Mindy, Ron and Terry (and others) enjoy Jojo's Shave Ice
This was our first day of sightseeing. Ron and Mindy took us around to some of their favorite sights. Which we saw.
We began by going out to breakfast (well, okay, as late as we slept, it was more like brunch) at one of their favorite local places, the Tip Top Cafe.
We then drove out to the town of Hanapepe, on the south shore. This is a town that was, apparently, quite a wild place in the '30s. According to the guidebook, "This was a viloent and flamboyant town that had as many bars as churches." It's much quieter now. It has a lot of art galleries. More about that later. It also has a swinging bridge, which Terry and I walked across. Kaua'i seems to have several swinging bridges - we saw at least three.
We also got our first look at Kauai's famous - or infamous - red dirt. The soil in many parts of Kaua'i is a deep, striking red-orange color. (There'll be some pictures later on. Promise.) This dirt is so prevalent that sidewalks (including the sidewalk to Ron and Mindy's front door) tend to take on a red-orange hue. There's a company called, appropriately enough, Red Dirt Shirts, that makes T-shirts dyed with red dirt. The guidebook says that one bucket of dirt is enought to dye 500 shirts!
We then went for shave ice at Jojo's Shave Ice. According to the guidebook, this place has The Best Shave Ice On Kaua'i. It was good, but the place in Honolulu was better. Anyway, I was reading the LONG list of flavors to Terry. I got to liliko'i (passion fruit), and the next one was "lime," which I proceeded to pronounce "lee-may... I mean, LIME!" I guess I was thinking in Hawaiian.
And it was at this point that I put a new roll of film in my camera. So here's the first picture!
Mindy, Ron and Terry (and others) enjoy Jojo's Shave Ice
And after I finished my shave ice, I walked up the block and came back with a...
Red Dirt Shirt!
From there, we drove up to Waimea Canyon. This is a canyon, or more accurately a series of canyons, formed by several streams that run down from the peak of Wai'ale'ale, and join to form the Waimea River, which flows out to the ocean in the southwest corner of the island (at about 8:00). The canyon rivals the Grand Canyon for its magnificence - in fact, Mark Twain referred to it as "the Grand Canyon of the Pacific.
The last time Terry and I were in Kaua'i, the day we drove up the canyon road, the canyon was completely obscured by cloud cover. I had to take it on faith that there was a canyon out there somewhere. This time, however...
The canyon (and Terry and Mindy and Ron and others)
The canyon again
The canyon once again
Waipo'o Falls
Of course, these pictures hardly do the place justice. One thing I noticed, and remarked on at the time, was that the colors in Hawaii seem more intense and vibrant than here on the mainland.
On the drive up, we stopped at a scenic viewpoint, from which I took the first three of the four pictures above. In the parking lot, we saw what were to be the first of many, MANY chickens. It seems that cockfighting was (and is) a popular entertainment in the islands. (It's illegal, of course, but no matter.) But Hawaii suffered two serious hurricanes in recent years, and many a chicken coop was smashed to kindling, and their inhabitants scattered hither and yon. Hence, the island is overrun with chickens
What're YOU lookin' at?
Mama Chicken and her Chicklets (look close, they're there)
And here we see a lovely picture of... the men's restroom. OK, there's a reason. I was noticing that a lot of things - including the restroom - were built of lava rock, and I found the texture of the rock interesting, so I took a picture of it.
Lava Rock
At the top of the canyon road, there's another scenic lookout called Kalalau Lookout. From here, you get a great view of the Na Pali coast. Or at least you would, if there were no fog. This day, however, there was too much fog, and we couldn't see a thing. Last time we came, I couldn't see the canyon, but I got a killer view of Na Pali. This time, I saw the canyon, but couldn't see Na Pali. I guess everything evens out in the end. But I did take a picture of a pretty pink flower.
Pretty pink flower
When we got back down to the main highway, in the town of Waimea, I saw this Buddhist temple, and I took a picture, just because it looked interesting.
Buddhist Temple
And then Ron drove us by this strange house that seems to have been built out of junkyard leftovers...
Strange House
The next item on the tourist agenda was Spouting Horn, near the southernmost tip of the island, at Po'ipu Beach. This an interesting geological phenomenon. What appears to be an innocent bit of rocky coast...
...has some tricks up its sleeve. In the first place, it's actually a ledge sticking out above the water. Also, it has holes in it. So when the waves come rolling in...
Spout!
...accompanied by weird moaning and gasping sounds.
After a long, hard day of sightseeing, we drove home, had pizza, and watched a DVD of "Gone With The Wind."