- To spite our long Christmas day and late night, I woke at 7:30 a.m. on the 26th too excited to sleep any longer. As I peeked out the curtains, I saw a cattle egret stalking not 3 feet from our sliding glass door. I watched him slink across the grass and through the bushes into the grounds, on the hunt for his breakfast. I tiptoed around the condo making myself some coffee while D and G caught up on some much needed sleep, then slipped out the door to walk down to the beach and watch the waves for a bit. D and G were still sleeping when I came back, so I picked up my camera and walked the grounds looking for creatures. There are an abundance of golden plovers, doves, and mynars on the grounds in the morning. On my way back to the condo I found this zebra dove perched just outside our bedroom door.
After a slow morning of snacking and a bit of unpacking, we decided to head towards the north end of the island to reacquaint ourselves with the lay of the land. We were approaching lunch time, so we decided to stop at a place D's friend recommended, Bubba's Burgers. The menu is simple, not much more than any fast food place, but better quality while just as fast. (Plus, when I asked about the ingredients of the hamburger buns, the lady handed me the entire wrapper to read myself, which gets huge points from me)
After lunch, we continued up the highway enjoying the views, and turned towards the Kilauea Lighthouse on the northern end of the island. We didn't go all the way to the lighthouse itself this time, we just stopped to check watch a few birds soaring over the cliffs.
Just outside of the parking lot, I noticed a Nene, the state bird of Hawaii. This goose is endemic to the island and was on my bucket list on our last trip.
On our last trip these birds were difficult to spot, possibly because of nesting season, however there were an overabundance of these geese on this trip... to the point where they were blocking traffic in the parking lot (I had to get out of the car and shoo the goose off to the side to keep the bugger safe) It is great to see an endangered bird make such a strong presence.
As we continued north, we drove through a few big rain showers and poked through a few shopping areas in Princeville and Hanalei. We felt like having an early dinner, so we decided to try a place called Bouchons.
Bouchons is on the second floor of a building, and has a nice open-wall view of the mountains off in the distance.
The Bouchon Mai Tai... a little sweet for my taste, but it came with an umbrella
My dinner: seared Ahi (medium rare) with roasted potatoes and veggies
Dan indulged in sushi, and after many years of avoiding the entire category due to my allergies, I decided to give the nigiri a shot... because we're on an island, so where else are you going to get fresher fish? I tried half of one of each of the nigiri here, 3 different tunas and a white fish. I actually really enjoyed all of them, though the ahi was probably my favorite.
After dinner we headed back to the room, where my west coast time clock kicked in and I was ready to drop by 9 p.m.
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