Last Day in Kauai - Booo

Well, we scrambled to to get all packed this morning, because I thought we had until 10:30 before we needed to check-out, but we really had to be out by 10:00. However, it wasn't hard to wake up this morning what with pee-wee football practice going on in the unit above us. I decided to wash our clothes today, but they weren't completely dry by 10:00, so we packed them anyways, brought them to my parents condo, and threw them in their dryer.

So, here we are...our last day. I think we're going to go back down to the South Shore for one last snorkel. I didn't get around to blogging last night, but I figure I have all night on the plane to wrap up the details from this trip and then I'll post on Sunday.

Until then!!!

Today We had a Whale of a Time!

Well, we survived our journey out into the Pacific and I'm alive to tell the story (I'm a bit woozy, but otherwise okay). The four of us had booked a boat tour of the Na Pali Coast after our timeshare meeting Tuesday, and that cruise departed this afternoon. We left from Port Allen on the South Shore and were supposed to head to the Na Pali Coast, but due to high winds and swells, we didn't. Instead we all got soaked and sick on the boat in an effort to make it there. I may be exaggerating a bit, but there were some pukers and definitely some wet cats. I did not lose my stomach, but my stomach was NOT happy.



The views of the island were amazing from the boat, and we saw multiple rainbows, turtles and whales.



The whales were really active and were a hoot to watch. After tooling around for 4 hours, the sun began to set and we were heading back to the dock. I couldn't get off the boat quick enough, but I think we all had a great time seeing nature in that habitat.



Earlier in the day, on our way there, we stopped at some of my dad's hot-spots. One of them being the infamous overlook that my grandpa insisted on stepping over the safety fence so that he could take a photo of the canyon beyond from the edge of the roadside cliff.



Another of them being an old pedestrian suspension bridge in Hanapepe. It looks creepy, but a closer look reveals the whole structure having a massive support system.



I can't wait for tomorrow. We hope to just take it easy at our resort like we did this morning and enjoy our beach and pool. I want to get some reading in, and Josh is already planning a nice, long nap on the beach. Tomorrow evening, we have reservations at Smith's Luau.

Ash Wednesday Continued...

So, my parents met up with us on Lawai Beach. Josh and I hung back and continued our leisurely activities of reading and listening to music while my parents went out for a snorkel. I guess this was my dad's first time out in the water since we've been here. When my dad decided to come in, Josh and I went back out to meet up with my mom to see if we could find any fish we hadn't seen yet. I don't know the names of all these little guys, but we definitely saw a ton of really cool tropical fish, and some of which we hadn't seen already.

Josh didn't stay out long this time, and so my mom and I went exploring as he went back to shore. We must have been out for another 20 minutes before I decided it was time to get out. As we were making our way back to the beach, I looked up and saw Josh videoing. I thought, alright, he's getting some footage here; we don't have any yet. But then when I looked up again, about 25 feet from the shore, and saw my dad taking pictures with my mom's professional Canon, I thought...hmmm.....what's going on here?!

I started to realize there were a lot more people on the beach by where we were settled than there had been and then it hit me - there were 2 seals lying on the shore not 15 feet in front of my dad and Josh! I immediately got my mom's attention and we swam back to shore as fast as we could. I have posted Josh's video on You Tube: Monk Seals

Eventually the monk seal rescue team showed up and roped off the mammals. You'd be suprised how stupid people are. With and without the rope, people were trying to walk up next to the seals. And we left my parents behind so we could go get some lunch.





After eating some burgers at Po'ipu Tropical Burgers, we headed back to Kapa'a so we could get ready for church. The little Lutheran Church we went to on Sunday was having an Ash Wednesday mass, and we wanted to begin our Lenten journey with the Hawaiians there! This was actually Josh's first experience with such a service. As was par for the course, the mass was phenominal!





After mass we just chilled out and watched the Top Chef finale. Much to my dismay, my girl Carla did not win...but at least the jack-ass from Finland/Germany didn't either!

Well, I'm burnin' daylight now, so I better get off this machine. Thanks for reading and I'll be back at it tonight.

Incomplete Wednesday Update

This morning Josh and I slept in until about 9:00am (by far the latest we've snoozed yet). I made us some coffee and he poured us each bowls of cereal. It was requested we be out of the condo between 10:00am and noon so they could spray for bugs - not just our unit, the whole building. So as soon as we finished eating, we got dressed and cruised on down to Lawai again.

The ride down to the South Shore is really pretty, but then again, I'd be hard pressed to find a stretch of Kauai that wasn't.



Right away we geared up and started snorkeling. The tide was low, so we were expecting the waves to be gentle on us...but they weren't. We both had problems with our snorkel chimneys; water kept coming down the flues! After a little while we swam back to shore and hung out on the beach. Josh listened to his iPod and I finally got to read a little bit of my book: The Hour I First Believed. Just a few minutes after we started relaxing, my parents arrived at Lawai too. But the amazing thing that happened next will have to wait until tomorrow - I'm too tired to write anymore tonight.

Until then!

Mardi Gras 2009

Today I established a new rule. Every time my dad mentions "nude beach" "naked" "unclothed" or any variation thereof, he has to pay my mom $5.00. This money will of course be used to buy jewelry, and she is a big fan of the local jeweler Na Hoku (http://www.nahoku.com/NaHoku/page.aspx). With as many times as we've heard these terms already, my mom should be well on her way to a new pair of earrings.

Speaking of shopping, we stopped at a little strip mall this morning to get some traditional Portuguese donuts, or masaladas, which were being made on the spot by some local women, to kick off Fat Tuesday. My dad was telling us that these deep fried pastries are made on Fat Tuesaday as a means to rid your pantry of lard and sugar, lest you be tempted to indulge yourself during Lent. Hmmm...



Unfortunately, before we were even able to enjoy our morning, we sat through a timeshare sales presentation at our resort. My parents listened too, and in the endwe of course declined. However, we graciously accepted the major discounts they had offered us for a sunset catamaran trip!

Anyways, once that fun little waste of time was over, we changed into swimwear and left for the North Shore. My dad was the official tour guide/driver and my mom assisted by shooting some video for us from the front seat, since Josh and I were packed into the back of the Escape.



Along the way we stopped at a few scenic overlooks. We took some pictures, bartered with old hippies over bamboo flutes, and fed cheese to chickens.

The views were breathtaking (to sound cliche).



When we got up to the North Shore, we stole glances of Princeville, but really nothing more. We also looked into the wet and dry caves as we drove past, but didn't stop to spelunk. Our goal was to get to Tunnels, a beach up North with tunnel-like caverns between coral reefs. The plan was to do a little snorkeling, but upon our arrival, we found "No Swimming" signs posted on the beach due to the high waves (not seen in the photo below).



We waded just the same, but unfortunately, weren't able to partake in any underwater sightseeing. So, after braving the mildly cold water and the rip currents, we sat on the shore for a bit and just screwed around.



Once we tired of Josh's "dancing" we drove to the end of the highway, turned around and scoped out the next place of interest. That place ended up being "Banana Joe's" where we stopped for smoothies. You don't get to request a flavor here; you get what you get. And what we got was good!



Our last stop before heading back to Kapa'a was 'Anini. There we were able to snorkel, but aside from the coral reefs just a foot underwater, there wasn't much to see. My mom and I kept swimming out farther and farther in hopes of seeing more fish, but we eventually came to a massive drop off in the seafloor which was enough to spook me back to shore!

Josh and I got in the hot tub for a bit when we got back to our resort and chatted with two older women from Rhode Island and a young unmarried "Morman" couple from Salt Lake City. The ladies were absolute dolls; however, the couple, total freakers. We were literally saved by the Grace of God from these weirdos when He Divinly interevened by pouring rain on us just as they were cornering us. I don't know what their intentions were, but they were honestly just slowly pinning us up against the side of the pool like zombies. Eek!

Well, I think it's about time for bed. Tonight we stuffed ourselves silly at a local joint with fish, chicken and steak and I just don't think I have the mental capacity to sum up any more thoughts from today.

"$63.78? Okay, thanks!"

We decided to have pizza for dinner tonight, so we ordered 2 large 2 toppings from Brick Oven Pizza here in Kapa'a. It was $63.78...for two pizzas...with two toppings...That's $31.89 a piece and $3.99 per slice. Delivery was NOT included; my dad and Josh picked them up. However, the pizza was pretty damn tasty and in reality, we would've paid way more than that for a sit down dinner anywhere. And boy were we hungry! We had worked up one heck of an appetite with all the snorkeling and hippy shopping we did today.

My dad drove us down to the Spouting Horn on the South Shore where we watched water shoot up through a hole in the rocks. While there we spotted a couple of whales off in the distance and saw a sea turtle swimming near the surface of the water near the rock's edge.



We had sandwiches for lunch from Brennecke's before rushing over to the Sunshine Market in Kaloa. This was a local farmers market where vendors sold fresh fruit and flowers out of their trucks. We got some fresh cut tropical flowers and a bag full of fruit. We had a hard time trying to figure out what to put the flowers in since our condo is ilequipped for accomodating fresh flowers, but we made do.



After we spent 15 minutes or so getting run over by old hippy women making mad dashes for the different products, we drove to Lawai Beach. There we snorkeled for quite some time seeing tons of fish.



My mom and I swam through some rather large waves, past surfers and around a rocky bend in search for sea turtles. Much to my pleasure, God answered my prayers and showed us two sea angels gliding underwater.



We left Lawai after a couple of hours and went to Poipu where we saw whales breeching just as we were stepping foot in the water. It was honestly one of the coolest things I have ever seen. I did not get a photo of mama and baby whale, but I did get a fabulous shot of mr. chicken:



Aside from the chickens, whales and turtles we saw a couple of eels. My goggles kept fogging up and filling with water, so I didn't stay out there too long. Josh broke the clip to his snorkel, so he came in just before I did.

At about this time we all decided that we'd head back to the East Coast . There was some traffic heading home, but the scenery more than makes up for the inconvenience.



Once we got back, Josh made us drinks and we went down to the pool. My mom and I tried ordering pina coladas, but apparently the bar was out of colada mix so we settled on mango daiquiris. After swimming and hottubbing is when we ordered the pizza.

I was so exhausted by the time I finished eating my dinner that I could have fallen asleep, but stayed awake for a little while visiting with my parents. I wanted to go to bed when they left, but Josh was wide awake and it was only 7:45. I talked him into smoking a cigar while sharing the hammock with me.



We stayed long enough for him to smoke most of the cigar before turning in. We have to be up bright and early tomorrow to listen to the sales pitch for the resort...but Josh is excited about busting the salesman's chops and getting a two for one cattamaran ride for later this week.

For now I must close this laptop; I am pretty much delerious and need to get some sleep.

What's with all the hitchhikers?!

Sunday morning I woke up just after 7am. I watched a sheet of rain pass over the coastline and listened to the chickens crow for a bit before deciding to wake up Josh. I was excited to walk down to the beach (something we had yet to do) and check out the rest of the resort. It took some coaxing, but I finally got Mr. Sleepyhead up and at 'em. While I was brewing a pot of coffee, Josh "read the Sunday paper", albeit online, so he could check up on the Cardinals and the Mizzou Tigers.





We split a pot of "chocolate caramel macadamia" Kona coffee, and had some cereal before exploring "The Beach Boy @ Coconut Beach". After returning to our room, we got ready for church. I had looked up a Lutheran church online before our trip, and as it turned out, Lihu'e Lutheran Church is the oldest Lutheran church on all of the islands of Hawaii.



Parking for the church was virtually non-existent, but as we were parking along the side of the road, a woman in another vehicle was trying to figure out where she'd park too. She ended up parking in front of us, and we talked to her as we walked up to the beautiful little building. Maryann who was originally from Estonia, had moved to the United States in 1956 and lived with a host family in East Alton, Illinois before moving to Kauai!

The place was packed! And after having only the members of the church stand, we discovered that nearly 80% of the congregation were visitors. The pastor was lovingly hilarious and extremely passionate. The service was inspiring and unforgettable; there was even a baby's baptism. The kids of the parish were who were trying to raise money to go to New Orleans were selling homemade beignets (french pastries) and gumbo. Both were delicious!



My mom had called while we were in mass to let us know she had hopped on an earlier flight. We arrived at the airport just as she had, and we zipped off to find something to eat. She had suggested a restaurant, but when we pulled into the parking lot, we saw signs posted everywhere for "Sunday Buffet - $24.95". Um...no. We turned around and stopped at Macy's; I still had to find a swimsuit!

We decided to try out this little Taqueria in Kapa'a. The good news: It was all very yummy. The bad news: They only served us one basket of chips. Josh and I ordered a pina coloda for my mom, and she happily drank it!



After lunch we grabbed some snorkles and went to Lydegate, a public beach with a nice little manmade cove for swimming and snorkling. There were quite a few colorful fish out there, but the water was a bit murky due to the higher waves crashing over the rock seawall. The water was a bit cold and the wind was a tad chilly, but nonetheless we had a great time.



My dad was going to be arriving on the island sometime around 8:00, so we still had time to kill. Since we were already in swimsuits, we went back to our resort and hopped in the heated pool with beers in hand. That proved to be too chilly for me, so we squeezed our way into the hottub and claimed a corner for ourselves. The other tub-goers were drunk and talkative. One man with really bad tattoes owned a mechanical subcontracting business. Another man with leathery skin owned 6,600 acres of land in Wyoming and claims to have the third most complete triceritops in the world! His website: www.paleopark.com did not have any photos of said dynosaur, but to his credit, probably wouldn't until the unveling in 2010.

My mom wanted to hit up Safeway before picking up my dad, so Josh and I decided to stock up on soy sauce, since here in Kaua'i 1 gallon tanks are readily available.



Once my dad landed, we took my parents over to their condo and came back to ours. We snacked on chips and cookies for dinner and got to bed sometime before midnight.

Now it's Monday and we're heading back to my parent's condo so we can take them to pick up their rental car. And I had better quit typing since I promised my mom I'd be there at a quarter til 10.

Warning! A Full Day of Flying May Result in Paradise.

Josh and I awoke to the annoying sound of our alarm this morning at 5:45. Within 10 minutes, we had dressed, finished packing and were out the door. Okay, that might be a stretch, but, my dad was there within minutes of our waking and so we finished getting ready and made our way over to the airport to begin the long and grueling process of flying to Kaua'i.

We first had to fly into Phoenix before making our connecting flight to Lihue (la-hoo-ie; not lye-hoo).






















This flight was supposed to be 3 hours, but by the time they de-iced the plane and applied an anti-freeze solution to the exterior, we had sat on the mat an extra 45 minutes. The flight wasn't so bad, but upon arriving in Phoenix, we got stuck sitting on the runway for a good 20 minutes while waiting for our gate to clear up. I began to get nervous, as we had a connecting flight to make and didn't want us or our luggage to miss that plane! Eventually they pulled us into a new gate and we had just enough time to scarf down some fries and Starbucks before boarding the plane to "Paradise".



We totally lucked out on this flight. The man occupying the third seat in our row moved to a different seat as soon as our plane reached the maximum altitude, leaving the whole row to ourselves for the 7+ hour flight. I will not bore with the details of the flight, but it wasn't so bad. After flying over the Pacific for hours and hours, we finally, we saw some land; Oahu.



A short while later, we were touching down in Kaua'i and it was amazing!



After obtaining our rental car (a Chrysler Sebring convertible) and checking into our resort, Josh and I went to Wal-Mart and Safeway to load up on eats and treats. We had passed what looked to be a nice little seafood restaurant on our to the condo, so after unloading the groceries, we went back out to see if it was any good. It was! Josh got a 12 ounce New York Strip Steak with asparagus and macadamia nut, garlic mashed potatoes. I ordered the Sea Bass which came served over the same macadamia nut, garlic mashers, spinach and a mushroom/pesto sauce. Whatever is was, we loved our meal.



However, there was something strange about this Wahoo place; there was a donkey roaming around outside! Kids were petting it, then eating their dinners and no one seemed alarmed at this!



Well, now i think it's time to get a wee-little sleep. It has been one very long day, and I'm already looking forward to whatever events tomorrow may bring.

Just Because

I've decided to start a blog about...us! Not just about our house this time; I intend to post good ol' fashion ridiculousness and absolute absurdity.

Okay, and I suppose I might blog about things of a serious nature too...