Kaua'i

So I went to Kauai for my birthday. Kauai is in Hawaii. Hawaii is the most remote place on Earth

If you aren’t familiar with the Hawaiian Islands, Kauai is the northern-most and western-most of the main islands.

Kauai is very, very pretty. Kind of like Faith Hill.

I stayed in the town of Hanalei on Kauai’s north shore.

Here is the house I rented. It’s called Rainbow House.

This is the Hanalei Valley. Rainbow House is down there. Kind of to the right of Faith’s ear.

To get to Hanalei and Rainbow House you must use this one lane bridge. Challenging after you have had 10 Mai Tais.

This is the Na Pali Coast. I flew over this in a helicopter without doors.
Scary!


This is not my helicopter. It has doors.

I also flew over Waimea Canyon, “The Grand Canyon of the Pacific”. Pretty.

There are a lot of waterfalls on Kauai. Many, many, many more when it rains. There are many,many, many waterfalls most of the time.

This is Tunnels beach. It’s very near to Rainbow House. There is a large coral reef in front. It can be seen from outer space, much like the Great Wall of China. Unlike the Great Wall, the reef does not keep out invaders…like…say…mosquitoes.

On the south shore of Kauai it does not rain and there are no mosquitoes. They grow coffee there. Not Kona Coffee. Kona Coffee comes from Kona, on the Big Island, also known as Hawaii, I bought some coffee here. And this T-Shirt for $40.

On Kauai's I had “Shave Ice” for the first time. It’s called Shave Ice, not Shaved Ice, and it’s not a Snow Cone. They use a special metal blade to shave the ice, then they add flavored syrups – and you can have them put ice cream on the bottom. There are usually over 50 flavors to choose from like Strawberry, Pineapple, Lemon, Coconut, Banana, Vanilla, Grape, Lime, Lilikoi (passionfruit), Orange, Honeydew, Melon, Mango, Raspberry, Coffee, Watermelon Lychee, cherry, and my favorite Lihing Mui, which is a sweet red bean from China that tastes like plumbs. There are little Shave Ice stands next to the roads all over Kauai.

Aside from coffee and Shave Ice there are other kinds of food on Kauai, but no restaurants. You have to cook for yourself. For breakfast every day I had these Portuguese donuts called Malasadas and a Portuguese sausage called…Portuguese Sausage. For lunch and dinner I had fish and Mai Tais, everyday. The main fish are Ahi, Ono, and Mahi-Mahi. Sometimes you can also get a fish called Humu'humu'nuka'nukaa'pua'a. Humu'humu'nuka'nukaa'pua'a is the state fish of Hawaii.

The hibiscus is the state flower of Hawaii.

The Nene (pronounced "nay-nay") is the state bird. It is a variety of Hawaiian
Goose. It has adapted itself to life in the harsh lava country by transforming its webbed feet into a claw-like shape and modifying its wing structure for shorter flights. There are Nene crossings.

On the south shore is a hole in a rock called Spouting Horn. While I was watching the Horn I saw some sea turtles. Also on Kauai I saw a monk seal, some geckos, and I think maybe a few mosquitoes.

There are other animals on Kauai. Chickens. Thousand of wild chickens. They wake up between 3am and 4am everyday.

So after 7 days it was time to come home to Seattle. No more 80 degree days. No
more Mai Tais, no more Shave Ice. I was sad. But then I remembered that I am
going to Maui again in December. Ah, Maui….. no chickens, no rain, no mosquitoes…