WE'RE BACK

I hope to write more about our final week in the coming day or so. But in the meantime, the following photo, I think, says it all.



HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TO US

Today is Jill's and my 8th wedding anniversary. It's been a happy eight years, particularly the last 14 months. I love you, sweety!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MOM

Today is also Mom's birthday, though I won't say how many times she's celebrated her 39th birthday. Happy Birthday!

A WEEK ON THE NORTH COAST

It’s Tuesday and we’re now on the north coast in a rental home at Anini Beach.



Anini is located halfway between Princeville, a resort area, and Kiluea, the location of a picturesque lighthouse. The difference between the north coast and the south coast is very much like the difference between the west side of the Cascade Mountains and the east side. The north coast is lush, wetter and cooler. The south coast is sunnier, but definitely has more arid vegetation.

The north side, in my opinion, is prettier due to the wetter climate. Mountains are more dramatically carved by erosion, the jungle is more dense, and the agriculture is more varied. Hanalei is the site of a famously beautiful valley full of taro.



Geologically, the north coast has far more coral reefs off the shore, creating calmer waters for swimming and other fun. When we went for our first swim last night, Jill commented that Anini is like a giant swimming pool because there really were no waves. Gabriel loved it.

AVOID KOLOA LANDING COTTAGES

I seriously doubt anyone looking for accommodation on the south coast will bump into this website when they Google “Koloa Landing Cottages.” But just in case they do, they should read the following review I submitted to Fodors.com (and I'm not alone):

It was the filthiest, noisiest and most regrettable $150 per night we've ever spent anywhere (Sept. 2005).
The establishment has new owners that are not the same as the ones that get rave reviews elsewhere on the web - including Fodor's. The current owners are unresponsive and irresponsible in our finding.
The unit was FILTHY. Huge stains on the floor. Screens, shades and fans completely dirty. My wife had allergy issues while we were there as a result - with trade winds blowing through window screens it was still that bad. Hair left in the shower/bathroom. Mosquitos/blood killed and smeared on the walls at our arrival. Ants and cockroaches everywhere at night or day. Our second rental elsewhere at same price has been spotless.
The stove/range was completely inoperable and it took them until our third night to get a two-burner hot plate in the kitchen.
Pots and pans that were in terrible state and not safe to cook with. I won't even go into the grime and cockroach dust/filth I saw when standing on a chair cleaning up an ant trail on the wall.
Full payment is made upon arrival, so no recourse. We didn't see the female owner until we checked out. At check out, she asked what would be a fair discount/refund. She ignored the cost of having to eat out all the time and offered us minimal refund.
Having no recourse, we had to take it. She then had the gall to say that they would be buying a new stove AFTER we left (!) and then intimated that we just didn't do as good a job as she does of living cheaply as her. Traveling with a small child and at such short notice, finding an immediate alternate rental was not an option.
Until ownership again changes hands, I cannot more strongly recommend that people AVOID Koloa Landing Cottages at all costs. I have never felt more cheated by a lodging establishment than I do about this dump.

SECOND RENTAL INCREDIBLE

Our arrival at our second rental proved to be shocking: it is far cleaner and more beautiful than we could have hoped, particularly after the preceding week's accommodation.

Don't get me wrong: we had much fun on the south side swimming at Poipu beach and Baby beach, hiking, going to the market, sightseeing and enjoying the National Tropical Botanical Gardnens - Allerton and McBryde. In fact, we managed to go on a second hike, the Kukui Trail, that took us down a mile into the canyon for some unbelievable views. Gabriel had a great time going down, but coming back up he was a bit fussy if he couldn't see his Mama.

Despite all the fun, our expectations for our second rental were quite low. Well, we have been shocked ("This whole thing is ours?") It's been quite a treat the night we've been here so far and we look forward to having this as a home base for a week. Anini Beach is literally across the street. Gabriel could walk there himself, but he'd have to cross a semi-busy street. It's fantastic.

And speaking of Gabriel, he's up from his nap and we're off to the beach!

RAIN

It’s Friday, Day 5 of our Kaua’i trip, and the past three have been somewhat soggy. In Waimea last night, we heard from the local pizza joint that there are two storms off the coast of the Big Island. The result has been off-and-on showers and strong winds all over Kaua’i.

Poipu (The Sunny Side of Paradise!), our home base for the first week, has not been spared. Located on the south side of the island, it has a track record of typically-drier weather. Not so right now. There have been flash flood warnings all around and even the Allerton Garden had to close yesterday afternoon due to damage caused by water and wind. For us, vacation and rain go hand in hand.

The forecast calls for decreasing and isolated showers over the next couple of days. Then next week, when we are on the north side, it’s supposed to be much more typical this time of year - drier and sunny.

GABRIEL BECOMING A BEACH BUM

We’ve only managed to make it to the beach a few times so far: Tuesday at Baby Beach here in Poipu; last night (Thursday) at the beach in Waimea for a walk; and then this morning at Baby Beach again.

Gabriel wasn’t keen on the motion and noise of the waves when he first tried the water. He’d happily walk along the shoreline where the sand was modestly wet. Then we carried him out to waist-deep water and let him get in a bit more. He learned to relax in it, so long as he wasn’t right near a wave as it hit the beach. Towards the end of our two-hour stay, he learned to enjoy the water.

Baby Beach, hidden from most tourist traffic, is so named because of the many lava rocks out in the deeper water that do a good job of breaking up the waves.

Baby Beach


By the time they reach the shore, the waves are weak with very little current at all. The water is not deep and the sand doesn’t stretch out under the water too far, so swimming for an adult is not great without water socks. But for a little one like Gabriel, it’s fantastic. There’s even a small area of tidepools nearby, so he’s seen little fishes, crabs, and even a sea urchin.

At Waimea last night at dusk, we walked along the beach and watched the large, crashing waves. It was quite dramatic to see the large waves carry big, fluffy white foam across that beach’s black sand. Gabriel enjoyed walking through the foam with his little bare feet, leaving little foot prints all over the place.

This morning, we went to Baby Beach again and he really enjoyed himself. He held mommy’s hands and marched right down to the water to walk around in it, even with the waves. He soaked a while, then walked back out and around to the tidepools to walk on the rocks and enjoy the water. This morning he talked and giggled a lot, so he clearly has gotten the hang of the ocean.

WAIMEA CANYON AND HIKING

Wednesday, in a mostly successful attempt to avoid the rain, we headed to Waimea Canyon and Koke’e State Park to go for a hike.

Waimea Canyon


We didn’t get there until a little later, but the winding drive was worth it. At the Kalalau Viewpoint – the end of the road - we got an unbelievably clear view of the Kalalau Valley of the Na Pali Coast. The last time we were here, the valley was socked in by clouds and one couldn’t see a thing.

Kalalau Valley


On the way back, we stopped at Koke’e State Park to hike the Berry Flat Trail. It was roughly two miles and was not, unfortunately, very impressive. The vegetation was the most remarkable thing for us: groves of spindly guava trees, much passionflower overgrowth, banks of tall kahili and aromatic white ginger, and a nice assortment of coniferous trees. There were actually groves of California Redwoods that were planted in the 30s, for whatever reason – erosion prevention maybe.

We enjoyed the hike, but our theory is that for the typical Hawaiian, the vegetation is novel – conifers, blackberries and strawberries, etc. It was very much a temperate forest, in some ways like we have at home. But given other hikes that have better views of the canyon, we know we can do better next time.

POIPU: THE VERDICT

We’re having a good time visiting the south and west sides of the island. The west side has been good in particular due to its drier climate in the island’s rain shadow. Yesterday, avoiding the rain less successfully, we got to go to the farmers’ market in Hanapepe to buy tropical fruits and vegetables. And, Gabriel got to try shave ice (cold sugar water – yum!).

But in general, we find Poipu itself to be a less enjoyable location than we would have expected. Unless you’re able to afford $250+ per night at the nearby resorts, traveling independently here is difficult. Everything is spread out forcing you to drive a ways for everything including shopping, restaurants, going to the beach, or anything else, really. Nothing is really a short walk. That’s very different from other places we’ve been lucky enough to visit, like Playa del Carmen in Quintana Roo, Mexico or other places in Hawaii – like Waimea. This developed first as a resort area and it lacks the charm that a town would have. Koloa Town is more like what I’m talking about; and at least five minutes’ drive from here.

KOLOA LANDING COTTAGES: THE VERDICT

What a difference it makes to have a child. I think that now with Gabriel, we are far more concerned about certain issues of cleanliness and safety than we were before. Having said that, we haven’t been too impressed with our accommodations. Although we realize this is a rental home after all, the place is still too grimy (what exactly do they do with the cleaning fee at departure, anyway? Off Track Betting?) The gardens outside are lovely and they even have a variegated ginger plant that Jill covets. But unfortunately, we’re not renting the grounds, we’re renting the house.

We found out that the owner has been out of town and will be back today, Friday. I guess we’ll see if management will be a bit more responsive with her return. It took them three days – at $150 per night, mind you – to get a two-burner hot plate put into our kitchen so that we can prepare our own meals. The second night, they provided us with two camp-style stoves that expressly warn against using indoors. Most of the pots and pans they provide are Teflon with much of the coating scratched off or dangling, so it’s not safe to use most of them.

I suppose that given what we’ve been able to buy in accommodations elsewhere for $150 per night, including a Victoria Harbor-view room at the Hong Kong Sheraton (check out the rooftop pool and view.. it's really cool), this rental has honestly been a bit underwhelming – so far. But the view out the window is pleasant and we all are definitely enjoying our vacation, despite the weather and the stove problem. And, we hear that some sort of refund/credit offer will be likely for the inconvenience of an inoperable kitchen. We shall see.

GASOLINE PRICES – YOU THINK YOU HAVE IT BAD?

Kaua’i is presently sporting an average gas price at roughly $3.80 per gallon of regular. That’s right, nearly $4.00 per gallon. I won’t even say what I spent last night to fill up the Trailblazer we rented. Oh, and let’s not forget the $5.00 loaves of whole wheat bread.

Alternatively, Hawaiian Host Caramacs at the Lihue Wal-Mart are half the price we pay at home. Huzzah!

BEST FLIER AWARD GOES TO...

Gabriel Francis, of course. Two flights and nearly 7 hours by plane didn't seem to greatly phase him, even with a somewhat rough landing in Honololu. I arrived feeling sluggish and with a headache; Jill had the same but with a bout of nausea thrown in.

We actually arrived into Kaua'i on an earlier flight that scheduled because we remembered to check with the help desk for seats on the soonest flight after arrival. You can easily change your tickets to leave on any flight between islands... usually. That wasn't our experience last time, of course.

So now we're in our rental home in Poipu. Not all is pleasant here, yet anyway. The stove doesn't work and we haven't yet heard back from them about whether or not they can fix it. The whole point of staying in the rental home was for Jill to be able to cook things without wheat (even soy sauce has it! - not easy to avoid in Hawaii) and fix Gabriel things whenever he gets hungry. So, feeling ill and tired and having the realization that the rental house is defective, it wasn't a pleasant day yesterday.

Ah, but Gabriel is a trooper... literally. He's trooping all over the house on his own, even holding objects in one hand and both. He's really taking to walking very quickly and happily. He still falls on his behind frequently, and he still will wall-walk and crawl, but his bipedal wanderings are longer and more ambitious each time.

It'll take a while for all of us to get used to the time and daylight difference. We're three hours behind Pacific time. We were all basically awake by 4:30am local time this morning/7:30am Pacific. All in good time, I suppose.

Well, we have arrived safely and we're looking forward to daily adventures. We'll keep things updated as time allows. Gotta run.. Gabriel got his head caught in the backpack.

Okay, back. Here's a message from Gabriel:

ug thyvj nbvhy`dub` n hghtyhgbv cdc``n j8h87

Aloha!

GABR-GABR-GABR

Little Boy has slowly been learning to say his own name. His babbling started out as gobba-gobba-gobba.. sounding a little bit like a gobbling turkey. But recently, he's added a distinct "r" sound to the end and he's clearly saying gabr-gabr-gabr.

A skeptic might say he's just babbling random sounds. But what a coincidence that his babbling should be growing in complexity and similarity to his own name, a word he hears us say very regularly. We don't think it's coincidence.. he's clearly mimicking the syllables of his name.

Speaking of mimicking, here's a shot of Gabriel growling back at me and showing off his teeth.



He also now has 11 teeth, can stand on his own without assistance from object or person and is taking a few steps in between furniture. He's learned how to make the Indian tremolo sound with his hand and mouth.

UNCLE TOM & AUNT KATE VISIT

Gabriel got to visit with his favorite aunt and uncle, Kate and Tom. They flew up from Sacramento to visit for a long weekend. Activities were a bit limited with Gabriel's nap schedule and the fact that Kate unfortunately caught the cold that was passing around up here. I was knocked out by it and didn't make it to my company's summer barbecue as a result.

But when they were here, Gabriel quickly reacquainted with Tom & Kate and had a great time playing with them. We had smoked red (sockeye) salmon on the grill before they left, so the weekend wasn't lost.

Thanks for coming up!

FUNDRAISER UPDATE

We recently received another $300 donation and a $35 donation, bringing the grand total up to $1,835.

Thank you everyone for your generosity. We greatly appreciate it. We urge you to also give to charities helping with Hurricane Katrina aftermath.