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Wednesday, Dec 29. This morning we drove up to Larsen's Beach. The parking area is above the beach and you have to climb down a short ways to the beach itself but it's not difficult and it was a lovely place. Again, the water was too rough for getting into and the beach is lined with very black, volcanic rock, but it was a great place for browsing and collecting. We started at the south end and walked almost all the way up to the other end. John found some interesting shells and rocks, and I was distracted by crabs, beach birds, waves and vegetation. I also saw a whale spouting but we'll get much closer to whales next week. Below, the top left picture is looking down at the beach on our way down the path from the parking area. To the right are some of my favorite crabby friends! Below those are John with his collector bag and an interesting naupaka tree.    
   
In between communities there are lots of lovely beaches and little pull outs all along the road. Beyond Hanalei, the road goes steeply down into Hanalei Valley and it gets very curvy and narrow with numerous one lane bridges. And the road going into Ha'ena State Park is in poor condition and the parking lot even worse. However, Ke'e Beach is lovely and we planned (weather permitting) to return tomorrow. Dinner this evening was at the Lemongrass Restaurant in Kapa'a - Pacific Rim nouveau cuisine. Pricey but very nice - and we're on vacation, after all! I had shrimp with penne pasta and John had a fancy salmon dish. Good day filled with a variety of activities. 
Thursday December 30. We left about 8 this morning to get to Ke'e Beach at 8:45 or so and have an early (for us) start on the hike. It took us 2 hours along the Kalalau Trail to reach Hanakapi'ai Beach. The first half of the hike was awesome - wonderful views, steep in places, but manageable. The trail goes up the cliffs and runs along the Na Pali coast. To the left is one of the views from the top of the trail; below are a few more (on the left is looking back at Ke'e Beach) as well as some of the flora and fauna we encountered. Every time we rounded a corner I wanted another picture, although the day was overcast so the brilliant colors don't come out well in the pictures. The last one of us includes a pretty good view of the Na Pali Coastline in the background. The trail was wet - in fact part of it involved actually climbing a stream bed! It was also very muddy - the mud that is used for dying "red dirt" t-shirts. I now have some "red dirt" socks! Then we came to the stream! It was 6-8" deep and the only way across was to wade. John just walked across and got all wet. I took a different tact and removed my shoes and socks. Bad idea. The rocks weren't painful but they were very slippery. There was a guide rope across the stream (left by other hikers, nothing official) and I sure was glad to have it because my feet kept sliding off the rocks! Fortunately, John didn't think to grab the camera at that point! Eventually we both were safely, if rather damply, on the other side.       
   
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Monday Dec 27: We left from Cedar Rapids on an 8 AM flight to Chicago.
Bekah and Gary
(bless them) got up very early to take us to the airport. We did get to
see a nice sunrise (left). Since we were able to get bulkhead seats on
the long Chicago - Honolulu leg it wasn't as uncomfortable as it could
have been. We grabbed some snack and waited around for our flight to
Lihue that got in about 7:30 PM. It was a long
travel day but it went smoothly. We rented a well-used Dodge Neon from
Island Car Rental - they came to pick us up at the airport and the
process was
fairly smooth. Shock number one was paying $2.57 a gallon for gas (it
was running about a dollar a gallon less at home). Then we set off
north to locate our first apartment - Hale Kikoo in Anahola. Their 
Tuesday
Dec 28: The second thing we learned about Kauai was overnight. We had
heard about the feral chickens but didn't really
understand all of the implications of this! The roosters started
crowing about 3 AM. They apparently don't subscribe to the "daybreak"
theory. Fortunately, this was something we got used to pretty fast.
(Bring ear plugs!) They are banty-type birds, rather gaudy looking
(right) and very pleased with themselves - there are thousands of them
all over the island.
We gradually regained consciousness, got up and showered and headed
into Kapa'a for breakfast at the Kountry Kitchen around 9 AM and then
to the Safeway for groceries. 
Having taken
care of the necessities, we greased up with sunblock and headed for our
first beach! Anahola beach was very close so we started there (the
part north of the river). Ah, truly a "picture perfect" beach (left).
There were a few people here and there along the shore but, as you can
see, we had a large piece all to ourselves. It was lovely to sit and
watch
and to walk along, but too rough to do anything in the water beyond
wading. We were planning to head over to Larsen's Beach a bit further
north when we realized we had, ummmm, let's say, "misplaced" the
rental car key. But the good news is that we were only about a mile
from our apartment! So we left the securely locked-up car and walked
back, called the rental agency and they said they'd bring
us a duplicate key but it wouldn't be until evening.
This
is where it was very nice to have an apartment! We had lunch makings, a
nice deck, comfortable chairs and books to keep us occupied for the
afternoon. It was annoying to "lose" that nice
weather time (as we would find out later in the week) but it was not
unpleasant. Above right, you see our "backyard" and on the left the
view of what is known locally as Mount Kikoo from our deck . All in
all, a very nice place to be "stuck."
Around 7 PM we got the replacement key (I understand we were lucky as
some of the national chains have to get them from the manufacturer and
it can take days.). We drove to Kapa'a to Bo Le (in the Kauai Village
Shopping Center), a delightful Vietnamese restaurant, and had large
portions of very good food! Another plus to having an apartment is
being able to bring home leftovers. :) Oh yes, we did keep close tabs
on the car key for the rest of our stay!
We
went back to the apartment, showered and had lunch. Then, based on a
fairly dismal weather forecast, decided to head north to the Kilauea
Lighthouse and Wildlife Preserve (the northernmost point of the
Hawaiian islands). It did rain on and off in the afternoon but it
wasn't bad and it was followed by rainbows.
You can tell how overcast it was, though, by the washed out pictures.
The area is primarily a safe haven for red footed booby birds and
albatross. The little white dots all over the hillside on the left
below are booby birds. Really. You can see them through binoculars!
There is a web cam set up on the opposite hillside where the albatross
are nesting
so you can see them "up close and personal" on the monitor inside the
lighthouse. In the bottom row is Moku'ae'ae Island, a bird sanctuary
just off the lighthouse point and the double rainbow that appeared when
the sun peaked out again. You have to look closely - the fainter, but
larger, one is all the way at the left. 
After
leaving Kilauea, we continued west along the north shore heading for
Ke'e Beach. The north is supposed to be the "upper crust" district
where the rich and
famous hang out. Personally, I wasn't very impressed. Hanalei seemed
just way too commercial to me - very crowded and glitzy gift shops.
But admittedly, we were just driving through and so I am judging from
the places that line the highway. We did stop to visit Wai'oli Hui'ia
Church (left - the name means Healing or Singing Waters). It is one of
the earliest missionary churches (founded 1834) in Hawaii and is also
interesting because the building not only is in the New England style
but, we are told, was actually built there, dismantled and brought over
to its current site in 1912. The stained glass windows are stunning.
So what's
on the other side of the stream and through a little grove of trees? A
beach full of big rocks! Apparently in the summer, this becomes a nice
sandy beach (currents are till treacherous, however.) But in the winter
it's just loads of boulders. Which John thought was great fun. And I
didn't even mind sitting
there watching the waves and taking pictures. But about half way
through lunch, the skies opened and torrential
rains fell for about 10 minutes. I had a poncho and whipped it out to
cover the cameras. John said I should be glad of the rain since it
"validated"
my carrying a poncho around all the time! But it sure did make the trek
back even wetter and muddier. John observed how freeing it was
to be covered with mud - one didn't have to worry about it anymore! 
I will insert at this point that the week
after we left, Katie, Dave and Gail did this same hike but went 2 miles
further than Hanakapi'ai Beach up to the waterfall.
They were very tired afterwards and got back after
6 PM in the deepening dusk - but also felt very accomplished. I
certainly was impressed! To the right is the waterfall we missed. Okay,
it's spectacular, but I'm not sure I could have done 4 more miles (2 up
and 2 back). Some of you may recognize Dave's friend, Mr. Penguin (note
his
new Hawaiian shirt). He's pretty low maintenance so he joins us on many
vacations! 
We
got back to Ke'e Beach (left) about 1:30 and John went in for a
snorkel; I just "played" a bit in the water. It
is a lovely beach. We learned that the "red dirt" mud doesn't just come
off. Even after a swim, we had to scrub at it! Fortunately we had
brought a change of clothes so we washed off and dressed and headed
down the road just outside the park to Limahuli Gardens. This is one
site of the National Tropical Botanical Gardens - this one specializes
in native plants. It was very well kept and a pleasant stroll through
the grounds with the very helpful self-guided tour book. See some
samples below.
One of the other common sightings on the island (besides chickens) was
the red crested cardinal (right). There were lots
of them but they didn't want to sit still to have their pictures taken!
We left the gardens around 4 and almost as soon as we got in the car it
started to pour again. That was something
of an adventure, driving back in that downpour. The roads fill up
pretty quickly and there are some places that become impassable so we
were lucky to get out of the valley
(not to mention down off of the Na Pali cliffs!) when we did. We
stopped in Kilauea for the Farmer's Market (rain or shine apparently)
and John got a big bag of fruit - one of the few bargains to be found
on Kauai in the food category. It was still raining when we got back to
Anahola so we stopped and got burgers at the OnoBurger and rented a
movie next door at the HandiPantry and, all tuckered out,
we went "home" for supper and to rest our weary muscles. The rain is
predicted to last through another day or so, which is a little scary!