Thursday December 29th - Garden Tour

We've had a few days in a row of blustery overcast mornings.  The forecast looks clearer for our second half of the trip, but so far the mornings have been nice and low key, just coffee on the lenai and watching a few birds wander around the lawn as I update the blog and wait for everyone else to wake up... or in this case, come back from the gym.  Our resort has a small gym by the pool which quite a few people like to use right when it opens in the morning... G loves to go with D and hop on the elliptical for a bit, then they do a quick dip in the pool before they shower up and get ready for breakfast.  With the frequent passing rain showers this morning, I opted for my yoga inside before having my coffee.

My view in the mornings from the lenai.

We had a 9:00 arrival time scheduled for a garden tour, so I ate breakfast in the room and D found a bakery to stop at on the way for himself and G.  This is a small bakery we'd never noticed before because it is a block off the main highway through Kapa'a, but D had an extensive conversation with the owner and bakers... they said they could make a special batch of crosants for me without egg wash if we call the night before.  We plan to do so at some point on this trip.

Our self guided tour of McBryde Gardens began with a bus ride from the visitor's center to the center of the garden.  Along the way we stopped for a view of Allerton Gardens.

The paths of the McBryde gardens run roughly 15 minutes from the center drop off point.  It had been raining quite a lot the last few days so the paths were quite muddy.  Being on the first bus up meant there were very few people, which gave us the opportunity to stay around various spots without much interruption.  The spot I found most interesting was this stick house sculpture.


                                       
I set up my tripod and shot several shots with both my pinhole cameras, as well as walking around and capturing some different angles with the DSLR.

This is from inside the stick house, looking straight up.  Fingers are crossed that my pinhole exposures yield something interesting.

The lower valley field had several massive trees around the edge.

I love the root structure of the banyan trees.

These trees send out "air" roots, which reach down towards the ground.

While walking around the grounds we spotted 3 Alae 'ulas from a distance.  They are an endangered waterfowl species, and according to our bus driver there are only about 800 left.  Last year I spotted one in the Smith Family Gardens and spent a long time photographing him, so I didn't feel any urgency to stop, put my gear in the mud, and pull out my 300mm in bad lighting.  (I also spotted 6 more from the window of the bus on the way back to the visitor's center, as well as a chukar - which I  enthusiastically pointed out and probably confused the poor guys sitting on the bus behind me with my sudden outburst)

We spent about 2 hours just in the north half of the gardens, and after a few passing rain showers the trail conditions were only looking worse, so we decided to head back to the tram pickup and catch a ride back to the visitor's center.  

As we gathered ourselves together at the visitor's center, we were approached by a Moa, one of the many chickens you can find roaming around the island.  Their feathers are just amazing.

Thankfully we had the forethought to bring a change of shoes, so we were able to get out of our muddy stuff and head straight to lunch from the gardens.  We decided to eat at Gaylords, which is located in the Kilohana Plantation near Lihue.  Their restaurant tables are set around a central courtyard area.

They have some of the best mai tais.

G and I split a caprese salad... theirs has a vanilla infused balsamic drizzled over the top along with the traditional olive oil and sprinkle of course salt.

My lunch was the grilled fish of the day, which in this case was grilled monchong, with a topping that included pickled diakon and carrot and a blend of sauces. Their food has always been terrific.

All the walking today and the lovely lunch we were all a little tired so we headed back to the condo.  I took a short nap and G wanted to head out to the pool.  After my nap I went out to check on her, and shortly after that a larger rain cloud moved in.  This was more than just a passing rain shower, so we cut pool time short and headed in to clean up and relax in the room.

Lunch was so late and filling that none of us really felt like heading out to dinner, so we just snacked on the fruits and stuff that we had in the room and kicked back with a couple of movies while listening to the heavy rain showers pass outside.

Wednesday December 28th - a day of wandering southward

Wednesday the 28th, I woke slightly before dawn, made a pot of coffee, and wandered down to the water's edge.  I noticed a man standing on a chair with a camera in his hand, so I backed off of the path because it looked to me that he was trying to get a super wide shot of the sunrise.  I was right, when he saw me get out of the way he hopped down to show me his shots thus far... the clouds were heavy on the horizon but there were breaks that looked promising.  I guessed they'd be going pink in about 5 minutes (I was right about that too)  We talked a bit about photography and where we .were from (he was Canadian... which I should have caught from the accent)  I considered getting my gear, but I spent so much time shooting sunrises last year that I don't feel as anxious about trying every single morning, so instead I headed back to the room for more coffee, and to get my yoga paws.  I picked a spot under some trees down the path, where there is a break in the bushes to see the ocean, and did some yoga.

My view during yoga

This was very necessary... my back locked up last week just before Christmas Eve, from a combination of over-working at the gym, and the stress of preparing for Christmas, along with the physical strain of leaning over the kitchen sink scrubbing more than usual.  I could barely stand upright on Christmas Eve, and Christmas wasn't much better.  I could feel my back loosen up as we were driven to the airport, and by some miracle I was better able to stand AFTER sitting on the plane for nearly 6 hours (which should have made it worse)  So the stress tension loosened up as we entered vacation, but the muscle tension from days of stress was still there.  I can tell when I do my sun salutations that my lower back is still a little locked, I can't quite arch in up-dog like I normally can... but it is getting better.

D was just getting up as I'd left for yoga, and G woke up when I got back to the room.  We've decided we'll likely stay in for breakfast for a lot of this trip, so I enjoyed an English muffin and some of the fruit we'd picked up at the farmer's market.

Rambutan, the red spikey fruit, was one of my favorites but in this batch I'm preferring the texture of the little brown fruits... they are also kind of a peeled grape texture around a hard seed, but a little easier to peel out of their shell/skin.  I'll have to look up the name of these later, as I can't remember it accurately right now.

After a filling breakfast, I pulled out my camera and 300mm and wandered the grounds looking at birds.

Golden Plovers are easy to spot, and aren't too afraid of humans around here. If you sit still they'll likely wander up next to you, concentrating on bugs in the ground rather than what you are doing.

When I came back from shooting, I started looking into a few tour options to see if there were dates available, etc...   I was using my computer, which is still on west coast time, so when G asked if she could go to the pool I said sure, but it would have to be a short swim because we'd be heading to lunch soon (thinking it was 11:15.  And it felt like 11:15)  About 10 minutes later, when I looked at my phone, I went to the pool to let D and G know that it was actually only 9:30, and we had plenty of time before lunch.

I worked on photos and did a few dishes while they were out at the pool, and after we all cleaned up and gathered our gear for the day, we loaded the car and headed south, towards Lihue, with the thought to stop in Koloa for lunch. 

Christmas decorations are still up around town :)

We read good things about this lunch truck, and it was always closed on our previous visits so we decided to give it a try.

The food truck is in the same filed as this monument to the sugar mills.  A rain shower had just passed, so the lady in the food truck loaned us a towel to dry off the picnic table.  It's a "grab and go" food truck, but there is plenty of seating in the park surrounding it.

LOTS of chickens.  Everywhere.

I was particularly impressed by this guy's feathers.

I chose the Kauai shrimp/fish lunch, which comes with rice and sweet corn, and normally a salad but I couldn't trust the dressing so I opted for extra corn.  While the fish looks dried out, it was actually marinated in teriyaki sauce, and was surprisingly light and moist.  

 From lunch, we did a little poking around in the Crazy Shirts store and a local grocery store (where I found the most amazing granola bars, and will be getting more!) and then we continued down to Poipu to check out Spouting Horn.  While at Spouting Horn I set up my tripod with my wide angle pinhole and spent a while trying to grab a good exposure.  I used a whole roll of film plus started into another roll before I decided to go with what I've got, and hope for the best.  I spent so much time with the pinhole that I did not take any shots with my DSLR... which I'm OK with.  Last year I got photos that I'm incredibly happy with, and I don't think I can do much more than that with the exact same landscape (and frankly, less greens on the rocks this year)

I did, however, spot a couple of sea turtles, so I threw my 300 on the camera and waited to get a few shots of the floating sea turtles.

smile!

After dodging a passing rain shower, we meandered around Poipu for a bit longer, then began to journey back to Kapa'a.  G needs water shoes for the ATV trip we're going to take, so we stopped into the nearby Coconut Grove mall to find her a pair.  The mall itself is beautiful, they have been in the process of remodeling it for years - it is an outdoor collection of shops that is now a quaint set of small buildings set around a park-like area.  Unfortunately they just don't have very many shops, so it almost feels abandoned.  The shops inside here are gems, though, and it is nice to get away from the crowds anyway.  Bobby V's has moved here (it used to be right next to our condo) and they now have a large seating area.  Being still on west coast time, we were hungry for dinner shortly after 4, so we decided to stop at Bobby V's and grab dinner.

Not a lot to say about it... it is pizza.  It is good pizza - better than a national chain - but still.  

During dinner I researched some of the many botanical gardens on the island, and we talked about the pros and cons.  There are a couple that sound amazing, but are only available as guided tours and I don't like feeling rushed when I want to photograph, so we settled on driving down to a larger garden that we can wander at our own pace.  After dinner we went back to the condo for the night to kick back and head to bed relatively early.  During the past year we had our TV's in the condo upgraded to wifi enabled, so we are now able to watch Netflix.  We've been trying vudu, but the internet doesn't seem to have the capacity to download vudu (although we have our own router, and it is located directly behind the TV, so the wifi signal can't get any better than that.  I thought about hooking up a CAT5 for speed, but the TV doesn't have a plug)  I've concluded that the internet signal itself is too wonky for Vudu, but hey... Netflix works.

December 26-27th - landing and first day of meandering

Her are a couple of quick photos from the night of the 26th:

G at the airport, awaiting D's arrival with the rental car.  (that's my flannel she is wearing, it appears I won't be getting it back)

Carry a flashlight when you walk at night, the giant bullfrogs will sit perfectly still until you nearly step on them.

Our first full day on the island ran at a slow pace.  With the late arrival and late night run to the grocery store, I decided to ignore the overcast sunrise and buried myself back under the covers until about 8:30 local time.  Our property managers left us a fruit basket and a couple bags of coffee, so we munched on fruit and toast while we slowly finished unpacking our bags.  

D and G spent a little coffee time on the porch outside our bedroom, where an opportunistic zebra dove poked around under the table.

I walked down the path near the ocean a bit, but due to the passing rain showers and heavy overcast skies, I did not pull out my big camera.  In fact, I ended up not using it much at all on our first day.

Once we were all settled in with our unpacking and had finished up the coffee, we headed into Kapa'a to seek out an early lunch.  We decided to go to Olympic Cafe, one of our favorite breakfast spots.  I recall not being enthused by their dinners, but we thought it might be worthy of giving it another shot for lunch, and we enjoy the view overlooking the town with the Sleeping Giant mountain in the background.

Sleeping Giant was shrouded in clouds today... I guess he decided to sleep in too?

My lunch: blackened Ono "sandwich" (minus the sandwich part) and papaya instead of fries.  

A lot of Olympic's lunch options are of the deep fried variety, and their burritos are massive so I knew I didn't want one of those.  In spite of my explaining my allergies to the waitress, the kitchen had put a cup of their aioli dressing on my first plate of food, which the papaya ended up in.  The waitress was very quick to get me a fresh plate and fresh fruit, but to be honest the fish was pretty mediocre anyway, a bit tough even for Ono.  We all agreed that Olympic is a terrific breakfast place, but lunch and dinner are best found elsewhere.

After  quick backtrack to pick up a few things we forgot in the room, and a stop at Papaya's - a natural food store across the street - for road snacks, we headed north towards Hanalei.  Our destination was a farmer's market, but along the way we stopped to look at a couple of interesting shops and for G to pick up her first shaved ice of the vacation.

.

Mmmm... soo good!

After finishing her shave ice, we got back on the road and continued to the farmer's market.  It had opened at 2 and we arrived at 3:45, but several stands were already prepping to shut down.  The markets here are not like back home, this is not an all day lingering experience.  Local restaurants buy their food at these markets, so you get there when they open if you want selection.  (Last year we saw chefs wander through with huge carts, grabbing produce)  On the other hand, going in near the end can sometimes get you better prices, as the sellers would rather sell their produce than pack it back up

Gayle waits while her fresh coconut is cracked open.

 From the farmer's market we continued along the freeway all the way to the end, at Ke'e Beach.  We had considered checking out the caves, but parking proved to be impossible all along the last mile of road.  It took us quite a while to get to the end just to turn around, and then we only made it out quickly because an ocean rescue vehicle had to get out, so when he flipped on his siren and parted the cars a bunch of us followed the clear path out of the parking mess.  Back in Hanalei we spent a little time poking around at a few shops, then decided to head towards the Dolphin for dinner.

The Dolphin is located right on the Hanalei River.  We were told there would be a 45 minute wait for a table, so I wandered around near the river a bit.

There is a kayak and SUP rental near here, where you can rent gear to paddle up and down the river.

To our great surprise, we'd hardly been sitting outside 10 minutes before we were called back to be seated inside.

I don't know if this 360 image will display properly, but I'm giving it a shot.  The 360 camera is something D picked up for us for Christmas, he has been having a lot of fun playing with it on this trip.

 I sipped my top shelf Mai Tai and munched on edemame while waiting for our dinners.  D had a variety of nigiri and a sushi roll, G actually ordered her own tempura shrimp sushi roll, and I had an order of hamachi nigiri and some simply grilled marlin with veggie kabob as my side.

I ate one piece before I remembered to take a photo.  Their nigiri is amazing, the hamachi melted like butter.

I'm pretty sure this was my first time having marlin.  It was like steak, very filling and sturdy with a nice mild flavor.  

After dinner we headed back to the condo.  D and G battled with the wifi to watch a few shows on Netflix while I backed up my photos and did a bit of editing.  As usual with these trips, I was the first to head to bed.  

It was lovely to have such a slow paced day.  Throughout the day I read passages from several tour books and we talked about some of the things we'd like to do on this trip.  We've now booked a self-guided garden tour for Thursday and an ATV adventure for Friday (which I've figured out how to bring my DSLR on!  though I can't bring *all* the lenses) The rest of the trip is still up in the air, but I'm hopeful we'll be inspired to try another hike with views at some point.

2016-2017 Vacation Begins... Monday Dec. 26th

After a busy day of packing and cleaning, D's brother picked us up and drove us to the airport late yesterday afternoon.  It was nice to have a full day after Christmas to clean the house, gather our things, and get the trees undecorated and outside.  It was also very helpful for my anxiety to have D's brother drive us to the airport instead of having some stranger stand there staring at me while I race around the house triple checking all the doors and windows.  

The flight was good, we boarded on time, left on time, and landed about a half an hour early.  I do wish the airlines could figure out how to get ingredient information on their dinners though... it seems like I could have eaten the offered meal if I'd just known about the sauce on the fish, but instead I had the regular vegan tapas snack box instead.  Apparently the salmon wasn't great anyway, and the tapas plate is actually quite good.  After a couple of movies and a few drinks, we landed in the warm Kauai night around 10:10 local time.

Since the car rental place closes at 10:30, and they have been known to run out of cars by the end of the day, D took his bags and raced across the street to grab the shuttle while G and I waited for the big gear bag.  D was worried about me lifting the bag off the belt, but I braced myself and heaved (lift with your legs!) just as a man was stepping forward to try to help me.  I almost took out his knees, but I got it without injury.  

We got into the condo at roughly 11, and after dropping our bags and G in the room, D and I headed across the street to Safeway to pick up some cream and a few breakfast snack items for the morning.  Our property manager had already provided us with a couple of bags of coffee :)  We encountered a giant snail and one of the big bull frogs on the path.  After a quick snack and a lot of water, we settled in to sleep.

January 4th... the last day for real...

On our last morning on the island, D and I woke early, made some coffee, and headed out in the pre-dawn for some photo opportunities.

I finally grabbed a shot of one of those gigantic frogs... the random slipper is in the frame as a size reference.  That is a man's slipper, so now you have an idea of the size of these monster frogs.

Pre-dawn sky with crescent moon.

Long exposure sunrise.

The sun begins to creep over the landscape, lighting up the Sleeping Giant.

We spent the morning in the room, I began to sort through our stuff and separate out what was staying in storage and what was coming home with us.  We still wanted to pick up a few souvenirs, so we went across the street to Safeway and the ABC Store to get our final items and gifts for people, as well as some basics that we wanted to store in the condo for our next trip.  For lunch, I was craving some decently sized fish tacos, so we headed into Kapa'a and decided to give Paco's Tacos a try.

I was a little concerned about this place because they do offer breakfast all day, which means a lot of eggs in the kitchen, and they use one big griddle to cook the food.  However there were no other customers at the time, and the chef said he would cook my fish on the furthest end of the griddle, (eggs are always kept separate anyway, but he ensured me my food would be the furthest from anyplace that egg might have ever touched)
We all shared some chips and salsa while we waited for our lunches.

I had the 3 taco special, each taco came with a generous filet of grilled ono along with fresh shredded cabbage - salsa and lime was available on the side.  Lunch tasted great, but due to the egg situation I would only feel comfortable eating here if there aren't any other customers around to potentially order eggy foods.  (As an aside, Tiki Tacos uses separate pans for their fish, so I'm much safer eating there in the future.  They are also a little closer to the condo, putting them just about within walking distance)

When we arrived back at the condo, G and I spent some time in the pool enjoying the warm day and relatively empty pool area.  After some swimming and a bit of time in the hot tub (to soak my sore foot) I showered up and wandered the grounds with my camera.  My intention had been to capture some of the foliage, however the low tide caught my attention.  The tide was so low off the beach that the reef - normally covered by several feet of ocean - was completely revealed to the point of being able to walk on it and poke at the tide pools.  The low tide also created a small, protected, sandy pool area for wading, so D got G out of the pool to come down to the beach and play in the ocean.  Meanwhile, I wandered with my camera and enjoyed the rare view of the ocean floor.

A spear fisherman taking advantage of the low tide

He came ashore with several octopi, G was fascinated by them and even reached out to pet one.  It suctioned to her finger for a few moments.

On the way back to the room, I caught a photo of this tree because it looks like a dragon head to me.

Since I had already showered, I started packing for our flight home while D and G showered up and got ready for dinner.  The plan had been to have dinner onsite, starting at 5:30.  We figured we'd be done eating around 6:30 and have plenty of time to pack before we needed to leave by 9.  Then we started chatting with our waiter, Henry, who had been so pleasant last year (and is also originally from the Bay Area, and has a sister in Capitola, so of course we had a lot of discussion about the old Monterey Bay Area)

we had a lovely table outside, with a direct view of the ocean

Our last dinner on the island... for this trip.

Henry treated us to a little appetizer made from shaved carrot, mashed okinawa sweet potato, a bit of persimmon, and I think it was onion blooms on top?  It was a very interesting mix of flavors.

D and I shared this appetizer of sashimi bruchetta, which is basically poke on toasted bread.  This was our first official taste of a poke... it was delicious... I can't wait to try more next time.

I ordered the beets-5-ways salad again, along with the grilled catch of the day, which was mahi mahi.

Between the multiple courses, the drinks, and the conversation, our dinner lasted until nearly 7:45.  We had a truly mad-dash scramble to pack everything... and we are still confused as to how it is we could leave so much gear behind (fins, snorkels, D's hiking shoes, masks) and yet have *less* room in the luggage.  We really didn't buy that much stuff... but we eventually managed to wedge all our stuff into our baggage, load it into the car, and hit the road for the airport.  Just as we began to drive out, it began to rain.
We seemed to be the last people of our flight to arrive at the airport, and after the getting through the confusing set of security lines (first scan your checked bags for fruit, then go to the other end of the lobby to check your bags and print boarding passes, then go back to the beginning for the security check, then be screened for fruit on your carry-ons on your way to the gate) we parked ourselves in front of a fan by the door to the plane.  Our flight was delayed in boarding due to the crew being stuck in a broken down van, but they eventually arrived, we boarded and we even took off on time.

Though it was an overnight flight, I hardly slept on the plane.  It felt like every joint in my body was swelling, and my left knee began to throb like crazy (probably due to the uncomfortable way I was seated, and because my leg dangles off the seat due to me being so darned short)  So I stayed up and watched "Martian", and dozed for maybe half an hour before we began our landing.  We arrived in Seattle at dawn, but the day was so heavily foggy and misty that it looked like 5 p.m. all day, which combined with the lack of sleep really left me feeling out of sorts. 

But we are home safe, with lots of notes to take for next time... like...

find out where we can find beach reports, not just weather reports

plan ahead to have more meals at the condo - while some things (like milk) cost more than the mainland, all kinds of fish are incredibly well priced in the markets 

Make several stops if we're going to the canyon, to avoid the carsicky feelings of being on a curvy road for 2 hours.

wash the inside of your snorkel mask with toothpaste before using it, it helps prevent fogging

Find some prepacked poke that has ingredients listed (there seems to be poke counters in almost every grocery store)

Tiki Tacos for the win!

Lighten up the camera gear load... maybe get a lighter bag that also has more convenient access

find out if there are hiking trail condition reports

tether the remote to the tripod so you don't chuck it into the river

long exposures with ND filter should be no higher than f/10 to avoid dust spots showing from the filters

and the big one... start packing the day before you need to leave for the airport, because it WILL take longer than 2 hours, and though the airport is smaller, the multiple security checkpoints take longer, so early arrival is important.