The Decompression of a Boomer

Saturday, January 17 – still in Kauai! Yea! Well, tonight we catch the Red-eye from Lihue back to L.A. and then head onward to Idaho. Sigh. I can’t keep tonight from coming. I can, however, freeze time in my blogs. Thus, I’ve managed to extend our January trip to Paradise through February and well into March. (Why not just stay in Paradise till spring has officially sprung?)

On David, Eric’s and my last morning of our trip we all attempt to walk down to Waiakalua Beach. (Say it with me: “Wah-ee-ah-kah-loo-ah”). Now, pronounce it again – swaying your hips as if they’re cloaked in a grass hula skirt. Why do Hawaiian words and names contain so many vowels? (You might ask.) Well the reason is, there are only 14 letters in the Hawaiian Alphabet. Easy! Uh, except they use a lot of diphthongs. They use what? You know, diphthongs. Two vowels together – gliding vowel – a complex vowel sound in which the first vowel gradually moves toward a second vowel so that both vowels form one syllable. Whatever. Now say ‘Waiakalua’ pronouncing it correctly with the diphthongs. For that matter, pronounce ‘diphthong.’

Anyway, here is the view of Waiakalua (pronounce it one more time – will make a hula dancer out of you yet!) Beach from the trailhead:

Except, the trail is steep, windy, rooty, and slick. Anger us conditions! We turn around, head back up and just linger to savor the view. I capture a picture of Steph and Victor – well, a picture of Steph, and a picture of Victor:

Steph

Victor

Okay, so the end of our trip is nigh upon us. Only a few hours left! I must pack. And must capture more images of Kauai to bring home with us!

Thus:

Steph and Vic’s garden,

Another photo of their birdfeeder:

And another view of the golfcourse and mountains from their patio

Their patio ocean view:

Our last dinner, compliments of our personal chef, Victor:

Several delectable Chinese dishes prepared with only the freshest organic ingredients.

Savored with fine wine…

Uh…it’s over now. Time to hit the road for our 10 PM fight to L.A.

Darkness descends on our drive to the aiport in Lihue –

Ah- wait a minute! One last taste of Paradise!… in the airport bar. Mai-Tais all around. Eric goes green. I mean, parts with his green…

Eric buys the last round

Self-medicating ourselves to sleep through the 5 hour Red-eye to LA… that’s the plan, anyway.

Yeah, except that plan never works for me…

Is it spring yet?

Tags: Hawaiian alphabet, Kauai, Princeville golfcourse, Waiakalua Beach

This entry was posted on March 7, 2015 at 12:17 pm and is filed under Kauai, travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.