Kauai bonus tracks

This is the misc category...

There are chickens all over Kauai, people have many excuses for why, who cares, when this guy is watching you eat, you kind of wonder when they are gonna take over.

Second trip to shrimp station lead us up to see waimea canyon and this is what we saw. If you have been there, you know what we are missing, if you have not look up the image and see how sad this is.

We did not take a pix at jojo's because it was pouring rain and we ate inside and it was dark, here is some shave ice photo evidence, from a less delightful but still consumed shave ice place.

Random picture of a moment that the blue sky showed. seriously random and that is why there is a picture.

Hula Pie, a famous dessert that my friend Keahi loved to talk about. We tried it and loved it, it is true that sailors would swim to shore for this. You can find this at Duke's restaurants, they have a bunch on Kauai and Maui.

Whoever owns the land that the Coco Palms hotel is on I hope you get to develop it, Mike and I will be playing the lotto and hoping to be the money behind the magic because it is a shame that is decaying on such a nice spot. If we do not win we will come stay when you open it up. Our wish is for malasadas, shave ice and shrimp on site so we do not need to really leave.

Food on Kauai

Navigated by stomach lead us first to the shrimp station where we found 4 different kinds of peal and eat shrimp and 2 kinds of fried shrimp. First we tried garlic and spicey thai both were good. two days later we were back for more and tried the cajun and sweet chili again both good. We did not want to mess with the less work fried variety and focused on the mess making kind. Down the street from Shrimp Station is JoJo's shave ice, the best we had on the island.

Luau on Kauai

We went to the Smith family Luau on our trip to Kauai. Here is what you need to know, you get there, you look at beautiful gardens, which on a nice day are probably fabulous, for us it was muddy. About an hour after you arrive they remove the pig from the Imu and then the bar is open from about 6 to about 7:30 when they move you to the show portion of the night. Food is ok, if that is your reason for going. Mai Tai's are decent, and you can get a pretty mean chi chi that is on the rocks from the bar. If you have a lot of these free drinks the dancing portion looks a little funny. We liked the way the lady dancers kind of sang along and chanted. Money well spent.

Tiger man

OK I admit people amuse me. The guy I got to sit next to on the plane from Minnesota to LA for our flight to Hawaii was over the top and needs some time spent telling you all about him. First off we are boarding the plane and looking for overhead bin space and there was a guy coming up the aisle as everyone was trying to come down and I said to him, can you step into a seat so we can get past you. He was kind of frantic and was yelling at someone further up in the plane so I tried to just disregard him all together. I went to row 30 where we were sitting and put my butt in the aisle chair waiting for Mike to come down the aisle to take the window and I would move to the center seat. The "guy" yells down the aisle to me "hey that's my seat" I was like is this guy for real, I yelled back I would be moving over and to keep his shirt on. Really I should have said pants because then I realized he was wearing tiger striped zooba pants. Mike and I went through our "sorry roger you tiger now" giggles and settled in. Tiger guy comes and takes his seat on the aisle and is leaning over me to look out the window, when he informs me that they are loading his dog on the plane and he is sitting back here with us so he can watch and make sure they do not drop any dogs. Automatically I am like OK this guy is worried about his dog, I can simmer. Further inspection shows this guy has a ponytail and has put on tiger striped reading glasses, more giggles. So of course we start talking and he tells us he is a taxidermist in MN and I had to ask, does he have a tiger. Apparently yes, but it is a rug, in a box and an antique. He is on his way to LA for the Ultimate Dog Championships and his dog is a champion in the agility category. Celebrity sighting this early in our trip, so lucky am I. Over time I learn his wife makes his zoobas because they do not make them anymore, and she likes to find the crazy fabric for him, because it is his schtick. sure. Zooba pants were created in MN so he is just a home town guy going to a big city to show off his champion dog. We wished him well and I can not find a picture of him on the internet or I would have one here for you, because seriously he was a genuine character.

Mountain Tubing

First of all when we signed up to do this, it was a warm sunny morning before we went to our Helicopter ride. As you know from the helicopter ride the clouds came in and started to ruin our Kauai parade, just like Maui. Needless to say we woke up to clouds and rain on Friday and knew we were committed to sitting in cold mountain water, great. After being outfitted with helmets, headlamps, and gloves we got to ride in a cool Swiss mountain vehicle that had 6 wheel drive up to the drop in area. Once there we got to walk into the cold mountain stream and put our butt in the tube and were given the instructions to keep your ankles crossed, arms and elbows in and away we went. The canals and such were made in 1860-1874 to fuel the sugar plantations with the needed water for growing. The water looked like the chocolate river from Willy Wonka but taking water in the face on a "rapid" proved it to taste not good. There were 5 tunnels we got to float through the longest being 3/4 of a mile long. Tunnel 5 has some kind of indigenous endangered bat living in it so we rode through with no lights. I felt like I was going down a side tunnel and away from the group and had a moment of serious panic where I almost freaked myself out enough to fall out of my tube. Lucky for us a kid was more scared than I was and he kept turning his light on which showed me that I was still with the rest of the group. Mike relays that the kids face was priceless, so scared, and he would get yelled at to turn out his light, and a few moments later it would be back on. I was to busy calming myself down to see this. So to recap water cold, but a very cool ECO tour and worth your time and money. If you are going to go to Kauai this is something you might want to make a reservation for before you go as apparently it is booked up months in advance. I bet it is awesome when it is 80 and sunny, but even 70 and raining was fun. And now that you know, when you go into tunnel 5 just put your hand on another persons tube so you do not feel so alone.

Kauai from the air

Things were looking up in Kauai. We arrived to sun and went to try Hula Pie. A dessert often mentioned to me from Keahi. It was good. We tried out the pool at our hotel and actually saw stars when walking on the beach at night. After our orientation breakfast we booked a helicopter ride around the island thinking we needed to maximise the sunlight. As we were waiting at the chopper pad the sky was getting dark and they still let us go up in the air. It was a beautiful and amazing ride and kind of scary too. We got to look at the Jurassic park waterfall and they played the music while we were doing that and got to go kind of around the island. The rain was coming east so the pilot did some fancy maneuvers to get us around to the Na Pali coast and the only thing we really missed was the Wailea Canyon which we can try and drive to if it ever stops raining.

Maui the weather sucks, but the food...

This is evidence of the brown surf. Then the last day in Maui we woke up early, it was dry and we went to go to Lahina to shop and have some breakfast. Only the Typhoon stopped us. Next pic is out our lani in Ka'anapali the pool water was level with the concrete and running toward the main building of the Hotel. We flew to Kauai at 2pm, our flight out was the first one of the day because the airport had been closed during the thunder and lightning earlier in the day. But all was not lost in Maui. We had yummy Malasada's (Portuguese donuts) that were hot out of the oven/fryer. On the road to Hana we spotted this fun bathroom door, that I gave a big kick to and now have a black eye to prove it, just kidding. We stopped at a roadside stand for pork tacos and got to try breadfrui. It actually had the texture of white bread, we ate it with butter and sweet chili sauce and it was tasty. More pictures of Hana and good times there in the rain to come, the battery on my camera died after the breadfruit so Mike has to do some work before you can see the black sand beach.

Maui

Sunday in Maui we started by going to a bar at 8am to watch the MN football game. On the way back we put our toes in the ocean. Based on the storm system that has come through it is the only good day to have done it. Now the ocean is full of runoff and sand and the water is brown and gross. Pati and Eric got married at 5 on the beach and the sky cleared and the sun started to come out for them. We got to watch the lighting of Black Rock as part of our walk out on the beach for the wedding. The woman that married Eric and Pati. Mike and I had seen earlier in the hotel and named her Chaka Kan after her very beautiful hair. She sang to Eric and Pati and gave them a very beautiful ceremony that brought tears to many...even me.

Flying monkey

Bella has a toy that is a flying monkey. The first one was a gift from Kari from back in the days when Bella lived in my car in the EB parking lot. Bri and Kari had bought it at a gas station and for whatever reason this toy became one of her favorites. Its days ended in Seattle when she almost got to the part that houses the electronics that make it scream when you throw it. Here in DC I found her a new one at Bed Bath and Beyond, that is really beyond if you ask me but she was very glad to have it. She has proceeded to chew the face off and now it smells bad so she is due for a new one. I picked one up on Friday while at the B B &B and carried it and the other things I had bought out to the car where Bella was waiting for me. Now that it is colder I take her along as my sidekick so she does not cry in her kennel at home. I left the bag in the car to go run other errands and came back to the car to find Bella and the new monkey laying in the drivers seat. BAD DOG. How did she know that was in there, what must it smell like to her that she can sniff it out like that, and what a weird obsession she has with the flying monkey. The rest of the drive I had to keep pushing her head away from the bag as she was trying to get it back out, she knows it is for her. Now you probably think I am mean and why not let her have it. Well I have my reasons. When we go to Hawaii at the end of the month our friend Isaac is staying with Bella for us so I bought it for HIM to give to her while we are gone so she thinks he is a cool guy and associates him with the arrival of the new monkey. So there.

Halloween 07

I can not resist I admit I am that person. I have to dress up the dog she hates it and that might take like 10% of the fun out of it. We got this costume at Target, love that place. The head piece has slits for her ears to pull through and then Velcro's by her neck so there was no way she could get it off, this is a genius move by someone and people should really note that. I could get her in way more things if this was done. Anyways we are not endorsing Bee Movie and I called her bee girl and tried to get her to dance like the blind melon video, and she wore this thing almost all day. As a kid I remember wanting to sleep in your costume and Mike spared her that and she slept in her regular cute outfit. Oh and notice how her stump of a tail is the stinger. We did not have to pay extra for that it just was there. I dressed up as an unemployed person which meant I wore sweats and my hair in a pony all day. Mike had some special things going on at work so he wore his dress uniform, turns out that is not a costume to him.

Disneyland day 2

Second day we hit the park again, starting at California Adventure. Got some GIANT corn dogs and did the park. Going on a Monday meant that there was no one there. Mike and I rode the rides saw the Muppet 3-d movie and even got on soar'n a second time in the few hours we were there. We joined the fam over at the Happiest place on earth and had some fun with the Streets that were there hiding from any news that something might have happened to their house that was evacuated from the fires. I cannot think of a better place to try and escape from that. Turns out their house made it so that is good.

Disneyland day 1

We went to LA for my grandma's 80th birthday. Managing to swing the trip into Disneyland as well was not hard to wrangle the Lennox clan into doing. Sunday night mom, dad, Mike, Sara and I hit the park in the middle of the Santa Ana windstorm that was blowing dust and sadly lots of smoke from the wild fires that were burning down there. We got to see the Haunted Mansion Holiday that is a personal favorite and did our best to do the whole park in 5 hours. The place is done up for Halloween because why do anything small.

Chinese food

I know every family has traditions and you can not really explain them to others. Ours involves this random Chinese Restaraunt in Whittier CA where we have gone for years. We get the big tables in the back with the lazy susans and everyone orders 1 dish for that will be shared with the family. Sara always orders the hot and sour soup because it is her favorite and a large bowl comes to the table and gets put in smaller bowls so everyone can have some. I had not clearly explained these traditions to Mike so we sat down at the table and he decided he wanted to have some Egg Flower soup. That did not go over well and from now on he will be known for that action. He quickly caught on and even supported wearing a napkin on his head as is tradition at the Chinese restaurant. Again do not ask it has gone on so long I do not even know anymore. Assume it all has something to do with my dad, if you know him, you will understand this.