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The Lihue airport has a distinctive smell: jet fuel and flowers and heavy, humid air. I breathed in when I got off the plane, and part of me said, "ah, home." Tropical climates agree with me; my skin becomes more or less instantly supple, breathing is easier.
I took me and my rolling backpack out and rented a car, went for saimin (best handmade ramen-like soup ever!) and headed north. There were clouds, misting and occasionally actually raining, but it was warm and I'm from Seattle so i ignored it. North and north, stopping by Banana Joe's, swooping past Princeville, I know this road and these mountains and they know me. Stopped in Hanalei for a little bit, had shave ice, kept going up to Tunnels beach. The tide was out and the waves were calm, and the clouds were intermittently moving in. A hen and her chicks posed for me, and a little way further down the road there were some horses in a pasture, swishing their tails against the wet green.
I had intended to stay for sunset, but the mist had rolled in and there was no chance of good sunset pictures from where I was. So I drove back, pausing to swing onto the road that leads to the Kiluea Lighthouse, stopping to watch the sun light one of the headlands.
Then it was back down the road and to my hotel. Up again at 5 AM to photograph the sunrise and then I was on my way, stopping for a champagne breakfast in Lihue and heading to the Poipu area. I got there early enough to go look at Spouting Horn; unfortunately, the sea was calm enough that the horn wasn't spouting on a particularly regular basis. Then it was off for a tour of the Allerton Gardens.
The Allerton Gardens are a fantasy. A lush tropical garden located, ironically enough, on one of the driest places in Kauai. (which is less than 25 miles as the mynah flies from the wettest place on earth.) Queen Emma lived and gardened here, and her work was taken up by a rich man from Chicago who abandoned the mainland for Kauai after being stranded there in World War II. The Queen's little cottage stands next to the only slightly more impressive main house a literal stone's throw from the shore.
It is dense in here, with stonework that was rebuilt from the brok' down stone that had been left behind by the former inhabitants of the valley. Hurricane Iniki almost entirely wrecked this garden, but you can barely tell today, over a decade later.
It's funny how present Iniki is, still. You can see its shadow everywhere, if you know what to look for. Scars on the trees, an abandoned hotel.
I got bugbit, but it was worth it to hear "Aunty Wendy" talk story about the valley and the plants and wildlife that inhabit it. They have houses in the garden that are occupied by botanists who come to stay and study; they only accept the best of the best. It makes me want to have kept on with botany in college. There's a white house with a narrow porch that looks out over the stream and to where it run into the bay. That's where the botanists live.
After the garden and after I wandered around the cottage garden and took more pictures of flowers, I wandered down to Koloa and had mango ice cream at Lappert's for lunch, went and visited the lady at Pohaku T's (and bought a present for me and one for Bryan, which if he doesn't like I will wear), went to Hanapepe and discovered that the town is closed on Sundays, started driving to Waimea.
At that point, I ran out of steam.
In retrospect, perhaps I should have had some protein with my ice cream. I drove back to the hotel, had something to eat, drank a couple of bottles of water, and had some painkiller and a half an hour nap. Hyrated, fed, and napped, I wondered, "what should I do now?"
The answer was, "waterfalls!"
I popped over to a couple of nearby waterfalls, arriving at the second, Opekaa, a bit before sunset. Took some pictures, and then was distracted by the vista behind me. Was that...ah, yes, it was. A perfectly situated little park with some trees and a handily positioned mountain, over the river that runs through a deep valley below. Exploring a bit, I discovered there was a large heiau right nearby. This was so obviously sacred ground, and I decided to plunk my butt down and see what happened.
What happened was sunset. I say on a rock over a river, listened to the roosters crowing about the fact that the sun was going down, watched some cows grazing next to the river below. The heiau behind me turned golden and then pink. Occasionally, I took a picture. But mostly I sat quiet and listened and watched and was.
This place loves me, and I love it right back.
Yesterday morning, I took sunrise pictures and decided to leave the photographing of the Sleeping Giant for my next trip, which I'm hoping will be in the summertime a year or so from now. (Maybe two years.) I decided to wander and see what happened. What happened was a train trip on a historical (but still working) plantation, where we got taken around and shown the fields and groves and got to feed sheep and goats and pua'a (the Hawaiian wild pig). Then it was time to take care of some chores, repack my bags, put gas in the car, and go to the airport. I arrived with two hours before my flight, which meant that I was relaxed about the whole flying across the Pacific thing.
Slept through some of the flights home; South African sleeping meds win. The only reason I didn't get more sleep on the Kauai to SFO leg was because there was a little girl who was very unhappy with having to sit still, and shrieked and cried for four hours. But I managed to get in about 1:15 and was home by 2, and fell into bed. Everyone was happy to see me.
Pictures will be trickling in over the next few days as I process the ones from the big camera.
Traveling by myself is fun in some ways; it was hot and I felt free to enjoy the warmth and humidity, and I set a tough pace for myself that I knew I could keep to. Also, traveling with a photographer is hard, because there's all these random stops and "if we wait a few minutes the light might change..." At the same time, there are times I'd like to show my loves and friends this place I'm so attached to.
Some day, maybe. It would be fun to rent a condo with folks, but there are other places to go to first, I think.
I took me and my rolling backpack out and rented a car, went for saimin (best handmade ramen-like soup ever!) and headed north. There were clouds, misting and occasionally actually raining, but it was warm and I'm from Seattle so i ignored it. North and north, stopping by Banana Joe's, swooping past Princeville, I know this road and these mountains and they know me. Stopped in Hanalei for a little bit, had shave ice, kept going up to Tunnels beach. The tide was out and the waves were calm, and the clouds were intermittently moving in. A hen and her chicks posed for me, and a little way further down the road there were some horses in a pasture, swishing their tails against the wet green.
I had intended to stay for sunset, but the mist had rolled in and there was no chance of good sunset pictures from where I was. So I drove back, pausing to swing onto the road that leads to the Kiluea Lighthouse, stopping to watch the sun light one of the headlands.
Then it was back down the road and to my hotel. Up again at 5 AM to photograph the sunrise and then I was on my way, stopping for a champagne breakfast in Lihue and heading to the Poipu area. I got there early enough to go look at Spouting Horn; unfortunately, the sea was calm enough that the horn wasn't spouting on a particularly regular basis. Then it was off for a tour of the Allerton Gardens.
The Allerton Gardens are a fantasy. A lush tropical garden located, ironically enough, on one of the driest places in Kauai. (which is less than 25 miles as the mynah flies from the wettest place on earth.) Queen Emma lived and gardened here, and her work was taken up by a rich man from Chicago who abandoned the mainland for Kauai after being stranded there in World War II. The Queen's little cottage stands next to the only slightly more impressive main house a literal stone's throw from the shore.
It is dense in here, with stonework that was rebuilt from the brok' down stone that had been left behind by the former inhabitants of the valley. Hurricane Iniki almost entirely wrecked this garden, but you can barely tell today, over a decade later.
It's funny how present Iniki is, still. You can see its shadow everywhere, if you know what to look for. Scars on the trees, an abandoned hotel.
I got bugbit, but it was worth it to hear "Aunty Wendy" talk story about the valley and the plants and wildlife that inhabit it. They have houses in the garden that are occupied by botanists who come to stay and study; they only accept the best of the best. It makes me want to have kept on with botany in college. There's a white house with a narrow porch that looks out over the stream and to where it run into the bay. That's where the botanists live.
After the garden and after I wandered around the cottage garden and took more pictures of flowers, I wandered down to Koloa and had mango ice cream at Lappert's for lunch, went and visited the lady at Pohaku T's (and bought a present for me and one for Bryan, which if he doesn't like I will wear), went to Hanapepe and discovered that the town is closed on Sundays, started driving to Waimea.
At that point, I ran out of steam.
In retrospect, perhaps I should have had some protein with my ice cream. I drove back to the hotel, had something to eat, drank a couple of bottles of water, and had some painkiller and a half an hour nap. Hyrated, fed, and napped, I wondered, "what should I do now?"
The answer was, "waterfalls!"
I popped over to a couple of nearby waterfalls, arriving at the second, Opekaa, a bit before sunset. Took some pictures, and then was distracted by the vista behind me. Was that...ah, yes, it was. A perfectly situated little park with some trees and a handily positioned mountain, over the river that runs through a deep valley below. Exploring a bit, I discovered there was a large heiau right nearby. This was so obviously sacred ground, and I decided to plunk my butt down and see what happened.
What happened was sunset. I say on a rock over a river, listened to the roosters crowing about the fact that the sun was going down, watched some cows grazing next to the river below. The heiau behind me turned golden and then pink. Occasionally, I took a picture. But mostly I sat quiet and listened and watched and was.
This place loves me, and I love it right back.
Yesterday morning, I took sunrise pictures and decided to leave the photographing of the Sleeping Giant for my next trip, which I'm hoping will be in the summertime a year or so from now. (Maybe two years.) I decided to wander and see what happened. What happened was a train trip on a historical (but still working) plantation, where we got taken around and shown the fields and groves and got to feed sheep and goats and pua'a (the Hawaiian wild pig). Then it was time to take care of some chores, repack my bags, put gas in the car, and go to the airport. I arrived with two hours before my flight, which meant that I was relaxed about the whole flying across the Pacific thing.
Slept through some of the flights home; South African sleeping meds win. The only reason I didn't get more sleep on the Kauai to SFO leg was because there was a little girl who was very unhappy with having to sit still, and shrieked and cried for four hours. But I managed to get in about 1:15 and was home by 2, and fell into bed. Everyone was happy to see me.
Pictures will be trickling in over the next few days as I process the ones from the big camera.
Traveling by myself is fun in some ways; it was hot and I felt free to enjoy the warmth and humidity, and I set a tough pace for myself that I knew I could keep to. Also, traveling with a photographer is hard, because there's all these random stops and "if we wait a few minutes the light might change..." At the same time, there are times I'd like to show my loves and friends this place I'm so attached to.
Some day, maybe. It would be fun to rent a condo with folks, but there are other places to go to first, I think.
