24 posts tagged “honeymoon”
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.
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.
After our exhausting day on Sunday, we decided to take it easy on Monday and did not go to our scheduled 7:00 a.m. snorkel trip. We really needed to sleep in and I am glad we made the decision to do so. We went out our lanai door, to the area next to the pool where they were serving breakfast. I had some POG (yay!), along with some delicious french toast and fresh fruit.
Following breakfast we walked to downtown Lahaina, which was a block from the hotel. There were a large number of touristy gift shops, activity warehouse places, and restaurants. There were also a number of kiosks with jewelry, ukelekes, etc. Prince E bought me a gecko toe ring, which was very cute! It was only $4, so we were not too upset when it broke an hour later.
We had decided that since we did not have any activities planned, we were tired of driving, and there was not much to do in Lahaina besides eat, drink, shop, and be annoyed by the cruise boat tourists, we would go to the movies. We spent about 20 minutes trying to find a certain movie theater. We found one quickly, but it was only showing crappy movies. We figured we would go have lunch and ask our server where the other theater was at.
I had read in a Maui magazine in the hotel that Cool Cat Cafe had the "best burgers on Maui," so we went there. The service was pretty awful, even though there were only four other tables with customers. The burger was good, but nothing remarkable. The server was able to tell us where the theater was, though, so that was good. I had called and knew what movies were playing, but since we hadn't been to the movies in so long and hadn't been watching television much on the trip, we didn't recognize the names of the movies. So I called my mom. It turns out that "The Departed" was the name of a movie we had heard about and wanted to see, we had just both forgotten the title.
We happily went to the movie theater for the 12:30 p.m. showing. The other theater was in an outdoor mall. The door was unlocked when we arrived at 12:10 p.m. so we headed in. A guy came out from the back and looked shocked to see us in there. He said they were not open yet. Much like the local Hawaii airports, apparently the movie theaters are not used to people arriving early.
We sat outside for about 15 minutes before someone appeared in the front window to sell tickets. There ended up being about 10 people in the theater with us. The movie was phenomenal and I would highly recommend it. I got so wrapped up in the movie that it stressed me out and I even forgot I was in Hawaii. All of the actors (Matt Damon, Leonard DiCaprio, Jack Nicholson) were wonderful and they did such a great job that I forgot them as the actors and saw them as the characters.
Following the movie, we stopped at "Maui's Own Ice Cream" for our second attempt to find good shave ice. This time I got guava flavored ice, over Roselani (a Maui ice cream maker) macadamia nut ice cream. This shave ice had a lot more flavor than the first place and the ice cream was excellent. I would never get shave ice again without ice cream.
After our refreshing treat, we headed back to the area where we had lunch, to visit the famous banyan tree, which was planted in 1873 and whose shade covers over an acre.
Underneath the tree are tables where a number of local artists sell their paintings and photographs. We also visited the old courthouse building, which now contains an art gallery and an overpriced giftshop. We went to a few more shops along the way back to the hotel.
Back at the hotel, we decided to do another load of laundry. The hotel had coin laundry facilities so we did not even have to leave the premises. While I waited for my clothes to wash and dry, I read the Kauai guidebook in order plan ahead for the days to come.
I had planned to go swimming at the hotel after I finished the laundry, but it started raining again, so that idea got nixed. We ended up watching television and packing for the next day, as we were leaving Maui. I think that if we had more time on Maui and had not driven so much on the Big Island, we would have gone to the other side of Maui and driven the famous Road to Hana. That is the only thing we think we missed on this island.
Our alarm went off at 2:30 a.m. because we were planning to drive up to the summit of Haleakala and see the sunrise. Our guidebook said it was not be missed and photographs we had seen of it online further convinced us that it would be something we would not forget. Still, when the alarm went off, I just wanted to go back to sleep. Luckily, though, I managed to drag myself out of bed and get dressed. We had been forewarned that it would be very cold up there at 10, 023 feet and to prepare for temperatures in the 30s. I wore pajama pants, sweatpants, and jeans on the bottom, and a t-shirt and two long-sleeve cotton shirts, which were actually swimsuit cover-ups, as well as my windbreaker on top. I also brought my small stretch gloves that I use for running. It would be the first day on the trip when I actually wore the right amount/type of clothing.
The drive to the summit took about an hour and a half. The last portion, in which we climbed up to the 10,023 feet, is a series of twists and turns. I got a little motion sick again. We finally reached the look-out point and I had to sit still in the car for a bit before getting out, to settle myself. The altitude change affected both of us and we were a little out of breath just walking up the stairs to the look-out.
At the top of the look-out, there was a small room with three glass sides that people could stand in to watch the sunrise. We, of course, were having none of that. The photographer prince didn't want the glass interfering with the photos and I did not want the people in front of the glass interfering with my view. No one seemed to know which side to stand on, so I wandered around with my flashlight (did I mention it was pitch black outside?) looking for a sign. I finally decided we should stand in front of the largest side of the little glass hut, figuring it would be facing people in the right direction. Luckily, I figured right. It was not windy like we had been warned it would be, so there was really no need to be in the hut anyway.
We placed ourselves right up against the little rock wall that served as a barrier preventing us from falling to our deaths (actually I am just being dramatic, it wasn't that far of a drop to the road below. We would have only been maimed). Then it was time to wait. According to the sunrise forecast, the sun was to rise at 6:12 a.m. It was about 4:45 a.m. at this point. As time went on, more and more people began to arrive. I felt a little bad for the poor saps who were wearing light clothing, but only slightly. There were a large group of college students to our right who were much louder than I would have liked. There were two (LOUD) couples behind us that had met on the cruise boat and were trying to one-up each other on their previous travels. "I wasn't that impressed with the waterfalls here. When I was in Norway..." and "Well, it was like when we went to Tahiti, and..."
Finally, at around 6:00, the sky began to light up with some wonderful colors. Prince E was ready with his camera on the tripod that he brought to Hawaii just for this occasion. It is a table-top tripod and it fit perfectly on the rock wall so he was able to capture some amazing shots. I handled the video camera, so all the photos below are his. It was difficult to narrow down his over 200 shots, but here are a few:
The way that the sun rose above the clouds and filled them with light was a sight to behold. I am glad that I turned the microphone down on my video camera, because when we watched the tape it did not have the annoying college kids or the cruise people talking loudly. It was much more peaceful that way. If you ever go to Maui, trust me that it will be worth the lack of sleep and the having to stand in the freezing temperatures. As wonderful as these photos are, it was even prettier in person.
After we were convinced we had enough photos, we began the drive down the mountain. We stopped at a rest area to use the bathroom. There was a guy standing around playing a ukelele. This was were we first met up with the Maui downhill bicyclers. When we were originally planning our trip, the Prince really wanted to sign up for that group. Basically you pay for the equipment and to get led down the mountain, in a group, on bicycles, followed by a van for safety. The sharp descent, the fact that I don't feel all that comfortable on a bicycle on flat land, as well as the stories in the guidebook about all the injuries that happed on those rides, convinced me that I did not want to do it. The Prince is still a little disappointed I think. Although we are both a little irritated with the group as a whole, because we got stuck following them down the mountain, unable to pass, for many miles.
When we finally got back to the hotel, I took a nap. We did not have to check-out until noon and I wanted to get the most out of that fabulous bed. The Prince opted to walk around the hotel grounds and take photos. Here are some of them, using the fisheye lens on his camera:
At noon, we checked out and drove to Lahaina, which is northwest of Wailea. We stayed at a bed and breakfast, called the Plantation Inn. It was very cute, with hardwood floors and giant wooden four-poster bed. We were already looking forward the included breakfast the next morning. Our next event was a dinner luau, so Prince E decided it was his turn for a nap.
We decided to walk to the luau, because it was less than two miles away. We obviously had not learned our lesson, because the heat made it seem like it was much farther than two miles. Even so, we got to the luau way too early, so we went across the street to the Lahaina Cannery Mall. It did not really have too many exciting stores, but it did have a drug store that we decided to visit after the show to get pop, water, and snacks for the hotel. (Everyone of our hotels in Hawaii had a fridge, which is a necessity there, but much more of a luxury on the mainland).
We decided to have our first ever shave ice, which is a very popular Hawaiian treat. Many people compare it to a snow cone, but it is very different in my opinion, when done correctly. The ice is shaved with a sharp blade to a very, very fine consistency. It can be placed over ice cream. Then the ice is covered with one or more flavored syrups. This time I had mango with no ice cream. While it was refreshing after our long, hot, walk I was not overly impressed. Then again, we were in a mall. I suppose it is like trying Chicago pizza for the first time at a mall. (Don't worry, though, I eventually had some fantastic shave ice).
Finally it was time to head over to the luau. When we checked in, we were congratulated on our recent wedding and told we had the best seats in the house. We were given pretty purple flower leis and shown to our table, which was right next to the stage. We had elected to have "traditional" seating, as opposed to regular tables and chairs. The table was about 10 inches off the ground and our seats were pillows. We were told that it was open bar and they had lots of tropical drinks to chose from.
Since there was still about a half an hour before the show and dinner were to begin, we wandered the grounds. They had people carving wooden tiki statutes, making recreations of petroglyphs, and posing with guests for (paid) photographs. There was also a band playing Hawaiian music. I heard one song that talked about Haleakala. I wish I could remember the words.
Prior to the opening of the buffet, we all headed over to the Imu, or underground "oven." They had been steam-cooking a pig in there all day, under layers of taro leaves, rock, dirt, and cloth. They made a big production uncovering the pig and it was pretty entertaining. When they finally uncovered it, there were, in addition to the pig, several silver packets. The speaker said "Ahh, the traditional Hawaiian aluminum foil!" He explained that the packets contained contained pork lau lau, which we would be served in addition to the kalua pua'a from the actual pig there in the oven.
Finally we all took our seats and the performances began. I videotaped a lot of it, so maybe one day I will be able to post some of it. (Or for those of you that will be seeing me at Thanksgiving and/or Christmas, I plan to have a showing of all of our video from the trip). At our table were two other honeymoon couples and a couple (from the Chicago area) who were celebrating their 35th wedding anniversary. Our server told us that they would only be embarrassing us "a little." The Prince and I were certain we were going to end up on the stage doing the hula. We agreed that we were lucky we had gotten a lesson from the hula dancers at our wedding.
Unfortunately for us, having the best seats in the house somehow equated to us being the last group to get to head to the buffet. This was especially problematic because we had not really had lunch (just the shave ice), because we wanted to save room for the buffet. We were very hungry and my tropical drink was going to my head. We finally got up to the buffet and there was a lot food. I tried both the kalua pua'a and the laulau, in addition to fruit, banana bread, rice, and steak. I even tried poi, which is made from grinding up taro leaves. It has sort of a thick consistency and I ate it with the pork. Poi is a staple food of Hawaii and although I had heard bad things about the taste, I thought it complimented the pork well and did not have a strong taste. I had another drink called "lava flow" which had strawberries, and pineapple juice, cream and something else in it and was rather yummy. It went well with the selection of mini-desserts, including macadamia cookies and cream puffs.
The performances were plentiful and they were all very impressive. There were solo and group dances, scenes acted out that showed Hawaiian history, as well as chanting. The costumes were extremely colorful and beautiful.
They never did drag us on stage (I was kind of looking forward to it!). The "embarrassing" thing was that all the couples on their honeymoon had to stand and be acknowledged. This was probably a third of the people there so it was not embarrassing at all. Then all of us, and those celebrating an anniversary, were invited to the shore of the Pacific to slow dance as the band played "The Hawaiian Wedding Song." I thought it was a very sweet touch, although I would have preferred to hula on stage.
After the luau, we decided to take a cab home. We were tired and the walk seemed so long. It was well worth the $7, because right after we got back to the hotel, it started to rain. We had been told that it hardly ever rains in Maui, so we figured we had brought it with us from the Big Island, where it had rained (at least for portion of) every day.
Day five we left the Big Island on an early morning flight and headed to Maui. The Kona airport is interesting in that it is entirely outside.
We had another super fast flight to Maui and then headed to the first of our two hotels on the island, the Fairmont Kea Lani in Wailea. When we arrive at the hotel, we were greeting with leis made out of kukui nuts. We had learned on our waterfall tour that the nuts from the kukui tree were once used as a laxative. The oil from the nuts can also be burned like candles. Also, the oil from can be used as hair conditioner and for dry skin.
For some reason we got a fabulous upgrade on our room to an ocean view suite. It was amazingly beautiful: the furniture, the artwork, the oh-so-comfortable bed. It was heavenly.
We went to lunch at the poolside restaurant. I do not know how people can afford to go to resorts like this for weeks at a time, considering how expensive the food is. I had a hamburger and a yummy drink in a plastic coconut that I got to take with me. It was made with POG, my favorite island fruit drink, and rum. The drink was enormous and the bartender gave me the extra from the blender in a small plastic cup. Prince E had a drink in an actual real pineapple. We were both drunk fairly quickly. I posted this picture of our drinks back on the day we had them.
Drinking makes the Prince sleepy so we went back to the hotel for him to rest. After a nap, we headed to the pool. It was fairly empty at that point because it was about 4:30pm. I guess people only like to be out in the super hot sun. Not us. The pool was very fun. It even had a waterslide that we went down several times. I think we were the only adults doing it, along with several little children. After awhile, we went to the other pool, which had a swim-up bar. I had never been to one of those and it was fun. It had stools that you sat on that were in the pool water, so I was half in the water and half out. The bar was complete with a television showing the Mets game. It was a fun experience and we each had a yummy mudslide. Then Prince E made the mistake of going down the poolslide again and nearly killed himself when he got flipped around. He ended up banging his knees on the bottom of the pool and got some bruises. That was the end of the poolslide. We also went to the "adult" pool for a little while. We were the only ones in there. I did a handstand. Not very "adultlike," I suppose.
Later that evening we had dinner at another restaurant at the hotel. We could hear the music and speeches from one of two weddings that were taking place on the grounds. I cannot even imagine how expensive it must be to have a reception there. We went back to the room and got ready for the morning: our 3AM departure to see the sunrise. I went to bed at 10:30. I should have gone to sleep much earlier.
Our first stop in the morning was Safeway, so that we could purchase more water and some aloe vera for our sunburn (Prince E's head was pretty bad and would later experience severe peeling). By, the way, Chicago people: if you ever go to Hawaii, you can use your Dominick's saver card at Safeway since they are owned by the same company. Safeway (with the card) had extremely reasonable prices, similar to what we have here. As we were waiting to check out, the power in the store went off. We chalked it up to our crazy honeymoon luck. We all sort of stood around, trying to decide if we should leave, but the power returned within a few moments.
Next we went to the laundromat. Romantic honeymoon activity! Well, we had packed fairly light and we had planned to do laundry at least twice on the trip. Our only planned activity for that day was not until the afternoon, so laundry it was. I am happy that we decided to do laundry on the trip, rather than take a ton of clothes. It just made things simpler and our bags lighter.
After laundry, we headed up north of Kona to a swanky sort-of-mall, called King's Shops, which was where we were being picked up for our Valley Waterfall Adventure Tour, with Hawaii Forest and Trail. Our driver/guide drove us and four other people in a van up to Pololu Valley, which is at the top of the island. We actually drove to the top most tip of the island, just a day after we had been to the southern most point. Along the way we past through small towns, filled with old plantation homes that once housed workers from the sugar cane fields. The area is not know for its sugar cane anymore, but Kona is a large producer of coffee. We also passed through a town called Kohala that featured a giant statute to King Kamehameha I, the king who conquered and united all the Hawaiian islands, who was born in that city. We didn't stop, so I don't have a picture. You can see what it looks like here.
I thought our guide was very knowledgeable. He used to study birds and then worked as a botanist on the island, so he knew his plants, which would make the tour more interesting. We finally reached our initial destination, which was an old mule stable, where people used to give mule rides. Now it is just a stopping post for this company. We were able to get out, stretch or legs, and use the cleanest port-a-pottys I have ever seen in my life. And I have been in a lot. Here is the view from our stopping point:
We got back in the van and then took an off road, bumpy, rocky, trip to the trail head. This portion of the trip was over land owned privately by a Japanese company. It was filled with cattle. Some of them even got in the way of the van. They were cute.
After reaching the trail head, we were giving walking sticks (nothing has ever made feel so much like a true adventurer!) and headed out. The walk was about 1.5 miles to the Kapaloa waterfall. The walk was a lot of fun, as it was through a forest, on the side of a mountain, but it wasn't too treacherous. There were several small waterfalls along the way, as well as pretty flowers and valleys. The ground was strewn with guava, many of it half eaten by insects, rats, and boars that live in the forest. I only saw the insects. Oh and a cow.
We finally reached the falls and they were amazing. The best part, of course, was that we were able to walk behind the waterfall. We had heard about this tour on the Travel Channel and had been looking forward to this for a long time.
Prince E had purchased me a special case for my camera so that it can go underwater. I used it to take the picture below. In retrospect, I guess I should have made a video, but I wasn't thinking:
The hike back down was uneventful, although I was getting pretty tired and tripped a few times, but didn't fall off the mountain, so that was good. We were pretty sleepy on the ride back down to our car, but it was a great adventure and I am very glad we did it.
