Back to Kauai
We left Maui yesterday morning after a week’s stay. Suzanne and I both agreed that we didn’t fall in love with Maui as we have Kauai, but we had a good time nonetheless.
We had a few missteps along the way which may have influenced our opinion. The Road to Hana made Suzanne carsick and washed out that day. Then, two days later I began feeling poorly and really haven’t felt perfectly since. Bookending our nights were battles with the rental house’s fire alarm which seemed to go off randomly; the last time with a lasting series of piercing bursts. We grudgingly called the homeowner over to have it removed so that we didn’t have an early morning reprisal. Then, 30 minutes after this event, our car alarm goes off. This, of course, was my fault for getting the key fob wet while at the beach. That said, it was embarrassing and I’m sure the homeowner was wondering what was up with us (they live on the property as well).
So we almost felt like we were escaping Maui.
We arrived on Kauai yesterday around noon and Maui took one last swipe at us. My bag was lost for about 30 minutes as it was apparently mistakenly unloaded in Oahu, but sent soon on a later flight. A little temporary heartache, but all turned out well.
After arriving, we had lunch at Duke’s in Nawiliwili Harbor. Still one of the most perfect venues to enjoy a hamburger! We then enjoyed the wonderful drive up to the North Shore. There is just no describing one section of that drive where trees form a grand tree tunnel (see, I didn’t even try).
We gathered up groceries in Princeville before driving into the River House. We were at the River House last in mid-May in 2007. We are deeper into the Summer this year and its possible that this has something to do with what we’ve seen since we’ve been here. The water level is down considerably, so the mini-falls are not so beautiful and many of the flowers are not in bloom or just flat out gone. Its still very beautiful, of course, but last year was near perfection. We may not take so many pictures of the grounds this year, because last year’s pictures provide a better account of things.
We have worked through one complication. The refrigerator was not cooling when we arrived. This was a problem since we had just bought a load of groceries. We called the emergency numbers and they eventually brought us a large ice chest filled with ice. This got us through the night and miraculously, the refrigerator appears to be cooling this morning. My theory is that they had cleaned it out before we arrived and let all the cool air out of it and that its just an inefficient refrigerator. Needless to say, we’re being judicious with our accesses.
Today looks like a beautiful day and we’re heading to a beach. We’re just not sure which one. We are looking forward to a beach that will be less windy and a little bit more shady than the ones we enjoyed on Maui. A couple of those Maui beaches exfoliated us pretty well!