Mission Accomplished

With all of our vacation objectives accomplished, we took yesterday off. We went to the hotel beach and crashed in our room most of the day. April read a book and Tom watched Tour de France coverage. April grabbed a Puka Dog for lunch- which is basically just a Polish sausage with a spicy sauce and a fruity relish. Tom was fascinated by a nearby street intersection and made April get out of the car and photograph it. You can figure out why from the picture.

Today, we headed back up to the north shore for one last snorkeling adventure. We first stopped for some shopping in Hanalei (Puff the Magic Dragon's real home town - Honalee). There was a crazy homeless guy muttering to himself outside the bathroom so we felt like we were back in Santa Monica. At Tunnels beach, we again saw a turtle, but this time we have proof! Then, as we were getting out of the water, we found a monster turtle that was about 3x the size of the other one only a couple of feet from shore. It was a great way to end our aquatic adventures.

On the way back home, we had lunch at a restaurant called Scotty's with a really nice view, then we stopped at Wailua Falls. You may recognize it from the beginning of Fantasy Island. Don't worry if you don't, neither did we. It was pretty powerful though, and neat to see up close.

Tonight, we went out for a romantic dinner at the Beach House in Koloa. At least that was April's plan. Unfortunately, she made the mistake of bringing Tom. As usual he ruined the mood and even put her on shout with the waiter for drinking his water. The dinner was actually fantastic and definitely our best meal of the vacation (except for the steaks Tom grilled.) Tomorrow we are heading home and we are bummed that this is our last night in paradise.

Surf 'n Turf

April's food woes continued this morning. She awoke to find her last remaining sealed bag of Honey Bunches of Oats gone. Instead, the tainted 'Gecko Flakes' were all that remained. Tom suggested she dust off the Gecko poos but she was not hearing it. Undaunted she began to make herself a PB&J sandwich, only to discover several mold colonies growing on the unopened loaf of bread. Poor April.

Once breakfast was figured out, we headed out for a hike on the north side of the island to a secluded beach only accessible by a treacherous 2 mile hike along a cliff. It actually wasn't all that treacherous, but it was muddy and wet which made the steep rocky path dangerous. It was so muddy that likely neither of our sneakers will survive our trip (much to Nathan's satisfaction). The hike to the beach took about 1.5 hrs. The water was a beautiful iridescent blue. We decided to picnic in the shade on some rocks, when this scraggly cat came by. This little guy didn't look like he was going to make it so April tossed him some ham. He wolfed it down but was too scared to stick around for anymore. If he was smart he start hunting some of those surplus chickens. We originally planned to hike further into the jungle a couple of miles to some waterfalls, but Tom was getting tired and fussy so we headed back to the car. It was a fun hike, but we were both happy we didn't extend the trip.

Muddied from our trip, we headed to a nearby beach to wash off and snorkel. It was our best venture yet. We saw a turtle floating along the reef and Tom actually went up to pet it. We also saw an octopus land on a rock and change colors! This was the same beach we were at a few days earlier when a fish got quite demanding looking for treats. Well, today, we saw whom we will assume was the same fish. But this time he brought back up. April dipped her head underwater when she realized they were circling around us. She tried to intimidate the fish but he called her bluff and swam right at her. He also came correct with his 4 or 5 buddies. When April looked for her backup, she saw Tom high-tailing it for the beach. She didn't know he could swim so fast. (Check out the picture in our first post to see the fish we are talking about). Unfortunately, we didn't bring the camera out snorkeling today and missed a lot of great shots.

Animal Farm

Today we set off to see Waimea Canyon (the Grand Canyon of the Pacific). It is on the west side of the island which isn't too far from where we are staying. We drove to the top of the canyon which was only about 4000 ft above sea level but had amazing views. Tom would have liked to try riding his bike up, but April was happy that our bikes are safe and sound back in Santa Monica. There were several lookout points along the way to the top. The first few looked out of Waimea Canyon towards the middle of the island and a beautiful waterfall, but the last stop was definitely the best. The view looked down a canyon on the most western part of the island that went down to the ocean. The sheer drop from the green canyon walls was unbelievable. We could also see clouds forming and then dissipating at the top of the ridge.

With all these great views, April's favorite part of the trip was much more simple - a family of goats and more chickens. As we looked out over Waimea Canyon, a family of goats walked by us along the cliff walls. They ended up coming over to the parking lot where April chased them around trying to feed them grass. These goats were pretty wary of her intentions and wouldn't let her get anywhere near them. Of course, this was after she spent about 10 minutes video taping an enormous brood of chickens. We're not sure what this one rooster had been eating but he's probably been using HGH and hitting the weights pretty hard.

After the trip to the canyon, we went snorkeling again with less than stellar results, visited a local blow hole, watched turtles play in the surf, and walked on a quiet beach in front of some swanky hotel. Despite all these great activities, nothing could erase the disaster that was breakfast this morning (or highlight, depending on your perspective-This is obviously a Tom comment). Before we set out this morning, April decided to have a second bowl of Honey Bunches of Oats. As she poured bowl 2 she found the prize - A 4 inch long LIVE GECKO. It was definitely one of the loudest screams she's ever made. In the confusion that ensued, somehow the gecko got trapped under a measuring cup. Tom, who is none too fond of pests and lizards, was of no help in the Gecko removal process, so April had to set him free outside. Needless to say, she's done with Honey Bunches of Oats for a while.

Let's hope tomorrow gets off to a better start!

Aloha

As you already probably know, we are in Kauai for the week. We have a great condo right on the beach in Poipu, on the south side of the island. It has a full kitchen and there is a gas grill so Tom is in heaven. We already went to Kauai Costco so he could buy steaks and tuna. Perhaps the only thing he likes better than tuna out of the can is saving money on eating out.

Tom's other favorite food is also in abundance, chicken. A hurricane in the early 90's freed several chickens from captivity and they have thrived. You can't go anywhere without seeing roaming packs of chickens on the side of the roads and parking lots. They are like delicious packs of street toughs strutting around with impunity. One last food remark - apparently poor Hawaiians are stuck in the '50s when it comes to cuisine. Both McDonald's and Burger King are spending big bucks marketing the new food craze - SPAM! Spiced ham is apparently where it's at for breakfast. We don't think we'll be partaking in this island tradition.

As expected, the water is beautiful and the snorkeling is great. We've already seen several turtles playing in the surf and once while we were snorkeling. Today while up on the north shore, there was a fish that wouldn't stop following us. He probably thought we were going to feed him and he was quite insistent, he hung out with us for well over 30 mins, swimming all around us. We both are afraid of sharks so we have been pretty conservative and haven't gone out to far yet. We like to snorkel near other groups of 'healthier' tourists, hoping they would be more appetizing to any sharks that may happen by.

On Saturday, we took a helicopter tour of the island. We were concerned when the pilot did not know Raffi. We thought all helicopter pilots knew each other. We were actually more concerned when the helicopter was grounded before we got on. They OK'd it fly about 5 minutes later. They said it was a grease problem and they just used some WD-40. Is that the correct procedure, Raf? The tour was amazing. I'm embarrassed to say, but it actually felt just like seeing a movie on an OmniMax theater (IMAX for the less fortunate). The tour covered almost the entire island. The pilot even pointed out the Australian fern which covers much of the island. It was originally brought to Kauai has a house plant, but it ended up infesting the entire landscape. I didn't know that Australians had so much in common with their plants (not Matt)!

We've had a great time so far but we've got a bunch of stuff planned. As always, we'll keep you posted!