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Back to Reality

February 27, 2016

Saturday, January 16, 2016, our last day on vacation in Kauai. How about we do one last lunch at Kalypso in Hanalei? It’s jammed with folks watching the NFL play-off game between the New England Patriots and Kansas City Chiefs. It’s hard to maintain conversation over the raucous Patriot fans as Tom Brady, paired with Ron Gronkowski on offense, combined with their defense, beat the Chiefs 27-20.

Yeah, Eric, but do you know what the kitty on your shirt is doing?

Innocent Kitty

Alert kitty

Sniper kitty

“Oh no! Danger danger!”

Yeah, well, just trying to keep the mood light. Stave off melancholy on our last day in Paradise. Take a minute to be grateful that we no longer have Eric leading us over streams, darting ahead across the rocks on his cat paws

Hey, we didn’t agree to this

We have to follow, of course…

Not funny, Eric

You feel the melancholy of our last day too? Well, here’s one last image of Paradise that you could affix in your mind, as I have – a ‘happy place’ you can go to

Paradise

It’s overlooking Sealodge beach, just before you hike down. And how about a video of the waves crashing on the rocks at the bottom of the hike at Sealodge:

I must post two more photos of Paradise I took at Secret Beach

Secret Beach

With the Kilauea Lighthouse in the far distance.

Aloha, Maholo, Kauai!

Yeah … transition to … Sunday morning, January 17. We have landed at the LA International Airport at the end of our Red-Eye flight from Lihue. The plane lands, you force your body up out of the frozen seated position you’ve been in for the past six hours. Shake some blood into your lower extremities. Deplane in the emerging twilight en masse with the hoard of passengers in a zombie parade. Squish into a line to catch a bus that will transport you to your next terminal (hopefully the right one). We’re on the bus now. I snap a photo out the window.

Who takes off next, our bus or that plane? Guess my brain isn’t firing on all cylinders yet.

Well, we do make our next flight – to Salt Lake City. I capture photos of the frozen landscape:

Over the Sierra Nevada’s?

You know, to entertain me, because I can’t sleep:

Nearing our descent into Salt Lake City:

We’ve landed. Making the 4-hour drive from the airport north on I-15 to Idaho Falls now, with David at the wheel, Eric up front, me shivering in the back…

Yep! Northern Utah in mid-January.

It’s called ‘winter’

Crossed the border into Idaho now…

The Abominable Snowman could be there somewhere

We’re starving, of course. When did we last eat? We pull over at the Gas Station/Burger King/ pit stop in Malad.

Welcome to Malad, Idaho!

“Shop Malad this Holiday Sea on.” “Sea On” – actually makes sense, as in … Sealodge Beach, Secret Beach, Larsen’s Beach… in that ancient parallel Universe.

So what kind of shopping do you do in Malad, Idaho?

We found out when we ordered Whoppers and grabbed one of the last available tables. All kinds of folks filled tables around us, couples, families, groups of men, groups of women, young and old, unrolling and scraping wads of … lottery scratch tickets, filling in long pink scraps of paper … Powerball tickets! The last Powerball drawing had occurred this past Wednesday, yielding 3 winners that split a 1.6 billion dollar jackpot. Folks in here today are filling out tickets for the next Powerball drawing. We’re witnessing lottery pandemonium in this little pit stop in Malad, Idaho. But why so many people in this little town in the middle of nowhere? Ah, perhaps because there’s no gambling in Utah? Malad happens to sit right on the Idaho/Utah border. Welcome to Malad, Idaho, your Utah lottery ticket headquarters. Buy your tickets here!

Your Utah Lottery ticket headquarters, complete with ATM!

Fast forward 2 hours… we’re approaching our driveway now. There’s Eric’s van…

Oh goody, we’re home

Time to dig out…

Eric still in his shorts from the ancient parallel Universe

‘Brrrrr!’

David shovels out the driveway first thing.

Yes, we’re back home in our winter Paradise.

All shoveled out, Jan 17, 2016

Contrast the two Paradises,

Paradises from two parallel Universes. It’s a stretch, but I’m going with it.

You know, anything to stave off melancholy.

Tags:Idaho, January 2016 powerball, Kauai, LA international airport, Malad - Idaho, Sealodge beach, Secret Beach
Posted in Idaho, Kauai, travel, Utah | Leave a Comment »

Ka’aka’aniu (Larsen’s) Beach

February 20, 2016

Say it with me, “Ka-ah-ka-ah-nee-oo” Beach.

Okay, “Larsen’s Beach.”

Geez. You’re still in Kauai? Isn’t this like, your 8th blog about your dumb January 2016 trip?

Yep.

We’re about at the end of our trip, though, I promise. (Sigh)

If you’ve read all 35 of my previous Kauai blogs covering our past five January trips to Kauai, then you might recall one of our favorite beaches, Larsen’s Beach. (Sure, Jody.) I blogged about our first visit to Larsen’s Beach two years ago. And again last year.

David, Eric and I returned to Larsen’s Beach this year, too, on Friday, January 15.

Larsen’s Beach is full of surprises. First of all, it’s a surprise to realize how hard it is to find Larsen’s Beach. Located in a secluded area on Kauai’s northeastern shore, it’s accessible only by dirt road. From Princeville you travel south on Kuhio Highway and just after mile marker 20 you hang a left onto Ko’olau Road. Travel on Ko’olau Road for about a mile and the road forks. Take the left fork onto a dirt road, Larsen Beach Road. Follow the dirt road till it ends. You will likely turn on at least one wrong dirt road before you find the right one.

Hint: The dirt road ends. You park. Walk toward ocean. You’ll know you’re at the trailhead to Larsen’s Beach when you come to this sign:

Which brings us to Surprise #2: ‘Swimming is less than ideal.’ Unless you’re suicidal. Deadly unseen currents have killed how many? ‘Strong currents channeling through the reefs exist even in perfectly calm conditions.’ One site I Googled said, “If you go in, wear a rash guard to protect against prickly sea urchins and sharp coral on the bottom.” Oh joy. Rash guard? Well, unless you’re a full-blown masochist and/or enjoy cutting yourself.

Ah but the water is so perfectly calm and beautiful!

Dip your toe in

Larsen’s Beach is about a 2-mile narrow stretch of sand backed by brush and trees. Including a Surprise # 3 – Nude beach. I mean, Naturalist beach (uh, Naturist beach, corrected per comment below). We discovered this on our first visit two years ago: January 25th, 2014. We were walking along the brush and trees, minding our own business, sat at a picnic table to rest, when we noticed a bare bronzed bather. I photographed and blogged about the experience (zoomed an i-Phone photo to make sure my eyes weren’t tricking me). Here’s the link to the blog for those of you with a dirty mind, uh, I mean an appreciation for the beauty of the naturalist human form. Actually if you click on the link, scroll down to the end of the blog. No! Don’t click on the link! Oh, come on, you want to! Stop being so decadent, Jody. Who cares anyway? CLICK ON THE LINK! (and scroll way down to the bottom).

Surprise # 4:

Darth Vader Bumble Bee…

Looks like a bumble bee

I had never seen such a bee in my life. You can see it has really fuzzy legs for pollination. Upon further research I learned that it is a female Carpenter bee. They are quite fascinating creatures. Carpenter bees are solitary bees. Females live alongside their own daughters or sisters, creating a small social group. They enjoy kaffeeklatsches (Ha, just kidding). They make nests by tunneling into wood. Each nest has a single entrance (very neat), almost always a 1/2 inch diameter near-perfect-circle. The entrances may have several adjacent tunnels. (Cozy!)

Female Carpenter bees have stingers but they are docile and rarely sting unless handled or provoked.

Male Carpenter bees, on the other hand, are harmless. They do not have a stinger and their face may be white or yellow (face color possibly predetermined by how much and the manner in which, previous generational males handled or provoked females.)

Surprise # 5. Hawaiian monk seals:

Hawaiian monk seals are a highly endangered species – a ‘conservation reliant endangered species,’ which is why we see them on Larsen’s Beach – we were walking near their nesting grounds. Monk Seals are the only seal native to Hawaii.

I almost walked right by this Hawaiian monk seal without seeing it:

Don’t bother me, I’m a log

The small population of about 1,100 individuals is threatened by human encroachment (not us, of course), limited gene pool, entanglement in fishing nets, marine debris, disease, and past commercial hunting for skins, according to this wiki-article.

We saw four Hawaiian monk seals on our round trip walk to the arch. Along the way we ran into Surprise # 6: The albatross nesting area.

Do not disturb!

The magnificent Albatross are also an endangered species. We accidentally walked right by this nest and tried to act invisible as we approached our destination…which is,

Surprise # 7: The Arch at the end of the lava rock outcropping half way down Larsen’s beach…

the sea is roiling here:

The surf crashing against the rocks in front of us

ooooo- David’s sexy shoulder

And swirling through the arch at the end of the point

I captured a video:

Walking back along the beach I couldn’t resist zooming in on this Hawaiian Monk seal’s face:

Surprise # 8.

Yeah, Kauai’s spectacular Ka’aka’aniu (Larsen’s) Beach!

A ‘must-see’ – once you find the right dirt road that takes you to it!

Tags:Carpenter bees, Hawaiian monk seals, Kauai, Larsen's Beach, nesting Albatross on Kauai
Posted in Kauai, travel | 2 Comments »

Makauwahi Cave Reserve

February 14, 2016

Tuesday, January 12, 2016, the five of us pile into the SUV and drive down the east coast of Kauai to the southern tip near Po’ipu (another site where Six Days Seven Nights was filmed). Past Kapa’a we come alongside Sleeping Giant:

Sleeping Giant – ‘shhhhhh!’ don’t wake him!

Our first hike is to the limestone sinkhole known as the Makauwahi Cave Reserve.

It is a sinkhole within a large cave system formed in eoliantite limestone (for you rock hounds) containing the richest fossil site in the Hawaiian Islands – 10,000 years of sedimentary records.

Here is a photo of the sinkhole:

Makauwahi Cave – limestone sinkhole

And a link with lots more photos of the cave.

The view from on top of the cave edge:

Hiking back now

Visiting the tortoises (you can climb into their fenced enclosure and visit them up close and personal):

From here we walked along Keoniloa Bay

The shoreline is made up of rocky cliffs

Hey, no worry, we found a soft cushy place for a picnic

What’s your definition of ‘soft and cushy?’

Nice view toward Gillin’s Beach

Time to head back now

Building up a sweat!

David – even his sweat is sexy

Hey just dive into the ocean to cool off

Uh, maybe not.

Driving home now – back up the east side of the island. We’re starving! Stop in Kapa’a for lunch at Eastside restaurant.

Interesting artwork on the walls. Coconut spirits!

Sign says, ‘Paul Vilja, originally from Finland, is a prizewinning woodcarver. When he retired on Kauai, he became inspired by the mystical characters he saw hidden in the coconuts. Now he releases these spirits for all to enjoy.’

On the restaurant’s outside patio we meet this struttin’ rooster

‘Struttin’ cool’

Stealing the show. And the sidewalk. Don’t mess with him!

Later we’re out to dinner at the Baracuda, one of Steph and Vic’s favorite restaurants in Hanalei.

Now dear reader, in honor of Valentine’s Day, a special treat for you. From my dear brother, Eric, a.k.a “Cuddles Cutes”. A video I took of him while we were waiting for our dinner at the Baracuda.

“My heart’s beating for you.”

There. You feel just a little more loved now, don’t you?

Tags:Baracuda restaurant, chickens in Kauai, Makauwahi Cave, Sleeping Giant
Posted in Kauai, travel | 4 Comments »

‘On location’ in Kauai

February 6, 2016

One thing to do in Kauai is visit locations where Hollywood movies and other shows were filmed. Even if you’re not specifically planning to visit movie locations, you might enter a landscape or terrain on a hike where you suddenly feel you’re in ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark” or something. This happened to me on the first hike we made in the Wailua River Valley, four years ago. I seriously half expected to run into Harrison Ford and the filming crew just around the next corner. We did run into a filming crew once on one of our hikes.

We hiked the Wailua Ridge again this trip and I blogged about it two blogs ago (with lots of pictures, the picnic table near summit, the two trails that connect to form an arc…) I just now did a Google search to see if, indeed, some of ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’ was filmed here, and came across this entertaining 90-second youtube video entitled ‘Me at Raiders of the Lost Ark Film Locations”

It’s cute. Captures the excitement you feel imagining (complete fantasy) that you are part of a (defunct) movie set where you’re the hot shot celebrity (you’re totally un-photogenic) showing up for filming. Wait! Check your makeup and hair! Your posture! People are photographing you! (This fantasy dissipates in about 7 seconds, thank goodness, when you heave a sigh of relief that you are just an ordinary hiking and sweaty Joe Blow, and you’re not stuck in this humid location filming on set for the next 12-16 hours.)

Just to keep the fantasy going, here’s my photo of Anahola Mountain or ‘Kong Mountain,’ featured in the video above.

Anahola Mountain

I took it Monday, January 11 – we had just pulled off highway 56 near Anahola and parked as close as we could to Papa’a Beach. Eric had convinced David and me to check out this film location from the movie ‘Six Days, Seven Nights,’ a 1998 adventure-comedy film starring Harrison Ford (once again) and Anne Heche, who get stranded on a remote deserted island after a plane, piloted by Harrison Ford, crashes. They spend most of the movie on this tropical island (Kauai) trying to get rescued, fall into a cave, jump off a cliff, etc. Near the end of the movie, at Papa’a beach, they crash a plane.

Here is a topographical map of Kauai, which shows you how remote and rugged most of the island is, and why they would film this movie here:

Kauai

Roads travel mostly along the exterior edge, and up into interior near the west. But they do not circle the island. You travel one way and then back again.

Six Days, Seven Nights, released June 12, 1998, was filmed in three locations on Kauai: the Na Pali Coast on the northern end of the island, Papa’a Bay, near Anahola on the northeast side, and Shipwreck Beach, on the southern tip near Po’ipu. All these locations are popular tourist destinations.

So, here we are today, Eric, David and I, checking out Papa’a Bay where the plane, piloted by Robin (Anne Heche), crashes on the beach near the end of the movie:

Papa’a Bay – just the right size for a small plane crash and beach scene

I snapped a photo of the beach from as about close as we could get to it. While filming the movie, ‘Six Days Seven Nights,’ the producer, Peter Guber, decided he liked the pristine beach and surrounding area so much, he bought it, 174 acres, for 7.2 million dollars. Although the beach itself is public, the access road to the beach is now private. Guber built a compound on the property that includes a 13,000 sq. ft. mansion, two guest houses, caretaker’s quarters, stables, tennis courts. He decided to sell it in 2009. The property made history for being the most expensive for sale property on Kauai when it was first listed for 45.6 million. It eventually sold for 28 million dollars.

While the owners can make it very difficult for people to access one of most pristine beaches in Kauai, they can’t keep people like me from taking photos of the mansion, zooming in on the photo to get a better look, and then posting it on my blog

Yeah have you thought about the next hurricane Iniki?

Along with the scoop behind why the public cannot access the road to one of Kauai’s most beautiful public beaches, Papa’a Beach.

Well, there’s plenty else to see in Kauai. After this little adventure we continue down 56 near Kapa’a to Donkey Beach. Here there’s plenty of parking and a handicapped accessible paved walk to the beach. It’s really quite lovely – you pass through a tunnel of greenery from the parking lot to the beach.

Passing through the tunnel. Find Eric’s backpack.

We sat and picnicked on the beach under a grove of trees.

Practically had the whole beach to ourselves. We met about five other people.

Then we walked out to a rocky point overlooking a secluded cove, and sat a while to take in the ocean and sounds of crashing waves. Watched three whales breeching in the distance. I captured this photo. David’s profile…

David, with his movie star good looks.

Walking back to car now

Star presence too. Eat your heart out, Harrison Ford.

Tags:Donkey Beach, Filming 'Raiders of the Lost Ark' in Kauai, Filming sites in Kauai for 'Six Days, Kauai, Seven Nights'
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Princeville, January, 2016

February 4, 2016

Sunrise!!

January 13, 6:55 AM

Over Princeville, Kauai.

Every 7am the five of us walked the golf course,

January 16, 8 am

which is currently closed for repairs. On one section of the course we curve around the entrance to Anini Beach…

Black hole that leads down to Anini Beach

On previous years David, Eric and I would head into this black hole that takes you down about 150 vertical feet to Anini beach – you know, for a cardio workout and ‘fun’. Climbing back up is a killer. Eric and I just flat out refused to do it this year. Hey, this is supposed to be a vacation! David did it the first couple of days we were here this year, you know, to prove he could. No one volunteered to go with him.

I blogged about this black hole to Anini Beach last year and posted photos of us climbing back up:

David and Eric hiking back up from Anini Beach last year – you call this a vacation?

I also posted a photo of the sign by the Anini Beach entrance in my blog last year. Here it is:

David last January – starting down

Well, here’s the sign this year:

It’s further degenerated to include the word ‘pis.’ Haha. (No. We’re not angry.)

I captured a lot of photos along the golf course of the tropical foliage and birds. For example, who doesn’t love the ‘Bird of Paradise’

It’s a bird, right?

Or the Hibiscus, the Hawaiian state flower:

The Ginger blossom below comes in a variety of colors

orange ginger

I’m not sure what this next flower is

a Great Uncle to the Queen Emma lily? (pictured below):

Fancy bouffant hairdo!

otherwise known as the ‘Giant Spider Lily.’

Not to be confused with … giant spiders:

Web large enough to trap a human?

Eric is terrified of spiders and I freak out over webs so we assigned David the lead on morning hikes – especially since he towers over us by a good six inches. Carry a big stick to knock down webs before they encase your face and upper torso!

What you are seeing is the common Kauai garden spider. They’re all over the place. They spin a broad classic round orb web, usually with a zigzag band of silk running through the center. Here you see a closeup of a female, with yellow and black stripes.

Kauai’s common garden spider – ‘Argiope aurantia’

And now a special bonus for you spider lovers…

Two garden spiders. Can you find them?:

There’s (at least?) two garden spiders in this photo

Hint: Look on opposite sides of the picture. The one on the left – you can see the zigzag band of silk running through the center of its web.

Doesn’t that just make your day?

We always see Nene geese, the Kauai State Bird (an endangered species) near the golf course

Yay, babies!

And mating Albatross,

Two more early evening photos of the Princeville golf course,

Jan 12, 6:19 PM

Driving past the Princeville fountain now…

January 2016

To shop at the the local grocery store, Foodland.

David and Steph entering Foodland

Headed back to our car now with groceries. Not even 20 feet from the front door, on the walkway to the store’s entrance, we see this hen

with her clutch of tiny chicks.

And inside the store they charge 8 dollars a dozen for free range eggs?

Yeah, well you just try to catch a chicken, or find their nest …

Tags:Anini beach. Princeville, chickens in Kauai, flowers of Kauai, Nene Geese
Posted in Kauai | 2 Comments »

Kuilau Ridge Hike – January, 2016

January 31, 2016

My brother Eric was always poring over the Ultimate Kauai Guidebook finding new hikes.

On Wednesday morning, Jan 13, Eric found some obscure waterfall and convinced David and me to take off with him on a trail head looking for it…

So far so good …

Uh oh. Looking a little rough

Just add rain to make this really fun

“We’ve lost the trail, Eric.” Uh, where’s Eric?

Find Eric

Thank goodness for his girly-girl back pack. See the pink and blue dot? There’s a method to his madness.

“We’re turning around, Eric.”

David leads the way back out.

We bailed on the waterfall hike – decided at this point to return to the Kuilau Ridge hike that we had already partially explored with Steph and Vic on Sunday, three days ago.

The complete Kuilau Ridge hike consists of two trails that start at opposite trailheads and meet to form a 5-mile arc: The Kuilau trail and the Moalepe trail.

To hike the whole trail at once you’d have to park a car at each end. The Kuilau Trail hike is the shorter, more popular trail of the two. There is a picnic table near the summit.

Steph, Vic, Eric, David and I hiked the Kuilau trail to the picnic table and back three days ago, Sunday, Jan. 10. It’s 2.5-miles round-trip. Let me take you back now to that Kuilau Trail hike three days ago with Steph and Vic. I’ll start with us trying to park…

I snapped a photo of the parking lot. Note the Brown Sign posted at the edge of the lot:

“Do not block gate.” it says

“We’re not blocking the gate”

Furthermore, ‘Do not block car blocking gate’:

Not blocking car blocking gate

The parking lot accommodates about 6 cars. Needless to say, it was full.

You have to park? Oh, too bad.

We managed to park alongside the road, off the curve enough to be safe but not get stuck in the mud. We found that ‘two left wheels on pavement’ works okay if there hasn’t been a recent rain. Just don’t get run over getting out of your car.

It’s a gorgeous hike.

Kuilau Ridge Hike

When Steph and Vic, Eric, David and I arrived at the the picnic table on Sunday it drove Eric nuts to know there was still 3.5 miles of unexplored trail in front of us, where Kuilau Trail joined with the Moalepe Trail.

So, fast forward three days, to today, after our failed hike to the ‘waterfall’ – Eric coaxed David and me into hiking the Moalepe trail from its trail head at Olohena Road, to the picnic table, and back – a 6 1/2 mile hike round trip. If we do it we will have hiked both trails, and covered all 5 miles over the ridge from trail head to trail head.

We are driving to the Moalepe trail head now. It’s a bit of a challenge finding Olohena Road, on account of the main route to it is closed. Next thing, we hang a sharp right on this road…

through a residential section. I was sure glad I didn’t have to give verbal directions … ‘Hang a right here! on … uh, Ka-nee-poo-oo-noo-ee Road!”

With David driving and Eric as navigator we found the trail head on Olohena Road just fine.

It was totally worth it! Here are more photos of our hike:

At the picnic table now.

Eric setting a new male fashion trend in backpacks

With our spirit guide. I snapped this egret’s photo from about 4 feet away.

‘Oh boy, another annoying tourist’

Headed back down now…

I mean, up … this spot is really slick after a rain. We know this because Steph fell on this muddy slope four years ago, the only other time we’ve done this hike.

We stopped where the Kuilau and Moalepe Trails meet – took photos of the signs:

Soon we hiked past this big ol’ ancient tree

Moss does not grow fat on a rolling stone

and jungle foliage

We arrived back home a collective hot, sweaty and exhausted mess. But it was nothing a hot shower and Kauai sunset couldn’t remedy.

Eric was so happy by the end of the day he broke out in song and dance.

To his favorite Garth Brooks tune, “Friends in Low Places.”

Yeah, I know. I’ve no idea who he’s referring to.

Tags:Kauai, Kauai sunset, Kuilau Ridge hike
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Jurassic Park! (uh, in a video…)

January 28, 2016

Last year Eric, David and I did the ‘Jungle Hike’ – and I wrote a whole blog about it – on February 8, 2015, here’s the link to that blog post if you want to learn all about our trip last year. What gave us bragging rights is that we walked through the original gate to Jurassic Park. I’ve the photos to prove it! Here’s the Gate (in case you did’t see last year’s blog). Just the posts are still standing:

Jurassic Park Gate

Here’s Eric and David walking through the gate:

Proof that we entered Jurassic Park

Well, it’s a super ordeal getting there – heading inland from Wailua on 580 you drive several miles on this rutty dirt road dodging all manner of puddles, ruts, pot holes, ditches, and exposed boulders. We drove through a pond last year, after David got out, waded in it to make sure our vehicle could clear it. (I posted a photo of David knee-deep in the murky pond.)

But, hey, the weather is drier this year. and David rented a bigger SUV. ‘Let’s do it again this year!’ Eric pressures us. ‘Victor, you and Steph have to see the gate to Jurassic Park!’

So, this year, on Sunday January 10, we all pile in the SUV – drive down the east coast of Kauai to Wailua – enter Wailua River State Park. Cross two spillways. Drive on that dirt road again – Kuamoo Road. The road has clearly deteriorated since last year. The potholes are wider, protruding boulders bigger, and deep dry ditches traverse the road. David finally pulls over. “Let’s walk from here…”

A couple in a Jeep roll by – they had 4-wheel drive. A few minutes later here they come back – the road was too rough – only passable by ATV or motorbike. Dang it! We walked the last few hundred feet to the pond we drove through last year – and turned around and returned to the SUV.

I snapped one picture only (hey, I couldn’t sit still enough to take a photo in the bouncing SUV). When we got back to the SUV I turned around and took this photo of the impassable road that leads to Jurassic Park. Hey, wait a minute. Do you see what I see? A vortex.

Kuamoo road swallowed by a vortex?

It appears Kuamoo Road has been sucked into a vortex. Could this be the real reason why it’s impassable? This could also explain the origins of Eric’s shirt that he wore yesterday – you know, the crazed kitty fluorescent psycho vortex shirt. The vortex sucked Kuamoo Road in and in so doing, blew Eric’s shirt out.

It’s just a theory. How else could you explain the origins of such an indisputably hideous shirt?

Well, I think everyone should be able to get to the Jurassic Park Gate. Last year I found this youtube video of the Jungle drive/hike through the Jurassic Park Gate. Someone videotaped the whole drive on Kuamoo Road through the Gate and beyond. They filmed it on February 5, 2012 – 4 years ago, when the road was in much better shape (and obviously before the vortex). I posted it on my blog last year, and will do so again now because it’s really cool (and the Hawaiian music really helps relax you and take your mind off your body being tossed around like a rag doll as you drive).

You can fast forward the video – at the 2:15- minute place you will get to the pond we drove through last year but turned around at this year. You will go through the Jurassic Gate at 5:09 minutes.

Well, that about wraps up this blog. I don’t want to start wandering around now worried about vortexes, well, okay ‘vortices’ around any next corner, waiting to suck me in. Although it might help explain those driving situations like today where I hit every light red through the downtown and progressed toward home so slowly it actually felt like I was driving backwards.

Tags:Jurassic Park Gate, Kauai, Kuamoo Rd- (580), Wailua River State Park
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Kauai 2016 – Part 2

January 24, 2016

Blizzard of 2016 slamming the U.S., burying most of the east coast in at least a foot of snow?

Let’s go back to Pila’a Beach! This next photo was among the photos I had taken at Pila’a Beach and blogged about in my last post. I had left this photo out! – The ancient banyan tree near our picnic spot …

Find the Buddha

A perfect place to meditate. I showed the photo to David. This picture got left out of my last blog! I said. “All that’s missing is the Buddha,” is what he said.

Sit with the photo for a bit …. ‘Ommmmmmmmm…’ Can you find the Buddha? ….. um …..ommmmm …..uh, …. mmm …

Yes? No? Yeah, well, this is the image that greeted us at breakfast, bright and early the next morning:

Why don’t you drive us insane, Eric, with your shirt?

It’s brother Eric, wearing his crazed kitty shirt, or fluorescent whirlies kitty vortex migraine headache shirt, or something. Geez, Eric. Isn’t the Kauai sun bright enough for you?

One of our favorite hikes is to Sea Lodge Beach, which we walk to from Steph and Vic’s house just by crossing a couple of holes on the golf course. Eric, David and I visited Sea Lodge Beach several times. Steph came with us once. Here we are, on the golf course.

(You can also drive to SeaLodge Resort and park near the trail to the beach, but that’s just too … sensible?)

David is watching like a hawk for golfers tee-ing off and flying golf balls. He leads the way along the edges of the course, and we follow. Notice the signs posted at the trailhead to the beach

Caution – this trail is extremely dangerous. It is steep, slippery and hazardous…Use at your own risk….

Eric has already started down…

We crossed a little creek and then entered a banyan tree mini-jungle.

An elevated rocky narrow path takes you along rock cliffs to Sea Lodge Beach. We only made it to the beach once. A couple of families with young children made it too.

They scrambled across that narrow ledge along the rocks, hopped down onto the beach and were immediately in the water, snorkeling. The beach is quite secluded.

Sea Lodge Beach

Walking back now – here’s David navigating the narrow path along the cliff.

Wouldn’t do this after a rain!

There’s a beautiful spot on the rocks along the way where you can sit and enjoy the crashing waves, which is where we usually hiked to.

On our way back up now:

We met several roosters and hens with half-grown clutches, cock-a-doodle-do-ing, clucking and pecking.

And a lizard. There is one in the picture below. Can you see it?

Find the lizard

… Near the center of the photo. Pretty well-camouflaged. The top of its head is orange. Still can’t see it? Look where the branches form a ‘Y. Yea!

Back up on top now near the trailhead taking in the view:

We hit our favorite place in Hanalei for lunch – the Kalypso- and ordered a round of their killer Mai Tai’s, called Iniki’s – named after the 1992 killer Hurricane Iniki, the worst hurricane to ever hit Kauai, that freed the chickens (and pigs, and goats, and…) on Kauai.

I captured brother Eric’s state-of-ecstasy expression once again (see last year’s blog)

after our round of Iniki’s was delivered. (Just kidding Eric, I was in a state of ecstasy too – those drinks are fantastic!)

After lunch we drove to Lumaha’i Beach, on the north side of the island just above Hanalei. It’s just off the road. It has the finest sand and a very impressive surf. Here we are, walking the beach:

Lumaha’i Beach

Well, David, Eric, and Victor are walking the beach. That’s Stephanie walking along the shore where the waves are crashing.

We stop to rest and take in the action and sounds of the waves

And of female voices and laughter

More Mermaids? But of course, certain male members of our group insist we stick around on Lumaha’i Beach a bit longer to investigate…

Tags:Kalypso Restaurant in Hanalei, Kauai, Lumaha'i Beach, Pila'a Beach, Sea Lodge beach
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Kauai!! January, 2016

January 23, 2016

What? Again?

Yes, this is our fifth trip to Kauai – five years running! – to visit Steph and Vic at their second home in Princeville, Kauai (and yes, I’ve blogged about all of them – you can read my previous 28 Kauai blogs under category – Kauai). My sister and her husband escape to Kauai for most of the Boston winter. Paradise!

But what’s an experience in Paradise without company? Enter, my brother Eric (a.k.a. ‘Cuddles Cutes’ or ‘Mountain Goat’) and David and I! (Pinch myself)

It’s a bit of an ordeal getting there. First, I arrange companions to stay with Megan (and Rudy) for 11 days. We hit the road from Idaho Falls late afternoon Wednesday (Jan 6), then drive to Salt Lake, stopping for dinner at Red Lobster in Layton, Utah…

Red Lobster – Wed. Jan 6, 2016 – Kauai here we come!

We stay in a motel, and rise at 3:45am for 6am flight to Los Angeles. Of course, we hardly sleep before the flight. And I can’t sleep on the flight. So I take pictures. Here we are above LA – descending for a landing!:

Los Angeles – Beautiful photo!

‘Hey, anyone can take an ugly photo like that!’ You say. Yeah, but do they?

Our flight from LA to Lihue was about 6 hours. Over the Pacific Ocean. I actually paid attention for once, when the stewardess gave her spiel about a crash and how and when to put on oxygen, how to find flotation device, where the nearest exit was and not to inflate my rubber vest until sailing down the slide toward the water. (Okay, so we’re goners at this point.) I allowed myself about 5 seconds to think about that Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 with 239 people aboard, that disappeared from radar, went missing, and presumably now lies somewhere on the bottom of the Indian Ocean. (Stop it Jody, you’re on vacation! Try going to sleep!)

45 minutes before scheduled arrival to Lihue, and islands come into view!

Then more islands!

Hawaii!!!

We arrive in Lihue about 2pm, Thursday, January 7, rent a car and head over to Princeville, on the north side of the island. Settle in at Steph and Vic’s.

Our first hike is on Friday – Pila’a Beach in Kilauea.

There was a bit of a hike down to it. Hike would have been slick after a rain but was dry and safe today.

Overlooking Pila’a Beach

Then we cross a stream….

Eric leads the way

Picnic under a giant coconut palm tree

A fallen coconut has sprouted a baby tree

already putting down roots!

Visiting any beach in Kauai usually involves climbing over rocks

Pila’a Beach

Oh look! (Eric noticed it first…)

A mermaid!

A stop at Paco’s Tacos to pick up (local wild caught) fish tacos

Then off to the organic grocer’s to pick up ingredients for Victor’s dinner at home.

Here one day, and we’re already 500 per cent healthier!

Tags:GMO Free Kauai, Kauai, Pila'a Beach
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Aloha, Mahalo … Spring!

March 14, 2015

I should be done blogging about our January trip to Kauai, I know. Except, FYI, when I left off we were still in Kauai – at the airport bar in Lihue – sucking down Mai-Tai’s. You might be worried about us. (Huh?) You know, that we might drink too much, fall off our chairs, and miss our flight. (Could we be so lucky?) As you might recall, we were self-medicating in the Lihue Airport Bar so as to induce sleep on the pending 5-hour Red-eye flight to LA…

Alas, we’ve boarded the plane now.

You’re posting this ugly photo?

I’m still taking photos since I can’t sleep – sandwiched between Eric and David. David has drifted off to sleep. Eric is awake, and he and I start scrolling through the photos on my I-phone… We pause on the photo of Eric at the Kalypso Restaurant in Hanalei, you know … (I’ve already posted this photo once, but I can’t resist…)

Eric having an ecstacy experience

We’re laughing uproariously over the photo. And our laughter is cackling through the dark silence of the plane like a bolt of thunder in the night sky over sleeping campers. It’s the first moment I realize the plane has gone completely dark and silent, because everyone is trying to sleep. Sleep? I try every method possible to coax myself into sleep, counting my breaths, counting backwards from 100, counting sheep leaping over fluffy clouds … I do apparently drift off to sleep, as suddenly the pilot announces we are descending for a landing….

We land in LA at 5 AM. Although feeling pretty brain dead, Eric and I decide to try and find breakfast. David says he isn’t hungry. I don’t know where we ended up. We didn’t have much time and the pickins’ were slim, if that helps explain it. All I know is, we end up in this fast food court and I order what Eric orders. Ranchos Heuvros – or something. I don’t speak Spanish. I don’t typically eat Mexican food either. This is what we get:

How do you spell delicious in Spanish?

Black beans on one end of a black plastic sectioned plate, rice on the other. I like to mix them. Tortilla in the middle with fried eggs on top. Not sure what that is on top of the eggs. The egg white is tough as lizard skin, I discover, as I woefully attempt to cut it with my fork. I taste a bean. David moans in disgust watching us trying to eat. I dunno. Could any food look edible at 5:27 AM, jet-lagged and sleep-deprived?

Fast forward seven hours – we’ve landed in Salt Lake and are driving the last 140 miles home to Idaho Falls.

Eric’s fur lined leather bomber hat magically appears on his head. Was it in his coat pocket? I’ve changed from flip-flops into the frozen soles of my winter shoes that had sat in the truck our whole trip.

Good news awaits us, weather-wise, over the next six weeks. All we weather is a couple of bouts of hoarfrost

January 21, 2015

And a skiff or dusting or two of newly fallen snow.

The winter snow had melted off by mid-February, a full month before it normally does. David and I took this selfie in our front yard on February 15.

Does it look like spring to you?

We were going to send it to Victor’s I-phone as a joke. But then, that just seemed too cruel. Victor and Steph left Kauai at the end of January to spend the rest of their winter in …. Boston. Ouch. (Need I repeat how miserable their winter has been, likely the most miserable winter in Boston history…) I kindly have not kept Steph and Vic abreast of the goings-on for us here in southeast Idaho weather-wise. Suffice it to say, we had the warmest February on record, from records kept since 1850. That’s the warmest winter in at least 165 years, with an average daily temp of 47.1 degrees.

So, yeah, time to put a wrap on the Kauai blogs. Heck we’ve had crocus blooming here for several weeks. And we noticed yesterday, the robins have returned. Or maybe they never left this year.

But wait! I do have one more photo of Kauai – taken on our hike in Wiamea Canyon.

This one’s for the ladies:

This picture’s for you, Steph

Now you have a new ‘happy place’ to escape to. You know, like if you’re on a plane or something, trying to lure yourself to sleep… Or if you live in, say… Boston.

Tags:hoarfrost, Iniki Mai Tais, Kauai
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The Decompression of a Boomer