Wednesday February 11

Wednesday was another early morning for us. I was determined to have Canyon Redemption so we got up early and headed out the door straight to the canyon. We stopped at the same little coffee truck on our way out for coffee and vegan muffins. Traffic was light, but once we hit the canyon road we were slowed by all the hairpin turns and incline. Even with the slow climb, we appeared to be the first people to arrive at the canyon lookout – the parks department was still in the process of cleaning the bathrooms as we parked. I hoofed it up the stairs to the lookout and was rewarded with a lovely view of the deep canyon with the sun just beginning to shine into the walls.

Once again, I can't even tell how this looks because the screen on this netbook sucks so bad... I can't wait to edit these properly!

Though we did not have a clear day, we do have more dramatic lighting from the clouds and sunbeams. Most of my shots are done in a series to be stitched together into panos, so I won't be able to get those together until after I get back home and work in Photoshop... but I have high hopes for some amazing images!

We continued the climb up from the main canyon viewpoint to stops along the side of the road, where we had a great view of the waterfall across the canyon.

At another stop we enjoyed a different viewpoint of the canyon and river below

See the helicopter?  There is your scale reference.

We continued up the road to the end of the pavement, which is the beginning of a hiking trail with incredible views down to the ocean below. Unfortunately at this point in the day, the clouds had rolled back in and we had a gray ceiling overhead which dampened my ability to get any shots of the canyon below. I have some, but they're going to require a decent screen before I decide if they are sharable.

Here is a view of the ridge with the beginning of the hiking trails... I actually had a bit of a panic attack up here, as I'd only been wearing my gym shoes and the constant mist made the red mud quite slick. I slipped in a few spots going down the hill to a different viewpoint (holding my camera on the extended tripod and wearing the rest of my gear on my back.)

Having accomplished all we could before the clouds rolled in, we gathered the gear back in the car and headed down to sea level. By this time we were all pretty hungry for lunch, so we decided to try a little roadside place which we'd heard good things about.

I was unable to eat most of what they offered, but the wonderful ladies running the place ran through my list of allergens and fixed me up with their Thai Spicy Shrimp and boiled potatoes. It was just the right amount of spice for me. 

On the way back to the room we stopped off to do a little shopping, and then decided to call it a day on the adventuring so that G could spend some time checking in on her homework, and I could do a little laundry and work on backing up photos. Once G finished her homework, we headed down to the pool where she could swim and I could sit in the sun and supervise. There seem to perpetually be kids around her age at this pool, so she had an easy time making friends for the evening's pool slide adventures.

For dinner, we went back and forth on potential options, then as we were walking down to the car G turned her foot the wrong way on the stairs and scraped up the side of her toe. When I saw it swelling, I directed her back up to the room to get ice and a bandaid, and D decided that we should just try out the pizza place next door. Bobby V's Pizza turned out to be some of the best pizza we've had anywhere, so dinner wasn't a bust after all, and we had the chance to just chill in the room and not worry about driving directions or traffic.

Sunday February 08

We woke up Sunday early enough to enjoy the sunrise again, I meandered down to the beach with my camera and coffee and played around with some long exposures.

We packed up the car with our “just in case, who knows what we'll do” gear and struck out for a driving tour of the south side of the island.

Our first stop was in Kapa'a for breakfast at Ono Family Restaurant (technically that was north of the resort, but it is the closest town) 

I'm enjoying the fruit, but I'm wondering if oatmeal is outlawed on the island, as I haven't seen it in a restaurant yet.

 From there we turned the car south and then east to Waimea. The nearest waterfall to our resort, and easiest to see on the island, is Waimea Falls. You might recognize it if you recall the intro to the TV show “Fantasy Island”

This is one of the rare instances where I chose not to climb over the guard rail for a better view... though I was tempted, the drop was immediate off the side of the cliff and I just couldn't trust it. I did climb on top of the guard rail wall to try to get my camera angle above the tall grasses which were blocking my view of the pool below, and D helped prop me up so I wouldn't fall. (Clearly all the tour book photographers climbed over the railing, or they visited when the side plants were cut low)

Here I'm playing with the edge 80 optic looking at the mountain over the falls.

I also enjoyed watching a few white tailed tropic birds gliding around the valley below.

difficult to focus on with the vines behind it, but this is the best shot I could get.

From here, we backtracked to the highway and headed further south/west around the southern part of the island. We drove down a road lined with massive eucalyptus trees called Tree Tunnel, which lead to the little town of Koloa – home to a little stretch of stores connected by wooden sidewalks. We pulled over here for a little shopping and lunch. After exploring a few of the stores, we meandered behind the main strip where we found a couple of food trucks. We grabbed a table and picked up a couple plates of food from the truck named Chalupa, I had the camarones diablo. (spicy shrimp)

Back in the car, we headed further south to the coast to check out Spouting Horn. This is a spot along the beach where a hole developed inside a lava flow, and when the tide hits the shore the water spurts up like a geyser. I spent quite a good amount of time here playing with different lenses for various photo effects.

After Spouting Horn, we circled back up to the main highway and over towards Hanapepe to visit the Kauai Coffee Company. D and I did some coffee tasting, and G and I picked up a couple of smashed pennies (my favorite keepsake wherever we visit)

Here we felt the end of the day coming on and decided to head back towards Kapa'a to find dinner. We felt like eating someplace with a view, so we ended up heading down towards Lihu'e to grab a table somewhere by the water. Duke's Barefoot Bar had a more casual feel than the restaurant we'd eaten at upstairs, but still had access to the massive salad bar so we opted to pop in there for a seat by the beach. I enjoyed the view of the bay while we waited for our table.

I ended up having the same grilled ono I'd had the previous visit. After dinner we strolled up and down along the beachfront enjoying the view and the live music coming from one of the nearby restaurants.

Then on the drive home G exclaimed “YOU HAVE TO PULL OVER THERE ARE BUGS IN THE CAR!” I grabbed the flashlight out of my camera bag and spun around to take a look... I saw something flash a reflection and then disappear under the carpet of the car. D pulled into the parkinglot of an Ace Hardware and we turned on all the interior lights... sure enough, the car was completely infested with cockroaches! D got on the phone with Avis while G and I emptied our bags out of the car and began examining every nook and cranny of our various bags of gear. We found a bunch of colonies huddled in the deepest corners of every bag that held any kind of snack. After ridding ourselves of the extra passengers in our bags (and several pieces of crawled-on fruit) we sealed everything up as best we could and headed to the airport rental car lot. As luck would have it, we were only a mile away, and Avis happened to have another car exactly like ours which had just been returned. When we arrived they had the new car freshly washed and waiting, and all the paperwork set to just switch cars and continue on our way. To their credit, they were fantastically friendly and accommodating, and even chatted with us about the differences of the various islands of Hawaii. The suspension was shot on the original rental anyway, so it has made for nicer driving having traded the car in anyway.

(The infestation is the main reason why I have been held up in my updates, it made for a long night!)