Liralen's Adventures Through Life

Today started as something of a random walk, mostly because of the rain showers that were ribboning their way across the island. We never really knew when it would happen, but there would be a sudden downpour and then it would eventually stop. So we started out by going to look at waterfalls. Okay, yes, that's not a waterfall, but the first one was pretty far from the area that was set aside for viewing it, and it wasn't that great, and well... Magenta Bougainvillea! Yes, that was kind of the flavor of the day, honestly. We went and saw an old valley for the river there, that had, long long ago been a set of terraced taro beds, which Japanese farmers turned into terraced rice beds, and then modern day farming came in and turned it into beef cattle fields, and today you can see the pastures with cows grazing, but the grass shows the lines of the old terraced beds. That was pretty cool.  Beautiful scenery and a car to run to when it started pouring.  And I'll admit this was v...

We started the day by going out for breakfast. John had been making our breakfast most mornings, and he'd discovered a little cafe that was only open for breakfast and lunch in the second story of one of the buildings in our little town, and they had some intriguing specials.  So we woke up and walked over to the Olympic Cafe. We shared an omelet with Luau Pork, cheese, potatoes, and topped with a tomatillo sauce. It was served with home fries, and it was well worth getting. Most of the daily specials menu was what we'd been cooking for ourselves and eating all our fruit for probably a tenth the price of the restaurant food.  But the luau pork was super tender, the omelet itself was beautifully made, the eggs were tender and perfectly cooked. The melted cheese added richness, and the tomatillo salsa was tart and lovely. The home fries were good and garlicky, but I wished they'd crisped them better. Still... it was good, and the waitress was generous with the coffee.  The ...

First, Bali Hai. It was a picture I couldn't find yesterday.  Friday was mostly a recovery day. After breakfast we went on a walk. Then we headed back to the complex, and I went and worked out in the gym. I have hip and lower back things now that really respond well to me doing strengthening work. John went and got us more poke for lunch and we spent lunch on a Zoom meeting with Jet. He was on campus and talked with us via his phone until he ran out of charge and ran off to his board game evening get together.  We went on another walk and scouted out bakeries, coffee shops, and found another place that actually sold Kaua'i grown, medium roast coffee. The darker the roast for coffee, the more the roast profile takes over the taste of the whole cup. If you want to enjoy the varietal, then you really want at worst a medium roast that doesn't go too far into the second crack. Yes. We roast our own coffee for Reasons, which include knowing what varietal I have and where I want t...

Thursday, the 7th was a plan to get to see the Kilauea Lighthouse and wildlife sanctuary and to go and walk the Limahuli Botanical Gardens. Both required reservations and some exact timing with those reservations. The Kilauea reservations were done on the half hour, and you were expected to take no more than forty five minutes on the site, and that was stated on the ticket and website. The gardens suggested that one plan for at least an hour and a half on the grounds, and Google maps said that getting there could take everywhere from an hour and a half to forty minutes, depending on the construction that was along the way.  So our plans got a bit more extensive to make sure everything worked. Our Lighthouse reservation was for 10:30 and our Garden reservation was for 2:00 to give us plenty of time to have lunch and get where we needed to go. We also made a lot of possible plans for how to fill that time if the travel conditions were good, given what we'd seen on the scouting trip, ...

 On Wednesday we walked. Right after breakfast, we put on our walking shoes and headed north on the trail. There's a trail right behind the complex we're living in, and it goes fourish miles in either direction, along the coastline, so it accesses a lot of different beaches. I didn't want to go for more than half an hour, as we'd have to make our way back. John had a meeting around lunch time, so we weren't going to go too far this morning anyway.  It was fun to just walk and discover what we could see. The structure of Kaua'i, as an island, is fascinating, as it's the oldest of the Hawaiian islands. It rains constantly at the top of the mountain, and there are countless streams that come down off the top of the mountain. A lot of those streams ate into the rock and made valleys, breaking down the stones into earth, and the plants break down to make it all fertile. So much green. But everywhere there are rivers that just cut right down to the sea, and nearly...