my box of projects that I'll never get to. We didn't make it to a botanical garden. That was my fault, the reviews of all the gardens said there were areas that were quite steep. I could picture myself at the bottom of a path, having rolled all the way down after I tripped on my own feet. And I wouldn't even have been able to see Dr. Mike at the hospital because he was off on his honeymoon.

The gardens were also expensive and the reviews were mixed. So we just enjoyed looking at plants and flowers everywhere we drove.

This place was right across the road from two of the botanical gardens. It's called Spouting Horn.

Spouting Horn

This is a blowhole. When the ocean water hits the shore, it travels up a lava tube and out through the small spout opening. It sometimes blows as high as 50 feet. Three things about this place are remarkable. First, this blowhole makes a moaning (some say farting) sound when the water rushes through it. Second, there was a bigger blowhole just a few feet away that had been much more impressive, but in the early plantation days it was dynamited because it blew water on the sugar cane that was growing near it. All that's left is a big hole where the water gurgles around. And third, I find it remarkable that this is one of the most dangerous places on the island. There is a lovely fence that keeps people at a safe distance, and you can see everything from there. But some fools crawl through and try to stand next to the blowhole to have their picture taken. This does not always work well.

There was one place that we hadn't planned to see. On our way back to Lihue we passed a sign for "Kauai Coffee Company." I swung off the road before we could even vote about it, a cup of coffee sounded good right then. It was a lucky move. We got to the farm just as a guided tour was leaving (on flat ground). We got to walk through the rows of coffee trees that are loaded with berries right now. We got all our questions about growing and making coffee answered. And then we got to taste 20 different coffees. Neva and Char also tasted the coffee ice cream.

I had Kona coffee last year when we were on the big island. I like Kauai coffee better, it's not acidic but it has a bolder flavor. My two favorites are Kauai Blue Mountain and a chocolate coconut flavored blend. I want my own coffee tree. And a cacao tree. I'll plant them in the back yard near the avocado tree and maybe they won't notice they're in Northern California.

After the coffee place, we drove down to see the Menehune fish pond. The Hawaiians dug a pond next to the river 1000 years ago and diverted water into it to raise fish. At the "out" end was a wooden screen to keep the fish in. The wall between the river and the pond is 900 feet long and 5 feet high. Legend is that it was built in one night. Obviously government projects in those days were easier to accomplish.

Menehune Fish Pond

Char and Neva at the fish pond

We continued down the curvy little narrow road to Lihue. We came around the last turn to have this staring at us.

What the heck is that?

It looked like it was sitting on solid ground, maybe a really ugly hotel? When we got next to it, we could see it was a ship. Here's a view of it (on the left just in front of the mountains) from the other side of Kalapaki Bay.

None of us has any desire to go on a cruise. Too many people, too confining, too much food, and my own personal reason...too big a target for a terrorist.

We stopped at Hilo Hattie's in Lihue and looked at all the stuff. I don't think we bought anything there, but it's a great place to look. Then we went back up the coast to the Kauai Beach Resort.

The next morning we were up early and ready to go to the airport to fly home. Neva spent some time on the balcony enjoying her last morning view of the island.

Neva

I spent my last hour checking us in online, on my laptop. We had no printer and I wasn't sure what we'd do with no eTickets. It was not a problem. I dropped Char and Neva off with our luggage in front of the Hawaiian terminal, then took off to drop off the car. By the time I got back one of the Hawaiian employees had taken care of everything.

It was a very long, boring flight home. Boring is good when you're flying. We landed in Sacramento at 10:30. Char's husband Bob picked us up and in no time at all we were back in the middle of traffic flying by at 70 mph, weaving in and out, big trucks hogging the road. Home sweet home.

Simple Pleasures

View from Kilauea Lighthouse

Have you ever seen boobies in the trees? You can see that, and a lighthouse, at the Kilauea National Wildlife Refuge.

It doesn't cost much to get into the refuge. But two of us had lifetime senior National Park passes, so we all got in for free. We didn't know that our passes would include everyone who was with us. We told the ranger, "Well, if we knew that, we would have brought more people!" About that time a young couple walked up behind us. "These are your kids, right?" the ranger asked, knowing full well they weren't. "Sure!" we said. The youngsters thanked us all for their free admission. They were leaving the island the next day and were almost out of money.

Did you see the boobies in the picture above? Try the view below. Those white dots are birds.

Tree Boobies

Neva pointed out that the birds don't look like they're roosting in the trees, it looks more like someone sprinkled them there. We saw lots of other sea birds, as well as some Nene geese that have been brought in to the refuge recently. It was the wrong season for Laysan Albatross. The Princeville area has become an important nesting site for albatross. Thousands of them were wiped out when the Japanese tsunami swept over Midway Island, where the big birds were nesting with their chicks at the time.

I think the rangers feed the Nene, but the sea birds take care of themselves. What a deal! You just set aside land the birds prefer and keep out anything or anybody that would bother them. You can have hundreds of birds there and they feed themselves.

We didn't actually get to see the lighthouse very well. It was being refurbished. Standing by it, we were on the west-est point of the United States.

Kilauea Lighthouse condom

One of our favorite tourist stops was a cruise up the Wailua River to the Fern Grotto. Neva doesn't get seasick on a river and the price was right - $20. We hadn't made reservations. We dropped in right before noon and had to wait for a 2:00 cruise. But that was okay because there was a restaurant on the wharf.

I think the building hasn't been maintained much since it was built. The door on one of the toilet stalls had broken and someone had put up a blue tarp instead. It looked like it had been there quite a while. But the lunch was fine and the staff was very friendly. They happily brought us extra food from the kitchen to feed the resident chickens and peafowl from our outdoor table. This was the view of the river from our table.

Fern Grotto tour boat on Wailua River

The boats also looked well used, but ours ran fine (and if it broke down, we'd just be treated to a longer ride). We were barely out of port when a live band began to play. I love Hawaiian music. There were hula dancers and we tourists were asked to stand up and learn the hula too. It was pretty corny, but fun.

Musicians on the tour boat

It doesn't take long to get to the Fern Grotto. Like the restaurant and the boat, the grotto has seen better days. A couple of years ago there was severe rain in the area for 40 days. A lot of rock and mud slid down the mountain and took ferns and other plants with it. The vegetation is a little sparse, but it's coming back.

Char and Neva with other tourists at Fern Grotto.

There were no feral chickens at the Grotto, but there was a big orange tomcat with no tail. He was a sweetie. One of the tourists picked him up for this picture.

Grotto kitty

There was a feed bowl for the cat and he was fat and happy, one of those kitties that makes friends with everyone.

On the way back to the marina, our boat captain told us about the history of the area. I like Hawaiian music, but I also enjoy just hearing Hawaiians talk.

Not everyone rides on the boat. There were quite a few people in kayaks and on paddleboards, rowing up and down the river. This fellow made me smile. He looks like he's on his way to work. He's certainly not dressed like he plans to get wet.

Paddleboarder on the Wailua River

This place along the river caught my eye. Doesn't it look like a wonderful place to stay?

On the Wailua River

More tomorrow. In the meantime I'm listening to my CD, Ki ho'alu Inn. It's Hawaiian slack key guitar by Paul Togioka. You can hear the songs on iTunes. My favorite is Salomila.

Our Travel Plan

Anini Beach, where we didn't see Katherine's dad.

One of the fellows at the Corn Stand had traveled to Kauai just a few weeks before we did. He told me he and his wife wanted to do everything, so they crammed a lot of activities into their schedule every day. The last day they were so tired, they weren't able to leave their hotel.

We had a very different travel plan. I procured housing for us and the rental car. We made no other reservations. We just got in the car and drove wherever our curiosity took us. When we saw something interesting we stopped and checked it out. We didn't need to be constantly entertained.

When I travel, I spend a lot of time wondering about the things I see. Some people don't appreciate that. "I wonder what that big pile of dirt is?" I asked my ex-husband on a trip through Idaho. "How should I know?" he answered. I get the same answers from my son, when he's not asleep in the car and totally ignoring me. I never particularly liked traveling with either of them. They have their own priorities. John likes to meet people. He finds out their life histories and remembers them and the names of all their relatives for years. Bob is the social director. He likes to make sure everyone is having a good time. Just not in the car.

This trip was great for me because all of us are wonderers. Neva was first when she saw the huge expanse of spotless lawn in Princeville and wondered if there were gophers on the island.

Neva did most of the copilot duties, sitting in the front passenger seat. Char had the back seat to herself and was in charge of jumping out and feeding the chickens. She's very quick and agile. It's always good to have a copilot who has driven pulling a horse trailer. They are extra careful not to guide you to a place where you can't turn around. On a trail ride Neva has an uncanny sense of direction. She can follow tracks and tell direction by the moss on the trees. You can always trust her to lead you home. In a car, with a map, on a small island, it's a different story. I've encountered the problems before: it's difficult to tell which direction you're going, the points on a map are close together, and the road names are foreign.

In California, the ocean is always to the west and the mountains are to the east. North and south are easy to deduce when you know this. We who are born in the Central Valley have little flatlander brains that are hardwired to function there. Our instincts don't work on an island where the ocean is in every direction and the mountain is in the middle. On the island there are two directions, makai (toward the sea) and mauka (toward the mountain). Neva was clever, she tried turning the map so it faced the same direction we were driving. That worked for a while, until we had gone far enough around the island to be heading in another direction.

In California we are accustomed to points on a map being fairly far apart. Say you plan to go to Bakersfield, for example, and then turn west to Santa Maria. It takes 4 hours to get to Bakersfield from Sacramento. That's plenty of time to consult a map. On Kauai, you might consult the map to determine which road you will need to take, then look up just in time to see that you're passing it. That happened to us several times.

Then there is the translation factor. Many of the road names start with a "K". (Kuhio, Kanani, Koki'a, Kalena, Kuamo'o, Kaokolo, Keoniloa, Kaleka, Keaukia, Keoniloa, Kipuka, Kiahuna, Kekuahao'a, Kuhina, Kalakaua, Kamamalu, Kaloloku to name a few. As I type this, my spell check doesn't like any of these words.) Try to pronounce these words quickly. The navigator says, hesitantly, "turn left on Ko..key..ow..no that's oo..key..ah." My brain knows to look for a sign that begins with a "K" and is followed by a bunch of other letters. That would be half the signs on the island. By the end of the week the three of us had agreed on pronunciations and were doing a little better communicating. That's not to say ours were correct, just that WE knew what we were talking about.

We probably saw more road signs than most tourists because we pretty much drove on every road on the island. On one map, there was an area mauka from Kapa'a and Wailua that seemed to have residential streets. We went up there and found where the real people live. One thing we really liked there is that even residential areas have a rural flavor. We saw what kind of plants people have in their yards, what kind of houses they build, and where their kids go to school. It is quite a bit different than the elaborately landscaped places where tourists stay. Up higher on the mountain there were small farms with really steep pastures. We decided people probably waited for the livestock to come to them, and if you had a horse that was hard to catch you'd be highly motivated to sell it.

We found out that a lot of the 67,000 permanent residents on the island have moved there from other places. Here is an interesting fact: there are 6,228 native Hawaiian and Pacific islanders on Kauai. In Sacramento county, California, there are 14,500.

All the folks we met (4) who moved to Kauai to become permanent residents are there because they love the place. To stay there, they have to deal with a difficult job situation, and very high food, electricity, and gasoline costs. They sit at little booths trying to make some money selling the jewelry they've made, and listening to tourists tell them how "lucky" they are to be there. I'm sure it takes more than luck.

Next: Some more stuff I haven't already talked about. "What?" you ask, "How can that be?"

Cruisin' Kauai

There are lots of things to do on Kauai. As soon as you step off the plane there are countless brochures that list the adventures awaiting you: stand-up paddleboarding, bike rentals, golf courses, snorkel cruises, helicopter tours, kayaking tours, zipline and luaus. Just to name a few. Except for Neva's trail ride and zipline afternoon, we did none of that.

Everyone who had been here before us advised, "You HAVE to do the helicopter ride over the canyon." and "You MUST do a boat tour of the Napali Coast."

Neva gets seasick. She encouraged Char and I to go, but we didn't need to. The ocean looked just fine to us from a chair on the beach. We did actually make an effort to walk along one beach and get our feet wet. (See photos later in this post.)

The helicopter ride, to see the canyon as it has already been captured in countless photos, is $175 each. We weren't afraid to ride in a helicopter, and we could afford it. But we were more interested in microviews than macroviews. So we drove up the Waimea Canyon road and got to see all the details along the way. I stopped at every view point. Char and Neva followed the paths to the overlooks and stood waaaaay back from the edge, like good flatlanders. I didn't even go up the trails, I stayed in the parking lots. It just didn't look like a good place to be stumbling around.

Even though the canyon road is on an amazingly narrow ridge, there is thick vegetation on both sides of the road. There is only an occasional, quickly passed, drop-off view for a driver. I didn't find it scary to drive.

Overall, I think we had more fun feeding the chickens than seeing the canyon.

I've since read about some of the hiking trails available in that area and they sound like a wonderful challenge for people who can handle that sort of thing. Thirty years ago we might have tried that.

Char feeds some beautiful Golden Duckwings at Waimea Canyon lookout

On our microview tour of the canyon, we saw some interesting things. In one place there were several fellows in camouflage clothing standing next to a dirty truck that had a bunch of dogs in the back. The guys sorta looked like hunters, but the dogs didn't. Each was a different variation of mutt, some seemed much too small to chase game, like large Chihuahuas. At another place we saw 4 people wearing brand spanking new, expensive, hunting togs and carrying power bows. Near the top of the mountain we were shocked to see blue hydrangeas peeking out from the native foliage like they were planning an invasion.

When we finally reached the visitor center at the Kalaulau Lookout, we had lots of questions for the lady behind the souvenir counter. The hunters were after wild pigs, she told us. The first bunch were undoubtedly residents of the island. The second bunch had paid for a guided hunt. The blue hydrangeas had been planted by an early settler in memory of his mother who had loved them on the mainland and no, they don't proliferate. I should have known that. There is a giant hydrangeas in my front yard that's older than I am. If it scattered seeds, they would surely grow in Sloughhouse's rich topsoil. I've started some from cuttings, though.

By the end of the week we had traveled every mile of every major highway on the island. We went to the end of the road in both directions (there are no roads all the way around, Na Pali is impassable).

The entire island of Kauai is smaller than Sacramento county in California. Sacramento county is 965 square miles. Kauai is 562 square miles. I could show you everything worth seeing in my home county in 2 days. It took the whole week to see Kauai, even though we didn't do very many of the standard tourist activities.

Why? Sacramento county is flat as a pancake. The landfill that I see from my back door is the highest point at 275 feet. The highest peak on Kauai is 5,243 feet. There might actually be more land on Kauai if you consider vertical feet. Sacramento county all looks pretty much the same. Kauai has a rich variety of microclimates and landscapes. Most areas are lush and green. The giant philodendron and golden pothos climb the trees like houseplants on steroids, and we wanted to see them all. Anyone who loves plants would be saying the same thing I often did, "I want one of THOSE!" (Actually I already have those, what I really want is for mine to grow like the ones on the island.)

Another reason it takes so long to see everything on Kauai is the roads are not meant for speedy travel. Once in a while the speed limit is actually as high as 45, but those occasions are rare. In California, Caltrans puts the fastest speed limits in rural areas like mine, making it harder for us and our animals to survive, so the city folk can zoom through from their homes in big, isolated developments to their jobs in town. It seemed like the slowest speed limits on Kauai were often, thoughtfully, in places where people might want to slow down to enjoy the view.

I know I talked about this a couple of years ago when I was on Maui -- when you first start driving in the islands, it's very difficult to drive so slow. The car complains about it, it needs to go at least 55 to be happy. There should be special cars made for the islands, not the ones made on the mainland that are meant to be driven insanely fast.

The island cars should all have moon roofs that you can open to let in the soft tropical air and give you a view of the treetops, then close during the daily rainshowers. The cars should be narrower so it's not so spooky to meet a tour bus on a winding road. There should be a camera mounted on the roof that allows the driver to click pictures from a button on the steering wheel and not have to rely on passengers with CDD (camera deficit disorder) to snap them. There are turnoffs at designated scenic places, but it's often impossible to pull over and park to take a picture when you run across some unexpected sight. Like a horse staked out on a long rope, grazing on the roadside.

On other trips I've been accompanied by Katherine, who not only can handle my camera better than I can, but always has her point-and-shoot in her pocket. I've seen her whip that out as I was driving 65 mph and still get a shot of something (like a squashed armadillo) on the road. And there's Jonathan, who always has his iPhone. He could not only snap high speed pictures or videos from the copilot seat, but used the iPhone instead of a map to find our way. Neva and Char are not so tech savvy, so we missed a few shots.

Neva has a particularly severe case of CDD. I discovered this years ago when we did a lot of trail riding. I always carried my Pentax. When we'd find a great place for a picture, I would pose Neva and her horse perfectly, take her picture, then we'd trade places. Neva is an artist, she would frame the photo very well, but when she pushed the button, her whole body moved. Often she would cut off my head, or the photo would be blurry. Time and a faster lens has not cured this. Char is more reliable with the camera. It's difficult to see the viewfinder screen when the sun glares on it, so sometimes she had to guess. (Also I need to coach her how to take pictures that make my butt look smaller.)

Beachcombing, Char and Neva.
I could have taken a better picture,
but for the glare on the screen.

Beachcombing, Jan
with hair in face and wind under shirt.
Looks like I was smuggling a Nene. Photo by Char.
(You can tell because it isn't fuzzy and I still have my head.)

All of us. Taken by another tourist.

Next: Why it took so long to see all of such a small island (and why we were glad it did).

Riches to Rags

Our first three days on Kauai were spent in Princeville. If there is an old town there, I didn't see it. My perception of the place is that it's one giant golf course surrounded by luxurious houses and condominiums. At the end of the road was the St. Regis.

St. Regis. Photo from the internet

We didn't go into this very ritzy place, but we drove through the entryway twice, just checking it out. I think you need to wear designer clothes to gain entrance. I mean the kind that cost a lot of money, not the ones we get past season and discounted at Marshall's or Ross.

While Neva cowboyed and ziplined, Char and I explored Princeville. We had heard that celebrities abound there. I googled "celebrities in Princeville" and found a bunch of names. The only name I recognized was Pierce Brosnan. The others must be rock stars or people who've been on TV in the past 15 years since I threw mine away.

A girl at the stable told us Pierce Brosnan has a house in Princeville and that he has been sighted at the local Foodmart.

We checked out all the houses. The ones near the golf course were like this one.

A house in Princeville.

Some were for sale and were having an Open House. We thought about looking at them, but had more fun driving past and finding reasons why we didn't want to buy them: Not close enough to the ocean, too close to the ocean, too many windows to clean, didn't like the color it was painted, no room to park a horse trailer. You know, the important things. We didn't see a mailbox that said "Brosnan." We went to the Foodmart. He wasn't there, either.

Later we heard that Brosnan's house is well hidden at the end of a road. I read online that locals are not happy that his landscaping has obscured the beach somewhat. All beaches in Hawaii are public. Hotels and private land owners must provide public beach access through their property. Is that a great idea, or what? Brosnan's landscaping is probably an attempt to block the view of his house. I can understand that, too, since Char and I were stalking him and we're not really even fans. Or very good at stalking.

This is the Princeville house we stayed in:

Our Princeville house

It was in a more modest neighborhood than the ones on the golf course, but it was a great house. Much nicer than my own. Here are some pictures from the HomeAway site.

Living room and dining room.

Totally cool kitchen...better than mine at home by far.

If you're going to travel, try HomeAway. Private homeowners list their properties and you deal directly with them. This house had beds for 6 and pullouts and futons for lots more. It cost considerably less than a hotel room for 2 people. We bought groceries and ended up eating here most of the time, mostly because it was beautiful and tranquil and we loved it.

We left the luxury of Princeville on the fourth day and traveled to the other end of the island, to Poipu. That was a different world. Most of the buildings there are in resort hotels or condominiums. The permanent population of the town is probably 10, the rest of the people are tourists.

These are the HomeAway pictures of our place in Poipu:

The Blue Hawaii room

The King Cam bedroom

This is the neighborhood surrounding the house we stayed in.

Up the street

This is our house. We had the bottom floor pretty much.

Poipu house

The manager and his son lived upstairs. They were into surfing, I think, judging by all the shoes at the front door and the surfing equipment here and there. They were NOT into maintenance or yard work. The price was very reasonable. The three of us have camped out in our horse trailers when we've gone trail riding, we don't demand luxury.

The Blue Hawaii room was great, big and sunny with great ventilation. The other bedroom didn't even have a window. It had a sliding glass door onto what once was a lanai. But the lanai had been turned into a makeshift kitchen, using bits and pieces of stuff from secondhand stores. The wall to the outside was still just a screen. In Hawaii this is okay, it's not like you're going to freeze in the winter. There were actually two "kitchens," one with each bedroom. Since we had both bedrooms, we had both kitchens. There was another bedroom on our floor that some guys were renting and we were told that they might be coming through our bedroom to use our kitchen to wash their dishes. They never did. To our knowledge.

All of this was still fine. The place was probably more suitable for surfer guys than for old women, but we were making the best of it. Until Char tried to go to sleep in the King Cam room and the cockroaches came out. HUGE cockroaches. They were on the ceiling, lurking right over her bed.

We all ended up in the other bedroom. It was like a slumber party. The next day when we told the manager he said, "You know you're in Hawaii when there are cockroaches," and then he left for breakfast with his sister. Okay, that may be true, but it wasn't a great answer.

The Poipu house had access to a pool. I think it was in a condo complex nearby. We were given a key to the pool but it must have been a good walking distance away because we never found it. No matter. We explored the Poipu side of the island and stayed one more night, then decided to leave a day early and look for a hotel in Lihue for our last night.

We found a room at the Kauai Beach Resort. It was just fine. It had 4 pools, and if that wasn't enough it also had a nice beach.

Kauai Beach Resort, photo from the internet

We had a fancy dinner on our last night on Kauai at the resort's Naupaka Terrace restaurant. We had been reading reviews of restaurants all day. This one had not been reviewed, but it turned out to be very nice.

A couple of interesting things about the resort: the pool seemed to be full of Hawaiian kids who weren't staying there. It was easy to discern them from us pasty white tourists. The kids were having a great time and we had fun watching them. When we left the next morning, we found there had been some excitement the night before. Some local cattle had escaped their pasture again and hotfooted it across the resort's grounds. The cowboys found them the next morning standing in the ocean. We were sorry to have missed that. And we wondered all day why cows would stand in the ocean. It's not like flies were after them. I saw 2 flies all our time on the island.

So that's where we stayed. I would recommend using HomeAway, even though our second dwelling was a bit dicey. I could have read the customer reviews better. And the first house was sooooo great, it balanced out. The Kauai Beach Resort was comfortable. There are certainly more luxurious resorts, but you'd be surrounded by tourists you might not like as much. It's in a central location for all the activities on the island, too.

Next: where we went and what we saw. Give me a day or two to put that together.

Grandma Zips

My friend Neva came to Kauai determined to go on a trail ride here. She has ridden all over the western United States, and wanted to add the south-est and west-est state of all to her list. She did some research and found three choices. One let the riders spend some time on the beach and one was a self-guided ride. The beach ride was on the other side of the island from where we were staying. The self-guided ride didn't make sense for someone who had never been on the island before. How would you know where you're going? So she chose the third option, to ride on Princeville Ranch.

The only problem was that ride combined horse time with a zipline experience. That didn't sound like a good thing to any of us (we're flatlanders, you know, and also old ladies).

Before she left for Kauai, one of Neva's granddaughters told her, "Grandma, you can ride a horse anywhere, but you can't do a zipline in Sacramento. Go for it!" Neva waffled back and forth right up to the time of the ride. Finally the time came and Char and I took her to the stable.

We stuck around while the stable staff did a short training session for the riders. We wanted to see how they did that. And also the paniolo (Hawaiian cowboy) who was in charge was pretty cute and I needed to get some pictures for Katherine to show her what she missed.

Paniolo, View 1

Paniolo, View 2

There were 9 riders, a truly motley bunch. There was a big couple from Texas (everything from Texas is big), 3 young ladies who were vacationing together, a pair of newlyweds, and a bald guy wearing shorts, who we later discovered was the island's zipline inspector. At least that was his story.

This was the dude string, a handsome bunch of horses. Kauai is as much heaven for horses as it is for people. These horses live in a perpetually green pasture, the temperature is never very hot or cold, there are no flies, and all they have to do is take a slow walk for a couple of miles every day.

Waiting for the dudes

This is one lucky bunch of horses. They all came from Canada as PMU foals about 8 years ago. Many of their mothers were draft horses that were used to collect pregnant mare urine for Premarin. Like dairy calves, the foals were just an unwanted byproduct and many were eliminated. Some were adopted, like Katherine's horse Shylah (See Katherine's Sept. 10 blog HERE) and these guys.

This is the horse Neva got to ride.

Neva on Aki

Big Texan on a big horse

Char and I waved goodbye and went off to find Pierce Brosnan (another adventure).

When we went to pick Neva up 3 hours later, we saw the group coming back and made bets about whether or not she had done the zipline. We surmised if her jeans were clean and dry, that meant she had stayed with the horses instead.

Heading Home

"I did it!!!!! And it was fun."

Free Range

I hope, when I mentioned the chickens I saw at the Lihue airport, that you didn't think I disapproved of that. I'm always pleased to see chickens anywhere, especially when they're healthy and happy. So far there have been chickens everywhere on Kauai, and all of them are doing well.

For example, there were chickens hanging out at the door of the grocery store, and watching people who were eating on the benches in the shopping center. I bought some kitten food so I'd have something to give them. They are feral chickens, but they are NOT wild. They are very clever.

Here's a little hen and some of her chicks near a riding stable.

Birds of all kinds hang out at the tourist stops. We took a side road to see Opaekaa Falls.

There were lots of birds hanging out around the restrooms.

When I tossed the first pair some food, more came running, with a whole flock of little doves behind them. Most of the birds look like small game fowl. Once in a while there will be something that looks like it has a purebred ancestor back a ways.

Some of the birds are very beautiful. I liked this rooster. People who show poultry will be envious of this bird's condition. I never saw a bird with feather mites, butt mites, or lice. Some peafowl were moulting, but the chickens were not.

This little hen was an unusual color.

In California, there are a lot of new chicken owners who think free ranging is wonderful. It is NOT. We have an amazing variety of predators: the avian predators attack from the air, there are good hunters in both the canine and feline families, and some are just so big (like bears) they can walk right through a pasture fence. My motto is Free Range = Free Meal, something people don't like to hear. Half of the posts on the poultry Facebook group I belong to, though, are reports of how their chickens have been killed.

People who really want to free range their chickens should be here on Kauai. Not that the island needs more chickens, but what a great place for them to be! It seems like their only predators might be domestic dogs, but the people here seem to keep their dogs under control.

These birds were at a marina. There were chickens, peafowl, and lots of doves. This was at a restaurant, we shared half our lunch with them. Even with all these birds running around, please note how clean the ground is. I don't know how that works, my hens at home are very messy when I let them out.

This guy became my special buddy.

Note: Eggs in the stores here cost almost twice as much as they do on the mainland. I found that ironic.

Next: Grandma Conquers the Zipline

From Princeville, Kauai

Neva           Charlene

These two wonderful ladies are Neva and Charlene. They were riding buddies of mine when I used to have a good trail horse, a horse trailer, and a truck to pull it. We went everywhere. Neva still rides as much as possible. Char still has her horse and a truck and a trailer and they are all perfectly maintained, but she doesn't ride as often. The last trail riding trip we took together was to Silver Lake, in 1985, I think. It was a great ride, we got lost and had to wander all over the Mokelumne Wilderness to find our way back to camp. Our best rides were the ones that we got lost and had to explore. 

We are finally on another trip together, this time to Kauai. 

We still have a tendency to get lost. That's not helped by us being a tad older, which makes signs harder to see and maps harder to read, nor by the new airport terminal in Sacramento. I'm there at least twice a year either going somewhere or picking someone up, but every time I see the place they've reconfigured the maze. Char's husband Bob drove us to the airport. It took all four of us watching the signs but we made it to the right terminal.

I like Hawaiian Airlines because the people who work for them are genuinely nice. But I would change some things. Like all airlines these days, they are grasping for every dollar they can get. I still find it idiotic to charge for checking a suitcase. It makes 75% of the flyers squash as much as they can into a single small bag. Then they drag the overstuffed thing down the narrow aisle, bumping into everything and everybody and strain to put it in the overhead storage compartment. The planes are not set up to handle luggage that way, they were built for luggage to go under the plane. It's not a simple adaptation like we had to endure when the gas companies decided we should pump our own gas. I find it incredibly annoying. 

Even more annoying was procuring my ticket this year. I had an $800 credit for a flight I didn't get to use last year. The ticket for this year was $500. I should get a $300 refund, right? No. Hawaiian does not make refunds. In addition, they wanted to charge me $150 MORE to just to schedule the new flight. In other words, they wanted $950 for a $500 flight. 

I complained long and hard on the phone to the lovely lady who was waiting on me. Her supervisor finally decided to cut the fee to $75, but I'd been ripped off anyway. I paid $875 for a $600 ticket. And if I got a discount just because I was justifiably annoyed, does that mean that really pushy people could get more? Why is there a sliding scale for ripping people off?

One more improvement I'd like: I think it would be great, if they can't restore flying to the comfort it used to be, to at least make the planes go faster so we spend less time on them.

We finally got to the little airport in Lihue, complete with feral chickens running around, and picked up our car.

Since last year, car rental has also become an unpleasant experience. Last month I got an email from Dollar about special rates. I went online and found a car for $175 for the week, plus tax. When we got the car, though, the "tax" was $121. And the lady behind the counter wanted to tack on extra insurance and fees that would bring the bill to over $500. I've heard that pitch before, but this time it was high pressured and frantic. "It's not that we think YOUR driving will be a problem," she said, "but driving on the island isn't easy. Yes, your AAA covers some costs if you're in an accident, but they won't pay the other charges we have to add." Translation: you will probably encounter a problem on this island and we will take advantage of that situation to tack a bajillion dollars to your bill. It was barely short of larceny. Do they have people out there that they pay to bang into your rental car if you don't buy the extra insurance? The feral chickens (with chicks) running around just outside the front door somehow made that seem more likely. 

I'm getting sick and tired of being dinged for more money by businesses, aren't you? Their attitude seems to be that customers are chumps, and anything goes. Next thing they will sell us shirts and make us pay more for the buttons that are already on them. If you refuse to pay, they'll cut the buttons off.

In contrast, the private people whose house and condominium I rented for this trip through HomeAway online were direct and honest, with all the details available ahead of time. There were no hidden fees. They were gracious and helpful. I haven't seen the condo yet, but the house we're in is totally wonderful. 

The other great thing is that the people here are so incredibly nice and the island is so incredibly beautiful. It makes the annoying experiences fade quickly away. 

We're on the "top" of the island right now, in Princeville. Today we explored all the roads up here. This is the wet side of the island, which means luscious greenery everywhere, waterfalls and creeks, and brilliant flowers. The people here -- residents and other tourists -- are fun. Last night at the supermarket a fellow tried to pick us up. "I'm making BACHELOR spaghetti for dinner," he said (wink, wink, big grin) as he blocked the aisle in front of our cart. We wished him well with that. This morning we were stopped by a flag man for a while, waiting for construction equipment to clear the road. He had lots of jokes and kept us entertained. We thanked him for his great attitude. He said, "This is a sucky job, you have to do something to make it tolerable."

At Anini Beach we took off our shoes and walked about 6 inches into the water. This is the first time I've been able to walk barefoot on the sand and it was interesting to discover that doesn't work too well for me. My balance is lousy anyway and the shifting sand under my feet was hard to deal with. Dang. I even brought a bathing suit this trip, but I don't think I'll use it. 

Neva is going on a ride tomorrow. The horse rental place takes a group up the mountain, then has the riders go back down on a zipline. She's not too enthusiastic about that last part. Char and I plan to drive around and see if we can find where the real people live. We bought a small sack of cat food for the chickens that are everywhere.

Bird story: we talked to a man who was making shell jewelry. He had a mynah bird in a cage next to him that he had found as a nestling and raised. He said, "someday I want to take it and have a DNA test done so I'll know if it's a male or a female." 

"How old is it?" I asked.

"Two."

"Has it ever laid eggs?" I asked.

"No."

"Then it's a male."