Saturday June 25th

We left Sacramento by car in the late afternoon and arrived in Oakland (near San Francisco) a couple hours later. We are traveling with Petra‘s parents to Hawaii to attend her brother’s wedding. After checking in to the hotel for an overnight stay before the Hawaii flight in the morning, we went to a nearby Italian restaurant (Francesco’s) for some dinner. It was good and we all ate a lot of the great bread too. Then Petra’s dad and I dropped the car off at a lot and caught the shuttle(s) back to the hotel. We’ll see the car again in a week or so. Now it’s time to get some rest. There’s a very early wake-up call with my name on it.

Sunday June 26th

It was an early morning. The shuttle came to take us from the hotel to the airport at around 7:40 or so. At the airport, Petra got frisked and felt and her hands checked for something (powder residue or who knows what). Just lucky, I guess. It was a long flight to Oahu and a very short one from there to Kauai. The good news, they actually served food on the flight. The bad news, nothing vegetarian at all. Someday when I am king things will be different 😉   Anyway, then we waited to get a rental car. And waited. And waited. Yes, Budget took about an awful, slow, hour and a half to get us a car. But we finally made it to the hotel around four-ish in the afternoon. And that even included gaining three hours because of the time difference. We found a natural food store and cafe almost across the street and got a pretty good sandwich and artichoke salad, then hit up the nearby Safeway for some supplies for the week, mainly breakfast and snacks. OK, some beverages too. We got back to the room and got the Internet wi-fi up and running in the room (always very important) and played with that for a short while, then met up with most if not all of the wedding party  out on the lawn and patio by the ocean for some drinks, snacks, and conversation. Then it was time for some shut-eye. The evening breeze here is great and the temperature at night was lower 70s. Tropical, lush, beautiful. But enough about me…  haha…

Monday June 27th

It was a leisurely morning. Sometimes I like it that way. When you can sit on your patio and watch the ocean waves, well, what’s the hurry? And later in the morning we visited a bit on the lawn near the ocean. That all built up a powerful hunger (it doesn’t take much for me) so Petra and I walked over to Papaya’s, the nearby natural foods store that also sells hot and cold prepared foods and had some lunch. Then it was time to get ready for the wedding. Yeah, remember, that is the reason that we came to Hawaii. At least one of the reasons 😉  We drove about 45 minutes or so to a beach (Shipwreck Beach) on the south end of Kauai. The wedding was on the beach and went off really well. Everyone was happy and the bride and groom especially. After the ceremony and what seemed like a million photos, the wedding party of 18 went for dinner at a place called Brennecke’s. Most people had the seafood, or some had the beef. We know better than that (haha), so we had the vegetarian burgers. Hey, they were one of the cheapest things on the menu and were actually pretty darned good. So was the mango margarita, now that I think back on it. So, after a long dinner and drive back to the resort, we were “home” for the evening.

Tuesday June 28th

First off, a big birthday shout out to our granddaughter Josephine! Now, as for today, we went to downtown (old town) Kapaa. We wandered around and looked at a bunch of galleries and shops, including a great glass art gallery called Kela’s. We had a really good lunch at the Mermaid’s Cafe (plenty of vegetarian and vegan options) and also got a “shave ice” nearby. Then we took a drive up the coast, almost until the road ended. The island is so lush and beautiful and green. On the way back, we stopped at a farmer’s market. They have some really unusual fruits and veggies here! Next stop was a store to pick up a cable so we could hook our MP3 players up to the boom box in the condo, then a quick stop at Hilo Hattie, a Hawaiian chain that sells hawaiian stuff to tourists. Then we had some snacks with Petra‘s Mom and Dad and after that we called it a day, which it obviously was.

Wednesday June 29th

As with most of the mornings here, we had some fruit and cereal in the condo room, checked email and Facebook, and then were ready to start the day. We walked back dwn to old town (downtown) Kaapa, a mile or so. Of course, it’s always warm and a bit humid here so we absolutely needed a “shave ice“. Better than a snow cone, the ice is a fluffy snowy consistency so that the flavorings stay more in the ice and less collect at the bottom. Yes, there is a difference. We looked around the town for a while and of course got hungry again. We went back to Mermaid’s Cafe, yesterday’s lunch site too. We both ordered a different item from yesterday and (yay!) these were really good too! By then it was mid-afternoon. We rented some bikes for only $5 each to go for a ride. They didn’t take a deposit or license or credit card or anything. Very trusting. There’s a 4.2 mile path, about 8-10 feet wide that goes up the coast, along the ocean, sometimes near the cliff, sometimes a little further in, but still all along the way during the ride there was an amazing view of the ocean. The parts nearer the edge (still plenty safe) were almost breathtaking in the views of the ocean. We took a few breaks and rode the whole trail up and back. The breeze was very refreshing and it was a really enjoyable time. Then we walked back to the condo. But by then – you guessed it – we were hungry again! So we walked back a half mile or so to a mexican food restaurant we had seen earlier in the day, called Verde. They had a bunch of unusual vegetarian and vegan options and the food was very good and the portions were generous. Yeah, baby, that’s what I’m taking about! We came back to the condo and visited with the family and friends for a while and another day was done. I can see this trip will be too short, I can tell that already.

Thursday June 30th

Mornings here are so nice, with the ocean not far outside the back door and patio, waves crashing softly and the vast blue ocean stunning in it’s clarity and awesomeness. We had some fruit and cereal in the room and were ready for more of beautiful Kauai. Today’s first destination was the Kauai Coffee Company, the largest coffee producer in Hawaii. We took the self-guided tour and learned about the coffee process. Of course there were samples of about 15-20 different coffees too. On the way back we stopped at a Hawaiian shopping mall and looked around a little. Yes, it was almost exactly like a mainland mall. Not much to see there, and and yes we skipped the Starbucks. Once back in Kapaa where we were staying, we went for a shave ice for some cool refreshment and then picked up a few supplies for the next couple days at the Natural Foods Store and Safeway. We had a nice dinner with Petra’s folks at Shivalik Indian Cuisine. The dinner buffet was really good, all vegetarian except for two chicken dishes which we easily avoided. And all you can eat! Then back to the condo. I actually got in the pool for a few minutes, which doesn’t happen very often. Then it was off to bed, there’s a full schedule tomorrow.

Friday July 1

We were up early because the tour bus was picking us up at 7:30 or so. We had booked a tour of some of the main Kapaa attractions on the south and west sides of the island, and it was pretty much an all-day event. We saw some of the south side as we rode to pick up other travelers. The first official attraction was the Spouting Horn, a blow hole by the ocean where the water shot up into the sky. Apparently there were once two of them, but the larger one was dynamited because the salt water was ruining the nearby sugar cane. There’s no sugar cane or pineapple grown in Hawaii anymore to speak of but there is a big crater where the other blow hole once was. All along the trip our guide pointed out neighborhoods and landmarks and told us history and folklore about the places and about Hawaii in general. Cool! We also stopped at Waimea Canyon, the “grand canyon of the pacific”. It’s a large, impressive canyon but nowhere near the size of the real Grand Canyon (see our pics from that trip). This one was really colorful though, with all the lush green vegetation and the red dirt. We also saw the site of a former Russian Fort, now gone except for some of the stone pieces. Mid-day we stopped at Joe’s On The Green for lunch. It’s a nice restaurant on a golf course. Then we had a quick stop at the Kauai Coffee Company. We had been there the day before and had spent more time then seeing it. Next stop was the Wailua River tour, on a large barge down a beautiful river. At the end of the ride was the renown Fern Grotto. It was very pretty and we’ll have some pictures of everything up soon. On the boat back they provided some Hawaiian entertainment and at one point they had us all doing the hula. Yikes! It was a long tour in total, nearly ten hours. Then the whole group of us (mostly), went to Brick Oven Pizza for a dinner. The pizza was ok but the two margaritas were better. Then back to the condo, tired but feeling good after the long day.

Saturday July 2

Today we headed back to downtown Kapaa. It was our last full day in Hawaii for now and we totally needed some of the great vegetarian/vegan food at Verde for lunch. Is Mexican food the best kind of food or not? You can leave a comment about that if you want, but regardless, we were totally loving this lunch. Then we rented some bikes and took another ride up and down the coastline (read about the bike path). It was so beautiful and fun we had to do it again. Can you guess what came after that? Yep, shave ice. I think this one was half mango and half coconut. We hit a little rain here and there but in Hawaii no one really cares because it is still near 80 degrees and it stops in a few minutes. You just “hang loose“, as they say here. We took a leisurely walk back to the condo and hung out there for a bit, looking at the nearby ocean and relaxing. Great, great, great! We had dinner nearby at Kapaa Pasta, which was very good Italian food and also a pretty nice place. Then it was time to get some rest, tomorrow it all ends.

Sunday July 3

Got up early and packed, then to the Lihue Airport on Kauai. First was a short hop to Honolulu then a couple hours later a big plane to Oakland, California. We saw the movie Soul Surfer on the plane, which was entertaining. We also lost three hours because of the time zone changes. So, by the time we drove home from Oakland and finally got back to our house it was near midnight. But I can still picture that ocean right outside our condo in Kauai. The picture up above in this post is from the condo patio. It was a beautiful place, the island of Kauai, and I won’t soon forget it.

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