Aloha from Kauai

Here are our Aloha shots...last sunset in Kauai. We head back to the
mainland after a most wonderful vacation. Keith is already planning our
adventures for next year, so I have a year to try to get into shape. We
are still trying to get everything into our suitcases.

What's wrong with this picture?

Sunday- last day

Todd's underwater photography is improving! He got a great shot of the
yellow Tang, and a pretty good shot of the Humuhumunukunukuapuaa. (yes,
I spelled it correctly)

Sunday at the Sheraton

Todd feels a little cheated because our room looks right out on the
green pool and he was hoping to photograph beautiful girls in bikinis
right from the room. We only had one visitor to the pool.
The other picture is of a jolly Hawaiian sculpture in Old Koloa Town.

Sunday-our last day

Today, as we were walking in the Costco parking lot, Todd said, "Today I am finally feeling relaxed, like we are on a vacation." We haven't done anything yet today.

Hot dog lunch at Costco: $1.50
Shopping for gifts: $100
Being able to take a 20 minute nap in air conditioned room: Priceless

Ginger

Here is my beautiful bouquet of ginger. Isn't it pretty? There are
tiny centipedes in it, too!

Here's the sunset

We reached the Kalalau Lookout just at the right time. This is the
sunset over Niihau. Keith pointed over and said "my brother is right
over there". An alert tourist, with eyes a big as saucers, said, "Did
you say your brother is over there? How could he be there?" . Keith
said "Because we own the island". That was funny. I waved at Niihau
and yelled "Hi, Bruce", because on this trip, that is the closest we'll
get to seeing Bruce. He is very busy setting up the first
all-solar-powered school in America. He had to get it finished before
the Governor was coming to see it this next week. Up until now, Niihau
has never had electricity, so this is a big deal.

Ginger

A part of the road was lined in ginger! It smelled so wonderful. Keith
hopped out again and made a nice bouquet for us to take back to the
hotel. It is very fragrant. In fact, I put the boquet in the bathroom
and Todd almost got sick last night when he tried to brush his teeth!
The bouquet is very beautiful anyway. I used the wastebasket as a vase.

Yummy fruit

At one point, Keith hit the brakes and jumped out...He couldn't imagine
why hikers had missed this bush with the most delicious fruit. So he
picked as many as he could reach and gave them to Todd and me. The
first one, i just put right into my mouth, but that wasn't the way to
eat them. You have to peel the papery covering off and then pop the
berry into your mouth. I can't remember the name now. Maybe Art will
know. Keith thinks they can be grown in Davis!

Todd's Back-of-the-Truck Photography

Todd is now in the back of Keith's truck once again as we head off into
the back country of Waimea. We crossed a beautiful stream and headed
into some places that were forested with cyprus and later with Japanese
Sago trees. It didn't even look like the tropics of Kauai! But it was
very beautiful. When we get to the lookout at Kokee state park, we will
be at 4000 feet elevation.

Waimea trip

Now why did that chicken cross the road?

Waimea Canyon

Then we hurried up the canyon highway and checked out Waimea Canyon. It is fun to have Keith there, because he starts pointing out all the cliffs he had climbed as a youth and all the tourists start edging over to us to eavesdrop. It is quite a phenomenon to watch. Keith was quite upset that there has been so much erosion in the canyon due to all the goats. He and Bruce had spent quite a bit of time in the past shooting goats to try to slow them down.

Waimea Canyon Store

We were supposed to meet up with Keith at the Waimea Canyon store, which
is owned by Keith's dear friend, Pam Dow. I thought that aloha shirt
would fit me, but not quite. Pam is my dear friend now, too!
Especially since last year, she gave me a pair of Niihau shell
earrings! And "we" just charged it to Keith! This year "Keith" gave me
a beautiful dolphin mirror. It is really beautiful. I can't wait to
get it home and put it out. Thank you, Keith! We waited around for
Keith to arrive, but he wasn't showing up, so Todd and I drove down to
the beach for a dip in the ocean. Then Keith called...he had forgotten
about us! So he met us back at Pam's store and i thanked him for the
present. By now he was feeling soooo guilty and remorseful that he had
forgotten us, that he was glad I had picked out a present! So that
worked out well.

Day 10? We've lost track of time.

This is our entrance to the Sheraton...the discount entrance. We are
heading out today to go north to Waimea Canyon. We will meet Keith at
some point and he is going to take us into the "outback" country of
Waimea. On the way we stopped at the Red Dirt Factory at Port Allen so
we could pick up some deals at the factory. I mean, you have to have a
shirt that is washed in red mud, don't you?

From the jungle to Hamuros

We did make it back across the river rocks before it was dark. But it
got pretty dark in the jungle once across the river...partly because
Keith took a "different" route (not purposely) and had to use his
machete to get us through the thick plant growth and back to the truck.
On the way home, Keith offered to buy us dinner at the Liquor store, so
we stopped there and got some nice Lilikoi fruit juice. From there, we
followed Keith back to Lihue, where he introduced us to Dwayne, who has
a little hotel for a much more reasonable price than the Sheraton!
Dwayne called it the "Bates motel" and you can stay there for $45 a
night! So if any of you want to come over here without spending a
fortune, just let us know and we'll get you in touch with Dwayne.
After we left Keith, we found the locals spot for a good meal- cheap!!
Before we got here, we didn't even know what a "saimon bowl" was. Now,
I think we could have this every night! for $16, we got two big bowls
of Saimon- homemade noodles and soup- and 4 sticks of barbequed chicken
and beef. Yummy!
We were wishing we had invited Keith along, but, since he gets up at
3:30 am, I figured he needed to get home to sleep. Anyway,
it was fun sitting there with all the locals and eating our Saimon with
chopsticks and soup spoon (no forks there).

The Helipad

We found Keith working hard on the Helipad he has created. The other
helipad you saw earlier was on the other side of the island. He had to
clear out thick guava trees by hand to make this beautiful spot. I asked
Keith what the name of the high mountain is and he didn't know. I told
him to name it Mount Barbara, so when the tourists come, it will at
least have a name! Someday tourists will land here and maybe hike
down for a swim in the pond. Today Safari Helicopters was making a
trial landing to see if they want to add this to their tour. Keith took
the 2 men into the jungle to show them the pool and posted Todd and me
to watch the helicopter "just in case". We did our job well, and there
were no armed drug highjackers in sight. We weren't sure how we could
have protected the 'copter if we were attacked. But at least we could
photograph the bad guys. The walls of rocks you see in the clearing are
from ancient Hawaiian taro fields. The tour guides would call this
"ancient sacred grounds of the Hawaiians" i think.
This year, Keith let part of the movie "Tropic Thunder" be filmed here.

http://imdb.com/title/tt0942385/

The Robinsons have also shared their
land for "South Pacific", "Jurasic Park", and "Dragonfly" and probably
others. Tropic Thunder stars Ben Stiller and will be out next year.

The trek to the pond

We had to cross the river 3 times over rocks. These rocks might look
harmless enough, but they are very slippery and dangerous. We didn't
get there until late afternoon, so I was pretty sure we would be coming
back over them in near-darkness. But one worry at a time. When we got
to the secret pond, Todd and I were both dripping with sweat, so we
couldn't wait to get into the water! Keith left us there while he hiked
up the hill to do some work...for "about 2 hours". The water was
absolutely fabulous and fresh and cool. We probably could have just
taken drinks of it as we swam... untouched, fresh water. No humans for
miles. But... lots of mosquitoes! Keith always tells us to wear long
pants and long sleeved shirts. I didn't have a long sleeved shirt, so I
asked Keith to bring along one of his shirts. Keith forgot, so he gave
me his mosquito netting to use. I'm not too sure how to use it, as you
can see. We had our picnic then headed out to try to find Keith. We
found a skeleton of a cow, one frog, and some guavas, but it took us
many tries to finally get up to the clearing where Keith was working.

Adventures with Keith

Off we go to the north side of the island. We met up with Keith at the
little liquor store in Hanalei (where we got the great Hawaiian sushi),
we purchased more of the good sushi and a very different home-made
coconut-banana-type dessert, also wrapped in saran wrap, and off we went
to Waineha to Keith's property, through the gates, designed to keep out
the drug traffic and up into the mountains. Todd took his post in the
back of the truck while I sat up with Keith to hear more great stories.
Keith, in the past, would stop the truck and strap on his Glock , but
now he says there is a new sheriff in Hanalei and he has arrested most
of the bad guys that would try to trespass onto Keith's property. Now we
only have to look out for the wild pigs.

Beach walk

Here we are taking our morning beach walk. At this point, I'm wondering
if it will be our last, since this is a "Keith" day.

Day 3 - Kauai Sheraton

Look! Our pool is getting cleaned! Reminds Todd of the scene from
Caddyshack. By tomorrow, our last day, it might be usable.
And here comes another bride! The next 2 pictures are the pool and
beach from the rich side of the Sheraton. I wonder if the bathrooms on
the expensive side are large enough to allow you to close the door once
you are in there...