March 30, 2012

Left “Haoliwood” (the Princeville area) and went south and west today for errands and last day treats. The recycle center takes the same items as in Anchorage. We checked in with Mahjong John about returning the bike rack, and then had a picnic at Salt Pond Beach. Locals were eating lunch there, five tent camps were set up, and the ever-present feral chickens were waiting for handouts. A group of older men sat in the shade “talking story.”
My cousin agreed to store our bikes until next year, so we unloaded those at the helicopter hanger. Next we had shave ice at Jo Jo’s in Waimea – coconut flavor shave ice, over macadamia nut ice cream with coconut shreds and coconut cream. Mmmm. We checked out a bed and breakfast at Kakaha, and then drove around that town. People hang their laundry in the carports, or set these areas up as a patio for food and conversation.
Tonight was Hanapepe’s art walk. An old house is a taro chip factory. Buildings are renovated and selling old maps, books, ceramics, and polished koa wood furniture. Tents in front of the shops sell everything from lime pie slices to papayas, jewelry, roasted chilckens (not those tough old beggars/buggers), and rough-cut native woods.
Finally we drove all the way back, past Princeville at sunset, to Hanalei and the Nui Tahiti bar for mai-tais and an ono roll. The ukulele music and falsetto singing of the three-man band pulls at my heart and calls us to come again. Kauai! Aloha!

March 29, 2012

When Edison was here, he saw the “Legend of the Green Flash” four times on one sunset while we all watched. We have not yet seen it, but last night there was a stag on the setting sun. We both saw this perfect Petronus stag cloud just poised on the orange sun.
During the sugar production days, long ditches for irrigation were dug from the mountains down to the sugar cane fields. We went high into the mountains with my cousins and saw a section of the Olokele Ditch that my grandmother once rode down part way in a little rowboat. Today we floated the Hanamaulu Ditch in big inner tubes. We passed through five tunnels dug through hills, turning on our miners’ headlamps in the dark. It was loads of fun, careening off the walls, rushing down ripples, lazily floating past forests. Inside the tunnels, glowing algae grew on the roof. For the last tunnel, we all turned off our lights. Soon we saw the light at the end.
These ditches were all aimed at bringing water down from the super-saturated Mt. Wai’ale’ale, one of the rainiest spots in the world. Today was a rare day, because we could see the mountain. Usually it is shrouded in clouds.
Pictured is Mt. Wai’ale’ale and a part of the Olokele Ditch.

Cousins time

The cousins took us to sights around Waimea that my grandmother saw 100 years ago. We went to the sugar mill that is no longer operating. In fact, there is only one sugar mill left in all of Hawai’i, and that is on Maui, so derelict buildings can be seen standing across the countryside in south and west Kauai. One spot where the transit of Venus was measured is in Waimea, and that is near the oldest building which is now the church manse. We actually attended the church where my grandmother worshipped and served as substitute organist. We were warmly welcomed with yarn leis, and there I found a lady who knew about my grandmother from stories. We visited the landing area where she went to go to Ni’ihau, and saw some of the plantation houses.

Bill and Vicki celebrated their anniversary with us by going to the Waimea Church of Christ, visiting the Allerton Gardens at the National Tropical Botanical Gardens, and a fine dinner out. Wealthy Mr. Allerton wished for others to share and enjoy the peace of his beautiful gardens and “water rooms” after his death.

Ni'ihau with the cousins

We flew to the fairytale island of Ni’ihau. Next to rainy Kauai, Ni’ihau is dry with no plentiful water source. The undisturbed beaches have endangered monk seals, shells, stretches of sand and turquoise waters. We traveled by helicopter around the island to see some of the places my grandmother stayed. We went eel hunting and watched curling waves and seals at play, ate a picnic lunch, and climbed a hill up dry lava and scrub brush to see the island view. There was a swarm of sharks we flew over, and bowhead whales in the distance, traveling back to Alaska. When you see a pristine island of such beauty, think of the North Slope of Alaska and the people fighting to save it unspoiled.

More Cousins and Research

We traveled up a mountain road on the north shore to a large, wild acreage with my cousins. Endangered native plants are being tended here. Between folded mountains, waterfalls plunge. My cousin Keith was adding gravel to the road that had been washed out somewhat by the heavy rains earlier this month. Most of the work he has done with culverts and water-stop swales held up. I was privileged to sit in the front of the pickup, but Les and cousin Bills were bounced around with gravel and shovels in the back. Pictured is one of the waterfalls here on the Na Pali Coastal mountains.

Cousins and Research

At the Kauai Museum for the third time, I was allowed to see old photos from my grandmother’s era. I will go back there again to continue this search.

Lucy, a high school classmate, fell in love with Kauai the moment she arrived after college. Full of energy and fun, she has established a beautiful family and a respected vacation accommodations business here. We enjoyed a sunset dinner with Lucy, remembering times together and sharing our life journeys. Later we were allowed to visit another plantation home that she is handling for rental. This is a huge home with multiple large rooms and the requisite big lanai.

A Week of Cousins and Research

Looking into the places my grandmother visited 100 years ago, we’ve been accompanied and helped by two of my second cousins. To get a glimpse of the kind of houses she occupied we visited Grove Farm, a renovated plantation home. The extensive library includes some of Captain Cook’s journals! Books are found in every other room, too. It’s apparent that the Wilcox family valued learning. The porches (as pictured) are wide and inviting for sitting, the kitchen is separated from the house by a breezeway, and the rooms all open out on two sides to allow the winds to pass through.

Family time 3/17/12

All the rainbows, all the sunsets, all the sunny beach days happened during the fun family vacation week with Garrett, Sarah, Edison, and Jasper. They left tonight on the first of three airplanes for their trip home. A rain squall greeted our return to the condo at Pali Ke Kua.

Garrett took many photos, and I added a few. Here is a sand castle building crew on Hanalei Beach, sharing coconut water at the Hanalei Market, and one of those rainbows!

Family time galore 3/17/12

This is Garrett's family at Waimea Canyon overlooking the Na Pali Coast. A taro field is near our home. Dinner on the lanai, and one of the sunsets.

Still more family time 3/17/12

Here's the condo at Pali Ke Kua and the beach down a path.

March 15, 2012

A chartreuse and orange fish darts across my view. Another has a bright yellow paintbrush tail. Sarah sees an eel, and Garrett watches an octopus scoot under a rock. We followed a school of yellow and black striped fish. Snorkeling is fine at Pali Ke Kua reef. We tried it at Poipu Beach, too.
Edison and Jasper have new floaty inner tubes, and they spin in the water and roll them across the lawn. They took them into the keiki pond at Poipu Beach, into cousin Bill and Vicki’s Poipu Shores pool, and let the wind blow them across our Pali Ke Kua pool.
At the top of the Waimea Canyon we all started along a trail that reminded me of the lower half of a lava tube. The rocks were flecked with mica or red mineral. It was a flowing path seemingly at the top of the world. We could see the beautiful Na Pali Coast glittering in the sun, then mist rolled in and a rainbow arched. Jasper and Edison gathered sticks with me to make a “bridge” over a muddy spot. Jasper was singing, “Skippety doo dah,” making people smile.
Edison was laughing and shrieking as the waves rolled in on him, and I was taken by surprise by a big roller, falling hilariously upside down. We walk to our beach down a steep paved path. Along are dark purple banana blooms – each petal peels back and bananas are underneath. One day I picked up a guava along the path, so we had a taste of that fruit. On the beach are the black ‘a’a rocks and then flat slabs of rock that look like mud solidified with sand.
“Date Night” found Garrett and Sarah visiting a dry cave (yellow-taped off because men were removing trees from a cliff above) and sharing a gourmet dinner at Postcards Café. Les and I took the boys to a playground and a botanical garden miniature golf. It was their first golf game. We did ten holes. Eddie’s favorite was one where you hit the ball over a creek. Afterwards we tried a taro burger.
The Smith Family Luau greeted us with shell leis. Peacocks crowded near the train cart that took us through a beautiful garden setting. At the luau site, the peacocks were shivering their feathers quite aggressively. We heard the couch shells sound, and the sand was removed from the top of the imu. Underneath was a banana leaf mat covering the roasted pig. Hot rocks and more leaves were removed, and the meat was lifted out. The Smiths also cooked rice pudding underground. The fire under there heats lava rocks. The sand on top is the oven cover.
The feast began with a guitar and ukulele band playing, a prayer, and plenty of mai tais. The Smiths can feed hundreds of people in a short time with a huge spread of everything from salads to poi to pulled pork and chicken adobo to coconut jello and cake.
Quite delicious!
Following the dinner, we walked by torchlight to a stage set in a pond with a volcano as backdrop. Pele actually emerged from this fiery volcano. Dances representing all the Oceania cultures plus the Asian cultures that make up Hawaii were performed. The Samoan fire dancer actually lit the second end of his torch with his mouth! ???

March 11, 2012

Orange cones, yellow tape and orange webbing! Road cones tell which lanes to follow during rush traffic or where there are potholes. Yellow tape marks fallen tree root balls and paths not to take. Orange mesh tries to keep us out of the swimming pool, the path to the beach. Beach access may be elusive, though it is public, but not always marked. One-lane bridges are fine with five to seven cars passing over before the other side proceeds. Amazing road crews work around the clock to clear mudslides and replace downed power poles. Rainsqualls come suddenly, and sun bursts forth warmly between strong showers. We are learning Kauai.
A few toads decided that the weather was warm enough to venture forth, as did some surfers who rode out beyond the reef. Inside beach snorkeling was cloudy, but Garrett and I got to try out our equipment.
Tonight Sarah and I made a cocoanut cake with chocolate-coconut frosting. Garrett served up rambutan – a sweet fruit inside a spiky red shell. I made crepes with spinach/bacon/mushroom filling, and Les served tropical drinks with sugar cane swizzle sticks.
Edison laughed at the waves tickling his tummy. Jasper followed a rooster across the grass and fed the red-crested cardinals. We all marveled at the banana tree blossoms, big heavy purple pendants.

Trade Wind News from Kauai! March 8, 2012

Ke’e Beach is at the end of the road and at the beginning of the Na Pali Coast. We walked through a grove of big cypress trees above the beach where a few people were walking and none were swimming. Right away I notice a small, stocky junk-yard dog with a powerful looking jaw and a “I couldn’t care less” attitude. He seems to own the place and chases a rooster on the beach, really moving it along. What’s this? – soon he’s following us. He sticks to us, but then I realize he’s got a nose, too. OK, I give him a corner of my peanut butter and honey sandwich. No thank you from him, not this guy. He’s off to new hunting grounds.
Even the chickens know about begging! I watched one crane its neck toward a lady’s brie sandwich on Poipu Beach today. Finally, I get into the ocean. A foot-long fish swims by me, and I know we’ve found a good snorkeling spot.
Jim and Ann from Albuquerque arrived this evening. Such fun to place an aloha lei around a friend’s neck. As we drive north in the falling dark, we come to the Kapa’a bottleneck. This is the traffic-jam-assured part of the road. There’s a good giant sleeping up in the hills above town. I think Kanaka-Nunui-Moe should awake and come back down to help the people solve the road problem the way he helped them make compost in his footprints and transport stones and koa wood for a sacred house.
Kapa’a is redeemed when we pass the cemetery in the dark. Tiny lights glow on several graves, constellations on earth. Didn’t someone say that when a person dies a new star is born?

Kauai, March 2012

The boy runs down the path in the rain, carrying his surfboard in his arm, waving at a white pickup loaded with friends. It’s pouring rain, and the boys aren’t near the beach. They are on the Princeville golf course. A flooded low pond area – they run, jump their boards, and sail across the muddy water, a rooster tail of brown flying behind them, then splash down into the pond. We ride by on our bicycles, soaked to the skin, watching the happy nenes and the lively boys, and Les and I can’t help smiling in the rain.
So this is the north shore of Kauai! Weather has followed us here from Alaska where we’ve had more snow that any year since Les arrived in 1964. The trade winds are kicking up the surf, and old Mt. Wai’ale’ale is directing the rain down into the rivers and onto our shoreside retreat at Pali Ke Kua. Surf warnings are out and road advisories tell us that we can’t go over the Hanalei River to the little Hawaiian church on the other side. There’s been a mud slide.
Little red-headed cardinals come to the lanai, and Les gives them what they want, a cracker crumb treat. Chickens are everywhere! Get those baby chicks off the edge of the road, Momma! We saw a beauty when we stopped at a juice bar for an exotic fruit smoothie. That chicken had cream and tan markings, and I thought it should be in my sister’s brood.
Our bicycles are the old fashioned kind with foot brakes and no gears. We remembered seeing Marcus and Barbara stand up to go up hills, and that made riding much easier. We got our bikes at Walmart because it was much cheaper to buy than to rent. Getting the bikes back to Princeville was another story, but mahjong John loaned us a rack that belongs to his friends – we had to buy it, but he’ll refund most when it is returned.
Les invented his own drink – Coco Pali Ke Kua. Take coconut water, add coconut rum (proportions to suit), a splash of orange juice, and a wedge of squeezed lime. Yum, it beats the St. Regis Princeville Hotel’s fancy drinks! Now, if we could just get some of those tapioca chips….
A red hibiscus flower is smiling at me. No flower leis yet, but I did get some coffee and some cocoanut ice cream for our birthday desserts. Our neighbor Teresa gave me an aloha lei when we arrived in Honolulu (she flies the Anchorage/Honolulu route), and I’ve been wearing it every day. Nice to be spoiled on your flight over.

I just lifted up my computer, and a tiny gecko, exactly the color of the blond flooring, stood exposed. Our first lizard – where are they? Is it too cold and stormy for them? The trade wind is howling; it sounds like someone is revving their engine in the parking lot, then the trees swish. The sound of rain dripping off the roof is almost constant, like a faucet left on, and we are getting one to two inches of rain per hour! The ocean is foamy.
A little red cardinal came onto the lanai railing and called for something, so I took out a scrap of bagel. One little red-headed cardinal is so bedraggled and soaked, his little topknot feathers sticking up bravely.
“We refuse to sell a hamburger for less money than a can of dog food!” This was Bubba’s Burgers for lunch. We had passed through a flooded part of the highway where cars were plowing water like bow-heavy boats. This was on our way back from Lihue (means gooseflesh) and the Kauai Museum. This time we had a docent museum tour with a fluent speaking Hawaiian who delighted my ears with musical words. We left in what Les calls a monsoon – wind and drenching rain. Back at Pali Ke Kua we see branches everywhere and two big trees uprooted on our drive in.