January 1, 2017 - Happy New Year

I woke early enough on New Year's Day to meander down to the beach and watch the sunrise... I didn't bring my camera gear, instead I just enjoyed the view while sipping my coffee.  

We decided to head to Art Cafe Hemingway for breakfast again and I enjoyed another lovely muesli breakfast and Americano.  From there we headed back to the room to load up our beach gear and head north to Hanalei to spend some time in the sand.  I ended up also bringing by camera gear because I wasn't sure how long we'd be on the sand and whether or not some photo opportunities would present themselves.  

G and I enjoying the warm sand.

I wandered down the beach a bit to get a shot of the Napali area beyond the bay.

I spent a while watching the waves and trying to capture curls.  The beach was so busy that it was difficult to get a shot without people in it.  (there are actually about 3 surfers in this shot, diving through the wave)

After watching a bunch of people in the water, G decided she wanted to give boogie boarding a shot.  I went out into the water with her and talked about timing the waves.  She enthusiastically jumped into one wave, but after a few seconds of riding she pulled up too high on the board, the wave hit the tip and pitched it forward, and she went over and rolled.  I was next to her and helped her up, but the waves were so big she decided to call it quits with the boogie board and just stay in the chairs for a bit.  I ate my sandwich and some fruit while we dried off, then after a little more wandering we decided to head into town for lunch for G and D.  G picked Chicken in a Barrel, in the Hanalei. 

Outdoor seating around Chicken in a Barrel (the orange building)

I had some fries, G ordered chicken which comes with brown rice and chili, which she tore into with the reckless abandon of one who has tangled with the ocean waves.

After lunch we decided to head back towards the condo.  Along the way we stopped at an overlook to check out on the horizon for whales, and we found a low tide area with lots of tide pools at the bottom of the path, so - after watching the water for a long time to ensure the tide wasn't rising -  we headed down there to look around.

D and G poking around at tide pools.

G at our chairs... I parked it in a chair for a while and took shots of the waves with my zoom lens

G enjoyed watching the tiny fish zip about in the tide pools

I caught a series of waves with my zoom, this is one of my favorites.

Same vantage point, different lens

After the tide pool adventure, we got back to the room and all got into the pool for a bit.  G and I took turns on the water slide:

The pool winds around the property in a river-like way, which has lots of nooks and crannies, with benches built into a few corners, and three waterfalls.  One of the waterfalls has a cave behind it.

 After getting decently waterlogged, we cleaned up and decided to check out Art Cafe Hemingway for dinner.  

G and D... notice behind them there is a light fixture dangling from the ceiling which is made from an old camera.  The drawing of Hemingway is the large piece of art on the far wall.

They still had their Christmas decorations up... it really doesn't feel like early January when it is 76 degrees outside.

I started with their vegan green pea and ginger soup, which they serve in teacups.

D and I shared a fondue for two for dinner.  It comes with bread, and to make it a meal you can add apples, mushrooms, potatoes, or sausage... or do a combo plate of everything.  We did the combo plate.  D and I were pleasantly surprised that we both enjoyed the raw mushrooms.  We'd never thought to add them to fondue at home, but if you soak them in the cheese long enough to warm them up they are very tasty.

Dessert... chocolate fondue for G, and chocolate creme pot for D.

A quick note about feral pigs!

I think I forgot to mention this in my description of the day Friday, but on our way out of Kipu ranch we finally saw feral pigs!  We have kept our eyes peeled for them on every trip we've had, and only glimpsed one, one time, on the side of the road... which could have also been a rock or tree stump, we never really positively identified it.  On our way out of Kipu Ranch, however, we clearly spotted three feral piglets on the side of the road.  Since there was no traffic, D stopped the car and we watched them scramble up the side of the ditch and dive into the overgrowth next to the road.  It was all too fast for me to capture on film, and although one piglet stuck his face out to watch us, traffic started coming up the road and we couldn't pause long enough for me to get out and get my camera, so we moved on.  It was exciting though... now we've finally seen some of the feral pigs on the islandd!

December 31 - New Year's Eve day of wandering

December 31st was our first morning on the island without wind and rain, so we pulled our beach chairs down to the sand to enjoy the morning sunrise while sipping coffee.

These chairs are very comfortable

I didn't bring my DSLR, but I did shoot a quick pano with the point and shoot.

We decided to try a new place for breakfast.  I'd read about Art Cafe Hemingway prior to our first trip, however it was closed for remodeling the entire time we were here on the first trip.  Our second trip largely had either breakfast in the room, or breakfast at Olympic Cafe.  After I re-read the description of Art Cafe Hemingway, D decided we should give it a shot.  I appreciated that they were very detailed on their menu as to what "level" of vegetarian each menu item was (vegetarian but do not eat eggs, vegetarian eats eggs but not dairy, etc...  They even specify that their vegan stuff can be made with syrup instead of honey if you ask ahead of time.  When someone goes to this much detail on descriptions, that tells me they know every ingredient of every item)  I chose the muesli for breakfast, which was cold oats/nut mix in milk with Greek yogurt and fruit on top.   D ordered an omelette and G had a crepe.  They only have espresso drinks, no drip coffee, so I had an Americano with my breakfast.  It was wonderful.

The great irony is that I discovered a place that has "the best eggs of any restaurant anywhere" according to D.

Breakfast is so limited for me that it doesn't matter much where we go as long as they have oatmeal.  I actually picked this place for the atmosphere, there is art everywhere and they use a lot of Hemingway's recipes for drinks, which I thought was clever.  It turns out the food is also excellent.

Art Cafe Hemingway is run by a couple Friday - Sunday, then run by their son Monday - Thursday (and then called Cafe Hemingway - two restaurants, one house) ... same breakfast menu but different dinner menus.

Our intended destination today was the Kilauea Lighthouse for photos and a picnic, and then probably on to hang out in Hanalei a bit.  I packed myself a sandwich and some fruit and chips, and we backtracked to the bakery for some lunchtime croissants for D and G before heading north.
Unfortunately the light house park was closed for New Years Eve (which they did *not* mention on the website) so we had to put that off until they reopen on Tuesday.  I felt bad, because we had debated about bringing the beach chairs in the car, but I really thought we wouldn't have time to use them much so we didn't pull them out.  Since the light house was a bust we ended up with several hours of not much to do, and we could have used the chairs.  We made do without them, though, and wandered up the coast to a little beach called Kalihiwai Beach.  This is in a somewhat protected bay, though the waves were quite high.  We parked among the trees on the side of the road and made our way across the sand with our picnic and sat down to eat.  None of us felt much like getting back into the car right away, so I went back to grab my camera gear and decided to play with my pinhole cameras while D and G wandered around a bit.

Wide angle pinhole

Don't mind the lady on the beach with the nearly 100 year old camera.  Nothing to see here, that's not strange at all.

G and I on the beach

"this will be really funny, take the picture on the count of 3!" (I think this is supposed to be a Darth Vader effect)

After I burned through a bit of film, we packed it up and continued north to Hanalei Bay.  Parking was very limited, but we found a spot near the pier and meandered down.  The water seemed relatively calm and beach facilities were pretty good (bathrooms at each end of the bay and one in the center) so we put that in the back of our heads as a possible beach day destination.

We hadn't really made plans for dinner yet, so we took some time to sit on the beach and look into a few restaurant possibilities.  Many places were doing special NYE pre-determined meals (3 - 8 course meals) which are difficult if not impossible for me to participate in due to my allergies, so we settled on Gaylord's back in Lihue, since they had an opening for dinner and were serving their regular menu.  We headed south back to the condo, washed the sand off, and then continued down the highway to Gaylord's for dinner.

Their mai tais are quite lovely.

Ahi sashimi appetizer, simple and perfect.

Look... no fish!  I opted for the pork loin in the mushroom demiglaze, served with bok choy and wild rice.  The lighting was really dim so it was difficult to get a decent pic, but that pile in the middle of the plate is sauteed wild mushrooms, which were DELICIOUS.

I was happy to watch the sun set on this year.

After dinner, we stopped off at the local Safeway to pick up a few things we were running low on, then headed back to the condo.  We stayed up to watch Jurassic World and tried to spot the places we had visited the day before, toasted the end of 2016, and hit the hay.

December 30 - ATV adventure!

This morning dawned overcast, and after a bit of coffee and yoga on the beach I wandered the grounds a bit with my zoom lens to get a few bird photos.

this is the first time I've seen a red crested cardinal on the grounds here

I chased a few of these Japanese White Eyes around the trees trying to get a good shot, then when I gave up and headed back to our lanei I realied they were hanging out in the bushes just about 10 feet from our door.  I suppose they like the wind break that our building provides.

Once everyone was awake, we decided to head out to breakfast, Oasis on the Beach, our onsite restaurant, serves breakfast now so we decided to give it a shot.

G, D, and our 360 camera.  The restaurant is somewhat open air, though they had a few of the glass doors closed this morning to protect us from the wind.

My breakfast: granola, greek yogurt, and local fruit.  The smaller white "grape" looking fruit is the longan - which is the fruit I was trying to remember the name of before.

After breakfast we spent a little time in the room getting ready for our ATV adventure, and putting our gear together for the trip.  I condensed my camera gear down to just the small pinhole camera and my DSLR with a couple of landscape lenses, as we were taking a tour that promised good landscape views.

We drove down to Lihue and stopped for lunch.  After a little hit-and-miss with looking at some menus, we settled on a place called JJ's Grill.  This place has a bit of a view of the protected bay and lovely beach in Lihue.

We had to order and eat fast, because at this point we were getting a little short on time.  I had grilled fish of the day, which was ahi, served with steamed rice and a butter/wine sauce on the side.

It wasn't bad, but the overall menu was pretty slim, and it was mainly a sports bar kind of place, so I doubt we'll go back.

Onward to our ATV adventure!  There is no parking lot for Kipu Ranch ATV, so we had to park on the side of a dirt road and go back to the ranch for a parking permit.  Once we were all checked in, we were given our bandanas (to keep!) and safety gear... helmets and googles.  G was so amused by some of the sparkly helmets that the guide gave her one of the sparkly ones.

Slightly apprehensive about what is to happen

Here is our gathering place.

Our tour guide, Manu.

The fleet of ATVs.. which are normally green, I think.

I told her to smile, even though I can't see her face.  All buckled in and ready to go!

The road starts flat, through some pastures.  I thought this would be the "easy" part of the trail

We were pretty muddy within the first 10 minutes of riding.

Here are a couple of minutes of trail riding.  Sorry it is so bumpy, I'm honestly a terrible videographer.  Plus... ATV.

Shot with my DSLR, the field where they shot scenes from Jurrasic Park (among other movies.  The mountain range is also the mountains seen at a distance in Lilo and Stitch)

Family shot in front of the dinosaur field.

This is how you bring gear in an ATV... padded camera case inside a dry bag, strapped to your leg.  The ATV had a lovely handle which I used to help hold on... my legs were too short to reach the floor so I braced myself against the front of the vehicle.  My right calf was pretty sore by the end of the day.

Another shot of the mountains from a higher viewpoint.

Family photo at stop #2, Haupu Mountain

Stop #3, looking down the valley to the bay in Lihue.  Our tour guide told us about some storm scenes from Jurrasic Park - apparently Stephen Spielberg went out into Hurricane Iniki to grab some footage of the storm and it was used in the movie.  We also got to see the spot where Newman from Seinfeld slid down the hill while trying to get to the boat launch in Jurrasic Park.

The cows of Kipu Ranch are unimpressed by our ATV riding.

The trail was slick in spots, but we all agreed that a bit of splattered mud was better than driving through dust.

The Indiana Jones rope swing!

I did not opt to swing, due to the muddy conditions of the water, but I did get to hold the rope for a photo.

This was the reason we took this particular tour, we ascended Haupu to get to our last stop up above Kipu Kai, a beach completely surrounded by private property and unable to be seen by the general public, except on this tour.

The memorial above Kipu Kai

Kipu Kai - where they filmed the InGen military types coming on land for Jurassic World

A view of the island while coming down Haupu

I have to say, out of just about every excursion we've done both on Kauai and Jamaica, this tour was the best value for our money spent.  Our tour guide was fantastic, the tour was full of fun adventure and lovely stops, and we walked away totally happy with our experience.  The next time we come to the island I want to do one of their other tours for sure.

The ranch provides hoses to rinse off the red dirt, so G and I did a quick rinse of just our shoes and my dry bag, and we draped towels over our car seats and sat gingerly inside so that we could drive back to the condo for a proper (and warm) shower.  

After cleaning up, we decided to head into Kapa'a for some sushi at Sushi Bushido.

Though we had a reservation, we were seated outside.. which had somewhat odd shaped uncomfortable tables and kind of felt like we were stuck in a back alley.  Our food came out in weird intervals as well (edamame appetizer came out almost last?)  We've had good service here in the past, but I think sitting at the sushi counter, not outside, make a big difference for that.

I started with the himachi and maguro nigiri

G actually ordered a tempura shrimp roll.  What a difference a year makes, last year she wouldn't touch rolls even if they were all cooked.

My dinner... grilled fish of the day, which happened to be ahi (same as my lunch.  Must be in season?)  Their Ahi was a better doneness than the stuff I had a lunch

Not kidding, on our walk back to the car we saw a T Rex.  He was a little far away from the ranch... someone must have turned off the power to the electric fences!

After dinner we headed back to the condo for the night.