Suzanne and I each had extended gift-wrapping sessions today. Autumn couldn’t help but be a curious and mischievous kitty all throughout. So it wasn’t surprising that her busy day ended up with her curled up amongst the new landscape.
Thanks to the FSSW network, the A&M vs. LSU game was available in its entirety last night. This was the first opportunity I’ve had to watch my team play. Unfortunately, the results was a disappointing 12 point loss.
My observations:
And so my hopes for a 1-1 road trip now rest on a victory at #1 UCLA on Saturday. Suffice it to say that I won’t be relying on this game to make my weekend. Let’s just keep it close, boys!
Today we are taking two of our favorite pictures from our recent Kauai trip to get 5×7s of them. We have a series of these types of pictures and are adding to the collection.
This picture is taken from our Honopu Ridge hike. Its just really hard to convey how spectacular scenes like this really are. The size of what you are seeing is also elusive in just a picture. In this case, just imagine that a helicopter would a small spec. And unfortunately, helicopters do clutter this view on occasion given that’s its a Kauai highlight.
As of this morning, we have been back from Kauai for as long as the time we were there; two weeks. So how are we doing?
Suzanne has a persistent cough which she had prior to the trip, during the trip, and now after the trip. It seems to have taken a turn for the worse, so she visited the doctor on Friday. This weekend she’ll be taking lots of drugs to kill it off. Given the length of time this has lingered, the doctor has prescribed some serious stuff. So her vacation buzz has to be pretty low right now.
Me, well I managed to keep stress-free this week even though one of my buddies at work is out on vacation (in Hawaii!). Trails that used to lead to his desk were now leading to mine. But I managed to fight off the discontinuity of my work life. At the end of the week, I was working on a massive change which involved almost 100 of our source files. So I guess I’m thinking fairly clearly. So my vacation buzz is not dipping as dramatically as Suzanne’s.
I chose the accompanying picture because I had forgotten to post it to Flickr. You’ll note in the bottom right that there is a finger intruding into the picture. We’re sad to say that almost every picture not taken by us on the hiking trip has a finger or a camera strap in it. I’m not real adept at magically fixing these, so we’ll have to live with them until I figure something out.
Let’s see, only sixty more weeks (or so) until our next long vacation. Now that’s a vacation buzz-kill.
Today we thought we’d get our feet wet with hiking by taking a guided hike over the Honopu Ridge which offers a spectacular view of the Honopu Valley.
After it was all said and done, we got our feet wet along with everything we were wearing, carrying or covering up. But more on this later.
I should start by saying that we are in pretty good shape as a couple and so we thought we could handle a “beginning hike.” Wow! We vastly underestimated the effort, courage, and drive that it required to complete this hike. But we survived and are living to tell about it here.
First of all, the hike sounded easy enough; 2 miles each way, 1000 feet of elevation change, and 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 hours each way. However, the complications began early when it was realized that recent rains had made for treacherous footing. Both Suzanne and I had early flat-on-your-back falls in the mud.
When we weren’t on the ground, we were straining to find solid footing by seeking out roots, grass, or tree limbs to grab onto. In some cases, a combination was necessary to keep us upright. And this wasn’t on level ground. In some cases, there were escalator-like angles downward. It was mostly downhill on the way out to the ridge, so this continued for most of 4 hours.
A mixture of new-growth and died-back ferns lined the path in stretches. In some cases, there were fern tunnels to be navigated through. If that weren’t enough, there were many times where downed trees blocked our path and had to be straddled. This may not sound challenging if taken one at a time, but the aggregate toll on our bodies was considerable.
The first part of the hike is through the forrest as you make your way to the ridge. However, I started to wonder if and when we’d ever see the ridge. It seemed like we had already walked forever before the first view of the valley was upon us. And we were a bit disheartened when the view was shrouded in low-lying clouds. Fortunately, there were periods where the clouds would thin out and offer us better views of the valley.
We finally made it near the end of the ridge and had lunch on top of Na Pali. Our tour guide had thoughtfully purchased us some mixed plate lunches and we had a similar view to the one in the picture. That view actually allowed us to see down the Na Pali Coast to Ke’e Beach. This was a one-in-a-lifetime experience for us.
As we were eating our last bites of lunch, the rains came. We had been sprinkled on during our approach, but this rain was harder and longer-lasting. We decided to turn back and though the rain quit briefly, it proceeded to rain the entire way back out.
The way back out was uphill and with the rain it was completely muddy. As mentioned previously, everything we were wearing or carrying eventually became totally soaked. Suzanne and I both agreed that we couldn’t remember ever being so miserable. Pouring rain, mud, a two-hour uphill struggle out of the forrest. Yuck.
Note that we did make it out in 2 hours as opposed to the 4 hours getting in. All I can say is that we wanted to get out of there. I cannot put into words how miserable it was. On my part, my muscles were already fatigued from the hike in. You have to keep every muscle ready to catch your fall, so there were few moments to relax. Every step was stressful. And toward the end, my boots were covered in mud and every step took that much more effort.
I learned a lot about Suzanne today, though. Wow…what a trooper! She seemed to hold up better than I did. I was fit to be tied toward the end and downright grumpy. She was miserable, but wasn’t outwardly so as I was. I feel great to have learned how strong my wife is!
So at the end of the hike, we piled into our car and made the drive down to Waimea. We were rain-soaked and looking forward to the pizza that we had planned to get at the end of the day. We looked like absolute hell, but they still served us. Too tired and dirty to eat the pizza there, we brought it home to eat. Our first priority was to take a shower and get clean if that were possible.
So that’s the review on hiking. We each believe that we were just dealt a very bad day for a first hiking experience. But rain has been a recurring theme on this trip. A drier day would probably have made for a blog post focusing on scenery rather than misery.
Today was a transitional day for us as we had to check out of our vacation rental on the north side and make our way to the south side. So we were up and on the move before 10am.
That’s not really a stretch for us as we always seems to get up early. We seem to go to bed at 10pm and get at least a full 10 hours of sleep. For me, that’s huge as I wander the Earth always in a sleep-deprived state — getting 6-7 hours most nights.
We had breakfast at the Wake-Up Cafe which was recommended in our Ultimate Kauai Guidebook, but probably cannot be recommended by us. Aside from the potential charm of the location, it offered very little. The food was okay, but over-priced. The service could almost be described as grumpy. We may have hit them on a bad day as they appeared to be without a hostess to smooth things out at the doorway. Our recommendation goes to the bakery back in the Ching Young Shopping Center which offers better food at cheaper prices and we at least got smiles.
We then made our way through Kapa’a and thought we’d finally pull over at the Weekend Fair that we had passed by a time or two on past trips. It turned out to be quite underwhelming, so we didn’t stay too long. Maybe this is a truism of most souvenirs, but I definitely felt like those that were available there were sitting at their max value. In other words, we weren’t impressed with anything.
We later made our first stop this trip at a Lappert’s to get ice cream. We browsed around Koloa town before going to the Big Save for groceries.
Since we still had an hour before we could check into our new place, we wasted it at Brenneck’s Beach where we saw a Monk Seal bathing by himself. Here, they rope them off like a crime scene so that people will keep their distance. It was cool to see the Monk Seal, but you could almost hardly tell if it were still alive as it rarely moved.
Thereafter, we checked into our place and settled into Baby Beach for the rest of the afternoon. Baby Beach is within walking distance from our rental and is quite picturesque. I love the view which serves as this entry’s highlight.
Or should I say “sand!” We had a full day of sun and thus a full day on the beach. So now I know it pays to broadcast our plight to the blogosphere in hopes for positive changes. It certainly worked in this case.
We split our day between Tunnels Beach and Ke’e Beach with lunch in between. I really enjoy both beaches, so I was glad the rain ceased somewhat. We did duck the occasional shower while out, but those were nothing like the full deluges that we’ve been having.
Ke’e Beach is such a nice beach. It marks (to me) the beginning of the Na Pali coast line and has quite a dramatic backdrop. It has a reef 100 yards off the beach, so it provides a gentle area for swimming. There is an area at the mouth of the beach which is fantastic for swimming.
We closed our day by eating at the Bali Hai restaurant in Princeville. The view was amazing and we were lucky to have been sat a table previously vacated by some folks that we think objected to the gusty winds. For us, it was fine.
We check out of our north side house tomorrow morning and head to the south side where we anticipate much more sun. If I begin to complain about rain again, you will know that it just wasn’t our time on the island. But we’ll see.
Also, our full-time connectivity will probably come to an end unless this house is in Wi-Fi range. That wasn’t the case last year, so we’ll probably be heading to the coffee house if we feel like there are pictures to be posted or words to be shared.
In case anyone is curious about good accommodations on the south side of Kauai, here is where we are staying.
Though the advertised price is $210 per night, we are in for $175 per night, but that’s due to the fact that we moved from another accommodation and took advantage of last-minute pricing. I wouldn’t advise this type of just-in-time booking, but we certainly feel like we got a bargain.
As you can no doubt tell, the view is amazing since we’re just feet off of the bay.
As Suzanne and I were preparing to leave for Kauai last September, I thought to set up the “Lost” pilot for Tivo. I did so mainly because I had heard that many of the scenes were filmed in Kauai. While that turned out mostly to be false, the show is unbelievably well done.
The premise centers around a group of airline passengers who survive a plane crash and find themselves on a deserted tropical island. But apparently, this isn’t just any island. It has a certain magical quality about it. And though it appears to be deserted, it is clearly not. While the core members of the Lost crew have encountered a survivor of a boat wreck and one other unsavory character, its the source of the magic that and who or what might be behind it that is a source of intrigue.
But even the crew themselves provide intrigue. Somehow their lives are interwoven and as we watch the show, these entanglements are slowly revealed. The show does a marvelous job of mixing in well done flashbacks with current events on the island.
In almost every case recently, when the show is over, I cannot wait to find out what happens next.
I’m sure there will be a Lost season one DVD and if you haven’t watched the show so far, I’d suggest purchasing it and working through the episodes. Its great fun discussing weekly what will happen next and what subtleties we caught in the current episode. Its also fun considering who of the crew you’d prefer to be Lost with. And over and above the show, if you could choose a crew, who would you prefer to be Lost with?
