28 posts tagged “hawaii”
Prince E and I made reservations about two months ago for our anniversary dinner. The restaurant was recommended by one of his co-workers. It has a Hawaiian theme and since our wedding (and Honeymoon) did as well, we thought it would be perfect. We even would be treated to a hula dance show.
I had been looking forward to this for weeks and it was quite a disappointment.
When we arrived to the (half-empty) restaurant, we were escorted to a high round bar-type table. We immediately asked for a booth. She said that they were a full-house that night and we had to have the table. I was annoyed, especially because we were stuck in between two booths (each about three feet to either side of us) and it was not a very cozy/romantic location. I supposed that the booths would be reserved for larger parties and it was only fair.
The menu listed the special occasions that people in the restaurant were celebrating. It nicely listed our anniversary, but they spelled my first name wrong. Sort of like my wedding when the DJ pronounced our last name wrong.
Halfway through dinner a couple came in and was seated at a nice cozy corner both. Alone. Did they slip her a $20? Had they made reservations three months ago?? I was beyond irritated. Prince E tried to make me feel better by telling me that they probably never got to go to Hawaii and we did (so there).
There were some good points. The conversation was lovely. My drink was quite yummy.
Prince E and I were trying to have a nice conversation, reminiscing about Hawaii and all of the fun times and adventures we had there.
Then, about halfway through our meal, it started. A loud noise. It was quiet and first and then increased with every passing moment. It got louder. And more shrill. And more deafening. A woman with the most annoying/loud/awful/ear drum piercing/hideous laugh that I have ever head. The more she drank, the louder she got.
I wish I would have thought to record it on my cell phone. Instead, click below to listen to my reenactment, although it does not do her laugh justice. Keep in mind that she was less than five feet from my right year and the laughing did not stop.
Yesterday morning (our actual anniversary), we went to breakfast at Steak and Shake. We made each other cards using crayons on the back of our place mats. My kind of date.
Happy Anniversary, Prince E, and thanks for a wonderful year full of joy and great blogable material. Next year, let's just order in.
This card was sent to us by the staff of one of the bed and breakfasts that we stayed at during our honeymoon.
At this time of the year, there are lots of articles and television specials about the past year, which name the best, the the worst, or the most interesting events. This has gotten me thinking about this year from my perspective. It was quite a year, with a lot of changes. Below is one post per month, what I deem to be the biggest event of each month (or at least the most interesting post). Please check them out so you can get an appreciation for why this was the most exciting (and exhausting) year I have ever had.
We had car problems.
We climbed 680 steps to the top of Oakbrook Tower.
I broke a tooth (post includes picture!)
I recorded a podcast while running the Shamrock Shuffle 8k.
We spent Memorial Day weekend biking Lakeshore Drive, going to a chocolate festival, and visiting Milwaukee.
We had more car problems.
I had a scary wedding dream.
We moved to suburbs, after I had lived in the city for six years. It was hard to say goodbye.
We got married.
We went to Hawaii.
We adopted Jiblets Kitty Pie.
I contemplated how much cats are like children.
So what will 2007 bring? We are going to be staying in the same apartment, because I told Prince E I cannot move again until I forget the pain the last move caused. The pain still lingers, so we aren't going anywhere. I am hoping to start doing podcasts again, if only for my own benefit (and my mom who is a devoted fan). Every year since I was about seven, I have had the same New Year's resolution: Don't worry so much. I really doubt I will ever be able to keep that one, but I do hope that I will learn how to relax a little more in the upcoming year. I want to start running again, which is easier said than done. We are planning a spring trip to Washington DC. I would like to try to start saving money for a house, but I have a spending problem. Overall, though, I just hope that 2007, the year in which I shall turn 30, is a happy year for me, the Prince, and the kitties.
Although I had planned to sleep in until at least 8 a.m., quite a feat considering my early mornings during the rest of the vacation, the Earth had another plan for me.
At approximately 7:00 a.m., my bed began to shake. Just lightly at first and then with growing intensity, lasting more than a minute. In my sleepy state, I thought at first that Prince E was shaking me awake because I had overslept. I opened my eyes and saw him peering out the window. He said "I thought it was a big truck going by, but no truck takes that long to go by. It must be an earthquake." "No way," I said, convinced he was somehow playing a joke on me. Then I came to my senses and said "If it is an earthquake, you need to get away from the window!"
After the shaking ceased, I tried to fall back asleep, but then I needed to go to the bathroom. As I walked across the room, Prince E was still looking out the window at the nearby inlet of the ocean. "I hope there is not a tsunami," he said. Still half asleep I, in all my brilliance, said "I am too tired for a tsunami." Certainly this was not a very intelligent statement, but I really did not have the energy to make a run for it.
Since we were awake, we decided to watch an NFL game (because of the time difference, 7:00am is when the games start there). We were saddened to find all the local channels were out. We would learn later that it was because they are fed from Honolulu, which is on Oahu. All of Oahu was without power because when the earthquake happened, the power grid automatically shut down.
I turned on CNN and Fox News to see if there was anything about the earthquake. Since there was not, we assumed it must not have been that big of a deal. We had no idea that it was centered all the way over by the Big Island and that we hadn’t got the brunt of it. Below is a map of the islands to show you where we were (Kauai), in relation to the epicenter of the earthquake, which was of the western shore of the Big Island.
After about a half hour or so, Fox News finally started coverage of the earthquake (I hate this channel and refuse to watch it at home, but it would be another half-hour or so before CNN would start coverage). Like every other event that Fox News covers, they were very sensational and tried to make it sound much worse than it was. "And when we come back, the injury toll!" Not telling you that at that point there were no injuries reported.
Over the next couple of hours, both channels subjected us to headlines and scrolling reports saying "No power in Hawaii!" "No flights leaving Hawaii!" I think part of the problem is that many people do not understand the different islands in Hawaii and also the fact that it was difficult for news outlets to get information. They heard someone tell them that Oahu had no power and so that meant that no one had power. (On Kauai we never lost power, not even for one second). They heard no flights leaving Oahu and that became no flights leaving anywhere. (Kauai flight service continued fine and there were even flights going from there to Oahu).
Eventually CNN started showing a feed from a Honolulu television station, via the internet, and at least that was somewhat informative. However, due to the power and phone problems, they really did not know what was happening on Kauai, either.
At this point I realized that my mother had not called to express worry about me, so I called her to make sure she was worrying. When I called, neither my mom or dad had heard anything about the earthquake at all. By the time I finished the call, my mom was plenty worried that I would be stuck on Kauai forever.
We were still planning on checking out and 11 a.m. to head to the airport for our 2:00pm. flight. We were flying into Honolulu and then to Chicago. We headed across the street to the ABC store to get some cash and snacks in case we got stuck at the Honolulu airport. We assumed we would be able to get into Honolulu, but were not sure about getting out. You would never have known that there had been an earthquake by looking at the people. The tourists milled about looking at postcards and t-shirts as though nothing had happened. The only indication of an earthquake was that the ABC folks were encouraging cash purchases because credit card charges had to be routed through Honolulu and they were taking 15 minutes because of the power issue.
It was around 10:00 a.m. when we decided to call United and learned that our flight from Honolulu to Chicago was indeed cancelled. (Thanks for calling us to let us know, United!) I waited on hold to speak with a representative, while Prince E went down to the desk of the hotel to see if they had a vacancy in case we were stuck another night.
I managed to get us booked on a flight right out of the Lihue airport in Kauai, without having to go to Honolulu. We would have to stop-off in San Francisco, but at least we would be getting home eventually. Now, you may be asking, "But why didn’t you just use this as an excuse to stay in Hawaii?" Well, we were ready to get home at that point, both emotionally, as well as financially. We also did not know if there would be strong aftershocks that would affect Kauai and we did not want to risk it.
We were all of a sudden in a time crunch, because our flight was leaving Lihue at 1:00 pm., and by this point it was nearly 11:00 a.m. We still had to get gas before returning the rental car and heading to the airport. I get stressed out when I travel, so usually I get to the airport insanely early. Our original flight was at 2:00 pm and we had planned accordingly. Losing that other hour freaked me out and I became cranky Simba’s Mom.
When we got to the airport, we had to put our bags through the agriculture check, to make sure we were not transporting any bugs or other such things in fruit. We were not carrying any fruit, but that did not matter. There were two lines at the United counter: one for San Francisco and one for Los Angeles. We were told later by our pilot that these were the only two flight to the mainland for that day. As a result, the lines were enormous. And it was hot. The airport is outdoors, but with a covering, which was trapping all the hot air. Plus, we had dressed for Chicago weather more than Hawaii weather, so I was roasting. The line moved so slowly. I realized that we were just basically waiting in line to use the check-in machines. There were only two people at the counter for our flight, which had several hundred passengers. In addition to being understaffed, the women were not only putting the bag tags on the checked luggage, but in some cases, wheeling the bags themselves over to the TSA check station. I really think their services would have been put to better use by actually checking people in.
When we got to the check-in machine, it would not recognize our reservation because we had just switched onto it about an hour prior. So we had to wait some more for an actual person to help us. I really was not as stressed at this point about getting through security and to the gate because there was still a gigantic line of people behind us, all of whom were on our flight.
We finally got checked in and headed through security. I was very thirsty at that point and looked longingly at the trash bin filled with unopened containers of refreshing beverages (water! Pepsi! Aloha punch!). Stupid terrorists.
In the security line, the TSA agent pulled my shoes out of the bin for an "extra inspection." I made a joke that it "must be the Kauai red dirt." She was not amused. Not a good idea to joke with TSA. (Although at the Kona airport the TSA agent had joked with me saying his laptop was better than mine, so I thought a little humor would be okay. I guess only if they are making the jokes). Once my shoes were given the okay, we headed to our gate.
When we arrived at the gate, they were already boarding. This has never happened to me before. I am always firmly in my seat outside the gate at least 25 minutes prior to boarding. It was okay, though, and my head didn’t explode or anything.
We would have had two seats next to each other, by ourselves, on our Honolulu to Chicago flight, but we were not as lucky here. We were in the section of five seats, but at least at one end. We sat on the plane for a very long time, while all the hundreds of other people squeezed onto the plane. Our good record of leaving on-time (and even early) for all our inter-island flights had ended. We left about 25 minutes behind schedule.
I tried to sleep some on the plane, because we would have to be sitting at the San Francisco airport for close to two hours. I found it amusing that although we did not plan to go to San Francisco at all, we ended going there twice, once for the sick passenger, and the other time because of the earthquake.
After arriving in San Francisco, we got some dinner in the terminal at Lori’s Diner. It was a pretty good burger and I was starving again so I was glad to eat. Soon it was time to board for the 11:00 pm flight (local time), so we headed over to the gate.
I have never taken such a late flight before and I was surprised by how many passengers there were waiting to board. It was clear that we were no longer in the land of the Aloha spirit anymore, because they were all crabby looking and I got some dirty looks because of my straw hat. They were probably just jealous I had been somewhere warm.
The second leg of our flight was fairly turbulent. A lot of sudden drops and general bumpiness. I tried to sleep through it. We were in the center of the plane again, which helped make it feel less turbulent, I think. It was definitely the most turbulent flight I have ever been on and we chalked it as another wacky event on our completely wacky trip.
We got to the airport and called for the suburban cab to pick us up. It is a much better deal that waiting in line at the cab stand. The cab arrives in about five minutes and it is a flat rate of only $20.75 to our suburb.
We arrived home at around 5:45 a.m. and Simba did not even come to the door to greet us. He would remain aloof for several days, paying attention only to his grandma who had stayed with him while we were gone.
I immediately collapsed on the bed and slept until about 10:30 a.m.
There is no doubt, despite all of the things that went wrong on this trip, that this is the best, most exciting, most adventuresome, most romantic, vacation I have ever been on. I know that I will have these wonderful memories forever and I hope that one day we will be able to go back to paradise. Hopefully next time we not have quite so many unexpected adventures.
In the evening prior to day 12, the TVguide channel audio was replaced with a constant looping announcement regarding the large amount of rain coming to the area and the potential for flash flooding. Throughout our time on Kauai, we had seen several signs that said "area floods with rain." We were a little nervous, so we decided to get an early start to the day, which would be a trip to Waimea Canyon (this time by car, not helicopter).
We started the morning with breakfast in Kalaheo at the Kalaheo Coffee Co. and Cafe, one of only a couple of places to eat on the way to Waimea. It was pretty good (I thought I had macadamia french toast here, but I just looked at their online menu and it is not there, so maybe all of the breakfasts are starting to blend together), although one particularly loud laughing teenager behind me made me cranky. If my friend had that kind of loud, obnoxious, grating laugh I would tell him. Isn't that what friends are for?
We continued with our drive and soon we arrived at our turn-off, Waimea Canyon Drive. As we began our ascent, the air became thick, like fog or steam. It stressed me out, because I like to see the road (even as a passenger). It is about 20 miles to the top, up to an elevation of 4000 feet. Of course that meant that this was another twisty twisty road. There are several look-outs on the way up, but it was clear from our vantage point in the car that even if we got out, we weren't seeing anything. Except clouds.
We went all the way to the top anyway, hoping that by the time we got there the clouds would have dispersed and we would be treated to one of the most beautiful views in all of Hawaii. When we got to the top finally, we were struck by how cold is was. After several days in a row of planning the proper attire, this day we forgot our jackets. And it was raining. And about 40 degrees. (maybe warmer, but it felt that cold). I wrapped myself in a bamboo beach mat that we had in the trunk, on loan from our hotel.
Here are some of Prince's photos from the top. We are both grateful that we had such beautiful weather when we saw this canyon via helicopter.
After we waiting around awhile to see if the clouds would move out (they didn't), we headed back down to sea level. It was raining most of the way down. After we got back to the town of Waimea, we decided it was time for more shave ice! We went to Jo-Jo's clubhouse, which our guidebook said had the best shave ice on the island. I got passion orange over macadamia nut ice cream and the Prince had coffee flavored ice over ice cream. It was very good, although I think I enjoyed the Wishing Well a little bit more. I can't exactly put my finger on why, though.
We continued our tour of the south shore and headed to a tourist attraction called the Spouting Horn. Water from the waves of the ocean is thrust through an opening in a lava shelf, causing air and water to shoot out of it. I think we saw it at an off time, because it was not that impressive (the picture in the book shows it going MUCH higher). Lots more roosters here (and tour bus people).
It started raining again as we headed into Poi'pu. We were starving (again), so we stopped at the Po'ipu Shopping Village to try out a burger place that the book recommended. While we were waiting at the hostess station to get seated, we saw three people carry their plates up to the bar and say something to the effect of "We waited all that time and this is not what we ordered." As they left, they said "go somewhere else!" to us and the people who had lined up after us. We waited another five minutes and when no one had even come over to seat us (after a total of 10 minutes), we left. The place was not even that crowded. We were so hungry that we could not fathom having to wait a long time for our food and that made the decision to leave easier.
Right next door was Puka Dog, a Hawaiian style hotdog place. I am not a big fan of hotdogs, but this place was very yummy. You can have a regular or veggie dog (I had veggie), with or without their spicy sauce (I got it without) and then your choice of salsa (I got pineapple). You actually get two dogs, placed inside a bun that is sealed all the way around (open only at the top) and the salsa surrounds both the dogs. It was great. We ate ours sitting underneath a monkey pod tree, which would drop hard seeds on us every time the wind blew. We headed back to the car and it started raining (again). We did not both to head south to the Po'ipu beach area, because there was an extremely long line of cars heading out of that area and we didn't want to get stuck in that traffic.
The rain started getting pretty heavy and there was some minor flash flooding, but certainly nothing even close to impassible. We decided to head back to the hotel and I mistakenly thought we would be in time for the Tigers/Oakland game, but when arrived there it was already over. The Tigers were headed to the World Series. And I missed it. I got a text message from my sister about the game and I got a little misty-eyed; in part out of joy and part out of sadness for having missed it.
After we were at the hotel for about a half an hour, the rain really started coming down. The road in front of our hotel was experiencing flash flooding and we watched cars go by slowly and cautiously. I decided that we should order in dinner, because I was nervous about trying to navigate in the waters. We found a Pizza Hut that delivered. It really hit the spot.
The word on the box "Kama'aina" means "long-time Hawaii resident." I guess it applies to food, as well as people.
After dinner we began packing up our things. I started to get very sad that we had to head back home to the mainland, but tried to think of happy things, like seeing Simba Kitty. When I went to bed I was very excited about the prospect of sleeping in for the first time in quite awhile. We did not have to check-out until 11am and our flight to Honolulu was not until 2pm. Little did I know that sleeping in would not be in the cards.
For one of my bridal shower gifts, I got an ice shaver. We decided to remember Hawaii fondly tonight and enjoy some pineapple shave ice. This process was different than on the islands, though. We froze pineapple juice and then put that in the machine. In Hawaii, they use flavored syrups on top of the already shaved ice. It was yummy this way, too, although it is really not the same with the macadamia nut ice cream. We are still trying to find some here in Chicago(land).
Our scheduled event for day eleven was a tour of the Na 'Aina Kai botanical gardens in Kilauea. On the way up there, we stopped for breakfast at a family-type restaurant in Kapa'a. I had french toast and Prince E had a Spam and cheese omelet. I wonder why Spam is not as common here on the mainland? I tried to convince our waitress that she should not be to scared to go on a helicopter tour. She told us about how when she drove up to Waimea Canyon the other weekend, she saw goats! I was excited at the prospect, but unfortunately I never did see any goats on my trip.
After breakfast, we headed to the botanical garden. The only access to the gardens is by tour, so we had signed up for the "walk and stroll" tour, which meant we got driven around the grounds on a tram, but we would stop periodically to get out and look around. The botanical gardens were created by Joyce Doty, the ex-wife of Peanuts creator Charles Schulz, and her current husband. They once lived on the grounds, where they intended to retire quietly, and began landscaping their property and growing gardens. Eventually this sprouted (pardon the pun) into an enormous venture with 14 permanent gardeners on staff and 240 acres of flowers, trees, bushes, and other plants. They import different kinds of plants and try to see what grows well in Kauai. Many of the plants and flowers there are not native to any of the Hawaiian islands. Their property is also covered in various bronze statues (more than 70!). I love statues, so I really appreciated all the fabulous ones they have there. They also have a children's garden, where they host school groups to educate them about nature. Below are some photos from the gardens. There are even more in my photo library.
At one point on the tour, we saw a statue called "cartwheel." As you can see from the picture below, my form needs work.
After the tour, which was an exhausting three hours, we headed back up the north shore. We had lunch at a place called the Hanalei Dolphin restaurant. The food was okay, but, again, I was starving and would have been happy with whatever they put in front of me. The service here was very slow. A lot of people talk about how things move slower on Kauai because they are more laid-back. I understand being mellow and have no problem with that. I do have a problem, however, when people use that reputation as an excuse for poor service. Having a mellow attitude does not mean keeping customers waiting for 10 minutes before you bring them water and take their orders. While we were waiting for our food, Prince E decided to escape the heat and browse in a nearby gift shop. He came back out with a present for me: a thumb piano. It came with a little music book. I am pretty good at the scales and hope to have mastered "Joy to the World" by Christmas.
After lunch, we used the Dolphin restrooms to change into our swimsuits and then headed to Ke'e beach. Although it was raining a little when we arrived, we had fun playing in the big waves and taking some more pictures using our waterproof camera bags.
We then headed back to Hanalei and had some more shave ice, this time from Wishing Well shave ice. This was my favorite of all the shave ice I had in Hawaii. I can't exactly explain why, but the deliciousness of the macadamia nut ice cream was a large part of it. The portions are very big there and the ice is shaved very finely. I had passion orange flavor and it was great.
On the way back to the hotel, we stopped at Hilo Hattie, which is a very large chain of souvenir shops throughout the islands. I had seen countless branches and finally was able to convince Prince E to stop at one. I was able to get nearly all of my souvenir shopping done in one stop. The best part about it, though, was the family of chickens we saw in the parking lot. Unfortunately I did not think to grab the camera. There was a mama chicken and three little baby chickens. Very cute.
We awoke early on day ten of our adventure, because we had to be at the Port Allen Airport to check-in at 7:30 a.m. for our helicopter tour. We had put a lot of thought into which helicopter company to use for our trip over Waimea Canyon and along the NaPali Coast. Relying on our trusty guidebook, we ended up going with Inter-Island helicopters. We made that choice in large part because they fly with the doors off and the particular type of helicopter is set-up well for photographing/filming during the flight. We also chose them because they offered something no one else did: the helicopter lands in the middle of a rain forest where we can go swimming underneath a waterfall.
I must admit that I was a little nervous prior to the flight, because I have never been in a helicopter. I was also a little worried about getting airsick, especially when they highlighted that possibility in the "safety video" we were forced to watch prior to take-off. We also had to sign a wavier that encompassed all the things that could go wrong. All these worries would dissipate once we took off.
Prince E and I ended up in the back by ourselves and the other couple, two older women, sat in front with the pilot. We had to fasten a small yellow packet around our waists, which contained a life vest. I tried not to think about how much of the ride would be over land rather than sea and how, of course, no parachute had been provided. Someone helped us fasten our belts properly and we were ready to go.
Our pilot, a man originally from Italy, made me feel at ease and was very entertaining throughout the flight. We all wore headsets so that we could hear the pilot's narration, as well as ask him questions, ask for a barf bag, etc.
The ride took us over nearly the entire island of Kauai (is only about 550 square miles), including some of the most beautiful land I have ever seen. The main attraction of the topography is Waimea Canyon, which, according to legend, Mark Twain called "The Grand Canyon of the Pacific." According to our pilot, Mark Twain never even went to Kauai, so whether he really made the famous quote it uncertain. The moniker, either way, fits. On the ride, we actually flew inside the canyon, so that we were wholly surrounded by its beauty. The other highlight is the Na Pali Coast, a stretch of 16 miles on the west coast of Kauai that is largely inaccessible by automobile.
There are really no words to describe the beauty of this area, so I will let some photographs by Prince E do the talking. It was difficult to narrow down which shots to include because he took so many beautiful photos. Check out my photo section for an extended collection of photos.
After viewing all these beautiful sights, the pilot dropped us down into the middle of the rain forest. We walked a few hundred yards to a waterfall, which emptied into a small pool. I came prepared with my swimsuit on under my clothes, so I stripped down and headed in. It was cold. Although the sun had risen, it had not yet made an appearance in this area yet that morning and the water temperature reflected it. At no time did I consider not swimming, though, because how often do you get the chance to swim with a waterfall just a few feet away? The first picture below is after we finished swimming, when the sun finally came into view.
Here are some more photos that Prince E captured on the flight back to the airport, including some fantastic shots of the inside of the canyon. Click to enlarge to get the best view.
After the helicopter tour, which certainly would have been enough excitement for one day, we drove up to the North Shore of Kauai. We drove all the way until the road ends (there is no regular road that goes entirely around the island). Along the way, we stopped as various sites, including Wailua Falls, the town of Hanalei, and several beaches.
In Hanalei, we got shave ice from Shave Ice Paradise, recommended as one of three good shave ice places on the island (yes, we eventually went to all three). I got mango/guava over macadamia nut ice cream and it was the best yet. The kid (you know you are getting old when you start calling teenagers "kids") that made it was very fast, although it showed in his work, as it was a bit sloppy.
Across from the Ha'ena Beach was the Manini-holo Dry Cave, which, as legend goes, is named for the chief fishermen of the Menehune who, along with others, dug the cave looking for supernatural beasts called akua who stole their fish.
After our trip to the end of the road, we headed back to our hotel. It rained along the way, keeping our raining streak intact.
We woke up after a wonderful sleep on our fancy hotel room bed to enjoy the morning in Lana'i. Our flight to Kauai was not until 2:45. Our room package included a breakfast buffet, so we started the morning there. I had banana pancakes which were okay and raisin bread french toast which was excellent. I also had fresh fruit, yogurt, and Portuguese sausage. And of course more POG.
After breakfast, we decided to try our hand at snorkeling down in Manele Bay. We were told it was a great snorkeling spot and that there are spinner dolphins there. We even had to sign a waiver with the hotel saying we would not touch the dolphins or the fish. The hotel provided the snorkel gear and towels free of charge. Neither of us had ever been snorkeling before, so it was quite a experience.
I decided to put my fins on in the water, because it seemed like they were hard to walk in. While I was trying to put the fins on, though, the waves kept crashing over me and knocking me over. I even got swept up to the shore and landed on my butt on the beach. Not a pleasant feeling, made all the more embarrassing by the number of eight year old in wetsuits that looked like snorkeling experts. Once I got the fins on properly, I could not quite figure out my mask/snorkel thing and ended up swallowing some ocean water. Well, actually choking on it, to the point I thought I was going to drown and die. Who can swim around looking for fishy fish when they cannot breathe? I did not want to snorkel anymore.
After I recuperated on the beach for a few minutes, we went back into the water with just the masks to take some underwater pictures. That was really the only reason I wanted to go snorkeling anyway, to take some photos using my underwater camera bag.
We then headed back to the hotel to shower and pack before we had to check out at noon.
After checking out, we waited in the lobby for the next shuttle to the airport. While I sat on the comfy chair in the lobby and drank my complimentary Four Seasons bottled water courtesy of the friendly porter who had secured our luggage while we waited, the Prince took these shots of the hotel:
Our shuttle arrived and we headed to the airport. The airport in Lana'i is the smallest airport I have ever seen. Do you remember the airport on the television show "Wings"? It was smaller than that. We checked in and waited on a bench to go through security. There was no one manning the security podium (although there were two TSA agents standing a few feet away after the metal detector). Since there is only one flight coming in to the airport in a given 2-3 hour period, the airline person whose job it is to check boarding passes does not stand at the podium at all times. While we waited, I ate a Snickers bar I had bought at the airport gift shop. It was $1.60. For a regular size Snickers.
After the boarding pass checker arrived, we headed through security. After making our way through (there was no one else in line), we ended up in a room the size of a one bedroom apartment. This was were the gates were. The wall in front of us was all glass and there were four doors with numbers. These doors all led out to the same place, the tarmac where we would have to climb the stairs to our plane. As the time of the flight grew nearer, more people arrived. It was interesting to see some people that clearly flew in and out of Lana'i for work. When we were waiting on the bench earlier, I saw a man had checking in some kind of bucket and a toolbox.
We finally boarded the plane and headed to Honolulu and from there we connected to Kauai's Lihue airport. When we arrived in Lihue, we picked up our rental car and were happy to see that we had been given a free upgrade to a Chevy Impala (we had reserved two classes lower). It ended up being a great car for this island, which did not require as rugged of a vehicle as the Big Island had, and the Impala got good gas mileage.
We headed to our hotel, the Garden Island Inn. Our room was on the third/top floor. I made friends with another gecko as I headed up to our room. The room had a kitchenette, complete with fridge, microwave, and sink. Like the Kona Tiki Hotel, the Garden Island Inn also had free coolers to use, as well as free beach towels and snorkeling equipment.
Our hotel was right across from a large open field filled with roosters and chickens. Wild roosters and chickens. In fact, the whole island of Kauai is filled with wild roosters. They are not very good at judging when they should "cocka-doodle-doo," however, so all throughout the days and evenings the roosters crow. I miss them now. Prince E even wrote a song for me about the roosters. We sing it often.
After getting settled at the hotel, we went to dinner at a local chain called Bubba's Burgers. Their slogan is "We cheat tourists, drunks, and attorneys." I was a little worried, being two out of three and all. It was a small little place, which reminded me a little of Blimpy Burger in Ann Arbor, and I was expecting a similar shtick, but the waitress was polite. The burger was pretty yummy and the fries were very good. I was tempted to buy the short shorts with "Bubba" on the rear, but didn't.
We went to bed early because we had to get up in the morning for our helicopter ride, which was at 7:30 a.m. It tops my list as most exciting Hawaiian adventure, so stay tuned!
We woke up early and enjoyed a second day of free breakfast at the Inn. We had the same exact thing we did the morning before, just because it had been so yummy the first time. I really could not get enough POG. We checked out and returned the rental car. The rental car company gave us a ride back to the Lahaina harbor, where we would be taking the ferry boat to a small island called Lana'i. The only problem was that we had to have the car back by 10:00 a.m., in order to avoid be charged an extra day, but the ferry boat did not leave until 12:30 p.m. So we had to sit at the dock of the harbor with our luggage and wait...with those people. The tourists. Yes, I know we are tourists, but they were mostly from the cruise ships and moved together in large, loud packs. I don't like waiting in general and it was worse with the annoying people.
I guess I should add a disclaimer, so as to not personally offend people who take cruises. I am not against cruises or people who take cruises, and I would like to take one myself one day to Alaska. I am just against the fact that on any given day the cruise people ferry in several hundred of the cruisers at once and they take over the town. Collectively they are loud. And get in the way. I am sure individually they are all lovely people. Okay, moving on...
We found a spot in the shade and just sat around for a bit. We took turns going to the bathroom. We moved when the shade moved. Then this annoying family came and invaded our personal space. (They were not from the cruise boat). They had chartered a boat for all of them to go snorkeling. They were so annoying. They talked loudly about money and how much the boat cost and how it was bigger than the boat they had last time and they hoped that they had brought enough champagne and didn't Kaitlin look cute in her new Prada sunglasses? The eight year old girl was wearing sunglasses that probably cost as much as my entire outfit plus three more outfits in my luggage. And the luggage itself. And maybe Prince E's too. They would not have been so irritating had I not been so hot and had they not been practically right on top of me. I actually thought at one point they were being obnoxious so we would vacate the only shady spot, but I think they were just rude.
They finally left and we got some peace. I decided to go buy us some ice cream, since I was hot and actual food did not sound good. I ended up getting mango sorbet, which was absolutely fantastic and immediately improved my mood. Soon it was time to get on the ferry for our 45 minute ride to Lana'i. The boat ride itself was okay, although both myself and the Prince felt a little queasy. It started raining lightly as we arrived in Lana'i, further proof that we were bringing the rain with us from island to island.
We stayed at the Four Seasons Manele Bay. From the second we arrived on the shuttle from the ferry boat harbor, I was in awe and stayed that way until we left.
Our shuttle arrived at the hotel and waiting to greet us were two people. One person placed a yellow flower lei around each of our necks and the other person handed us a cold washcloth to wipe our faces. Um, yeah, I just pretended I was used to being treated like royalty. We headed to the desk and waiting for us was Michiyo, who was there to show the two of us around the property and take us to our room. She must have thought we were funny as we followed her around, jaws on the floor in awe of all that was around us. This hotel leaves no detail untouched: the artwork, the floors, the decorations, are all flawless. They even put single orchids in the ashtray near the entrance to the elevator.
We were shown our room and oh my goodness it was pretty. After our hostess left, we looked around for a moment. Then we looked at each other, grabbed each other's hands and began to jump up and down with glee. Seriously.
We had a view of one of the beautiful gardens.
And look at what showed up on our fancy television set:
We were starving (again) at this point, so we ordered room service lunch to eat while watching the Tigers. What arrived in our room were two of the biggest cheeseburgers I have ever seen in my entire life. They filled us up so much that we didn't even need to have dinner that night.
After we ate, we decided to take the shuttle to Lana'i City. Our driver told us that the shuttle pick-ups were on the hour. We figured we would go see all the shops for about an hour and a half and then maybe have dinner if we were hungry again and then catch the shuttle three hours from the time we were dropped off. Little did we know that we would be ready to go by the time the next shuttle came around; and we sat around and waited a bit for it.
While Lana'i City is a cute little town, it is just that, little. There are two streets with shops and restaurants, 7th St and 8th St, with Dole Park in between them. We covered the whole thing in about 25 minutes and that included a lengthy visit to an art gallery. The Mike Carroll Gallery showcases the work of its namesake artist, as well as others. While we were there, we met both Mike and his wife, who, coincidently enough, used to live in Chicago. Mike told us that it is too bad we were not staying on the island longer because he has Giordano's pizza shipped in every week for the Bears games.
We finished all the shops and got some pop and snacks from the grocery store, since the prices at the hotel were outrageous. The store sold me a 20 oz of pop for only $1.04. It was a welcome relief from the prices I had paid elsewhere on the islands (and even cheaper than Chicago).
We caught the shuttle and headed back to the hotel. After resting a little, we decided to go to the pool. Since it was evening, like at the other hotel, the pool was empty. We also went into the hot tub for a little while which was fun. We walked a bit down towards the beach, but then the pathway stopped being lit, so we had to turn around. We went back to the pool and I dared Prince E to a race across the pool. I did not specify it was a swim race, though, and so he cheated and got out to run down the deck of the pool. Karma came around though and he slipped and almost fell.
We headed back and went to sleep in our extremely comfortable bed, which easily rivaled the one at the Fairmont Kea Lani in Maui.
