Tuesday, July 05, 2011
Hawaii 2011: Part 2
Now for the rest of the story.
We did get another day, the 4 of us. That day, we went to Waimea Canyon. Initially, we had hoped to hike there, but Cait was still favoring her ankle. This canyon is supposed to be gorgeous, look like the grand canyon just in Hawaii. Right. Desert in the Jungle? But, this side of the island is pretty dry, and it WAS sandy, and layered, and colored, and it was pretty spectacular. At the top of the mountain, it rains a lot – on the west side, it doesn’t.
From the very tip-top of Waimea Canyon Drive, you have a view of Kauai's western shore. Like in the fairy tales, the western shore. And, just like in the fairy tales, there is a valley which has not changed in 1000 years, it’s the home of the gods or Brigadoon or fairyland, and it’s green and fruit grows off the trees and you can live by picking it and just lounging around. It’s emerald green, and it is impossible to get there unless you can fly. We saw that canyon from the cliffs 3000 feet above, and its name is Hanakapi'ai. Cait says, I didn’t
know you could be homesick for a place you’d never seen. 
After that, though, we saw a fabulous double rainbow and had ice cream. And we went to Wailua Falls on the way home.
And the next day, Bob wasn’t feeling too well, so Elizabeth and I went for a hike to a waterfall, and by this time we’ve forgotton the names of all the waterfalls, but Kapahi Falls was really nice and had the special “shampoo ginger” that Sun gave us. . (Sun is one of the people who runs the farm where Cait works). It also had cool vines which made houses resembling geodesic domes. Kapahi5. And that afternoon, Bob STILL was feeling yuck, so Elizabeth and I went to the beach ou
rselves and just splashed around in the water. And for dinner, we went to Postcards restaurant, which was expensive but good, and Cait’s friend Jordan works there and he was our waiter! Fun.
And that, said John, is that. We came home the next day. Elizabeth is staying with Cait, ankles are getting better, girls are farming. When she was 4, Elizabeth always said she wanted to be a “farmer’s wife” and now she’s having her chance.
