Getting Knocked Off Course

I was just going to keep going, but we got really knocked off our emotional feet on November 5th, and not for just the reasons a lot of folks did. We actually didn't pay any attention to the Election Day news until late in the evening, and in Hawaii, late is really late for the rest of the country. 7pm in Hawaii is already tomorrow in New York. 

What kind of knocked us off was that we found out that a dear friend of ours had died on Halloween, and his husband posted on Facebook about it on the 5th, and we were in shock. 

We still did what we'd planned to do, i.e. scout out the southern side of the island, but it was with the constant distraction of remembering and thinking through stuff, and in the middle of our morning getting called to help with the memorial service. Luckily it's two days after we get back, so we can. We will. It just... felt so unreal, as we'd had no indicator, and as his husband said, "He was supposed to buy my mother with me, not this..."

We had our usual morning rituals, went out and headed to Shipwreck Rock, which is in Poipu, the resort part of the island. It was odd driving into the area, as the whole thing feels set aside from the rest of the island. The Perfect Resort Town, with very rich looking suburbs all around it and very specific beaches. The south end of the island is completely leeward of the island, so it's the calmest waters around the whole of the island, other than in protected bays.

The Poipu Beach is known for the sea turtles that live there and come out or go into and out of the sea at sunset. The beach is so quiet and easy to get into and out of the surf that the turtles take advantage of it too. 

The top of the cliffs there is used as a jumping off place for those that need to prove their courage. It also gives a good view of the resorts there. The middle one was the one we stayed at after Iniki. John had won the trip as an award for when he was working at Data I/O and it included the resort stay. There's a bar by the pools, lots of seats on the sand, and all the amenities along with spa, massages on the beach, etc. It was really designed so that you could stay there for your entire trip to the island and never have to leave. 

Even 30 years ago, we mostly left to find our own adventures, but it was interesting to come back to see it all, and remember that the building to the right of the main one in the picture was still a complete wreck after the hurricane. The center one was the only one that had been rebuilt, so that's where we stayed. We didn't really go in and wander the grounds, we weren't really up to that. So we kept heading west and south.  

When we got back the the car, we saw a very cool thing. A couple was coming out of their car with a dog that had a harness that read, "Adopt Me!" on it. It turns out that the island's Humane Society allows people to take a dog out for half a day. You get a leash, the harness, and a whole backpack of care items for the dog, and you get to just take them out for half a day.

The dog was super happy, the people even happier that they could, and it was just a really fun and cool way for them to have a good time with good people. I did wonder, for a little while, what it would take for any Humane Society to do that, and stopped trying to think it all through. 

It was obviously working in this case. Very happy people and very happy dog. 

We kept going. Dropping in and out of various spots. There's a huge double botanical garden setup, that took people from the shoreline area up into the gardens by shuttle. It was a beautiful starting garden area, but they required that you stay up there for two hours and you could only get in and out by shuttle. They did sell some beautiful and expensive postcards, which I did buy, but I don't know if we'll go back. 

It was also raining and off in huge deluge style rains. Lunch was at a Thai and Sushi Food truck that was pretty good, the salad was beautiful, and all the sushi was cooked, which works for me for food truck sushi. The truck was parked at a barn that had been made into a mini art mall, with a covered area for eating in, which was good as it just poured while we ate. 

The rain started coming down so hard that we stopped at a pie shop called The Right Slice and got a slice of mango-lilikoi pie while waiting for it to at least slow a little. But it didn't until we got back into the car and drove even further west.

It really was raining so hard that there were flood watches through a good portion of the island. We drove out and got to see that there is a Kauai Coffee orchard out there. And there are tours of the place that one can take. Like most of the tours and parks, one has to make a reservation to do it. We might do that. 

Out in Waimea, John pulled into the Waimea United Church of Christ's parking lot. The head of the Hawaiian Conference had just been there for a large conference meeting, but the parking lot was completely empty, so we knew there wasn't anyone there. 

But across the street was this enormous tree. Not sure if it was a fig or a Baobab tree, but it was so huge with all the supportive down growing vertical supports that it took a good while to walk around it. It was absurdly huge and inspiringly full of life. And what made me even happier was that there was a mango tree right next to it with branches filled with green mangos. 

It was nice to just be present with the ancient tree for a while. To just be with it and enjoy it basking in the rain and the sun as it was and to just wonder at its existence. 

Next was a glass beach, that the Google reviews said was disappointing as the glass bits were so small. But... 

When we got there, it was a little, quiet beach, with rocks and actually a good number of locals. The glass was small, but at certain angles the whole beach glittered with light. It wasn't sharp glass, it was all sand worn smooth, but it was almost pebbly in texture. So much of the glass was the green, brown, or clear of common bottle glass. It was a nice little place to just see. 

Just across the highway was the tiny village of Hanapepe. We went and wandered it. There was the usual shopping. But off the beaten path was this swaying bridge that was built across the river.

John cheerfully tromped across the whole thing, and I went part of the way. It swayed with every step, and a few of the boards seemed loose, but the view was fantastic. 

We had a little time to kill because John had old classmates we were meeting for drinks before dinner. We wandered to Costco and refilled the car with gas that wasn't the usual $5.20 a gallon it's been around the island, and then made our way to Bobby V's Italian at 5. We met Tom and Mona there, and had a lot of fun just catching up with them. All three of them were classmates, so there was a lot to catch up on. 

At seven John and I hit the Lemongrass Grill for their grilled catch of the day, grilled and placed gently on mashed potatoes and surrounded by tender, baby zucchini perfectly cooked before we went back our condo and basically collapsed under the weight of all the news that was flooding in. Not sure this is the place to talk about that, honestly. There's a lot that I'm still processing. But it might have been a good idea for us to be out there, occupied with the daily detail of our real lives while it all went down. Jet, when he first heard, thought it was a great idea to spend Election Day elsewhere... he seems to have been right.