The Decompression of a Boomer

You’re kidding, right? The 58 blogs you’ve already written on Kauai aren’t enough? Yep. That’s what I was thinking when we returned a month ago. Enough with the blogs. You’re back from Kauai. Get your feet in the now and get on with your life!

My husband David, brother Eric and I have visited my sister Steph and husband Victor in Kauai every January since 2012, skipping 2020 and 2021 during COVID. Our daughter Megan joined us last year and this year. So, no! No more blogs! Until yesterday, when it was still snowing and I was looking through my photos and videos. And they carried me back to Kauai …. You wanna go?

Tuesday, January 10 – David, Eric, Megan and I hit the road about 4 pm for the 200-mile drive from Idaho Falls to Salt Lake. We will spend the night in a motel near the airport and fly to Kauai tomorrow.

We’ve made it 30 miles already, to Blackfoot! The weather isn’t cooperating.

It’s a rain/snow mix the whole way. Here we are south of Brigham City, Utah about 6:07 pm. My i-Phone says our location is ‘Willard’

Here, I took a video. Turn the sound up to complete the experience from the back seat.

We pull off the freeway in Layton, UT into Red Lobster to grab dinner. Yay! Time for a toast! Let’s kick off this vacation! Margaritas for the old farts and a coke for Megan.

Oh joy. The weather was sure busy while we were celebrating. Back out to the truck at 8PM.

We drive our last 10 miles to the motel through a raging snowstorm.

Wednesday, January 11 – 8:40 am. Navigating our way through the Salt Lake City International Airport. You can spot Eric in his ‘Kauai-ready’ orange shirt, Megan behind him, and David next to Megan.

I’m always striving to keep up, even when I’m not taking photos.

We flew to LA and then onto Lihue without a hitch. Rented an SUV and drove about 45 minutes along the east side of the Island to Princeville, at the northern tip. Arrived just in time for dinner!! Tuck yourselves in for a good night’s sleep, we have lots of adventures ahead…

Thursday, January 12. Good morning Princeville! Jump in the car to about anywhere and you circle the fountain.

Princeville was named after Prince Albert, the only son of King Kamehameha IV and Queen Emma, who died in 1862 at the age of four. Of course, the fountain doesn’t look particularly Hawaiian. The Roman fountain was constructed in the early eighties by Australian business tycoon Christopher Skase, who purchased 7,000 acres in Princeville. He was inspired by the Fountain of Love when he visited the Cliveden house, one of England’s grand county houses, and commissioned a similar fountain on his property in Princeville. For several years after it was placed vandals frequently sabotaged the fountain and even stole Neptune’s trident. But it has become a beloved landmark. Check out this link to learn more: https://princevillefountain.com

So, off on our daily morning walk! Along the Hanalei National Wildlife refuge. Why did the Nene cross the road?

Because they own the island. Nene geese are the Hawaiian State bird. And a protected endangered species. How lucky to see a pair with two little ones!

Or perhaps they were crossing the road to get away from chickens. In all my blogs I have mentioned the wild chickens, shared photos of chickens, but never on any of our previous trips have I been up close and so personal with so many feral chickens as we were on this trip!

On this walk in Princeville we took along a bag of wild bird seed. There were chickens and roosters pecking about, lots of fowl sightings and sounds. Eric threw some bird seed out. I took a video. Can you keep count of the wild chickens who scurried from every which direction?

Yes, these are feral chickens. Think you could catch one? Ha. Here’s a fun link about the wild chickens of Kauai: https://koloalandingresort.com/how-many-chickens-are-in-kauai/

The article explains that the wild chickens of today are a blend of jungle fowl and farm hens. “Different theories have hatched over the years but the locals will tell you that the first wave of chickens came ashore with the Polynesians over 1000 years ago. Then in 1982 Hurricane Iwa hit … and the winds destroyed most of the Island’s coops and blew countless chickens out of farms, scattering them from coast to coast.” Ten years later, in 1992, hurricane Iniki hit, further scattering the chickens. The locals don’t bother eating them as their meat is notoriously tough and untasty. Which begs the question, why would you bother trying to catch a wild Kauai chicken?

We sure ran into a lot of them on this trip, one path in particular, a wooded trail beside the Westin Resort. Megan and I walked it several days in a row, just to check on the little chicken families we had become attached to, the industrious hens and their tiny broods.

I imagine about every waking moment of a young chick’s life is a learning experience. We humans could learn a thing or two about tough love from these seasoned mother hens. Like in this video. Mother showing them how to forage for food, but lets build in another lesson

Now you listen up little chicks. You could be knocked on your ass in an instant! And if you get kicked to the curb ….

Pick yourself up and try again!

You could also call on daddy to intervene

Okay, in case you haven’t had enough videos of feral chickens on Kauai to last you a lifetime, or you don’t care for videos, I’ll throw in some photos.

Yeah, good try little one getting over that curb in the picture cut from the video. You didn’t make it, did you?

Enough already on these chickens! Yeah, I guess I should add a sunset or something.

Did I mention that Kauai has palm trees?

With this, I’ll call it a wrap! Huh, what’s tomorrow’s theme? Wild boars?

Tags: chickens on Kauai, Kauai, Nene Goose, Princeville fountain, Princeville Kauai

This entry was posted on February 28, 2023 at 4:36 pm and is filed under Kauai. 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.