Illinois Hawaii Part 4

Ok, just one more photo of Wylie in destruction mode--this was after he dumped out the contents of both Ramona and Mika's backpacks, flung the items around the front room, then squirted a bottle of lotion all over the carpet and his sisters' school papers.

Now let's go back to Hawaii.

Saturday was foggy, rainy, and quiet.

We took a little walk around the condo to catch some different views of the rocky coastline.

We saw a lot of nene, the species of goose native to Hawaii. Unlike the chickens, though, I think these birds may be endangered.

A little later that morning, we visited the farmer's market in Hanalei.

I found a few worthwhile gifts . . .

. . . and we picked out a gorgeous pineapple. We got soaked carrying it back to the car.

Once the rain let up, we walked around the shops and also took a stroll around the historic Waioli Huiia Church.

Next, we ate lunch at a fish market in Kilauea. This was probably my all-time favorite meal of our trip:

In the afternoon, we did some beach combing and tried some snorkeling at Anini Beach. I felt completely awkward in the snorkeling gear and there wasn't much to see in the water, but at least I tried.

Forest couldn't find anything interesting in the water, either.

However, above the water, you could see the famous Kilauea Lighthouse standing resolutely on a distant cliff.

After we put away the snorkeling gear, we hopped over to Anahola Beach, which had much larger waves. We played in the water for a bit (I only got knocked down by the water a couple of times), then sat in the sand and did nothing.

For dessert we had a refreshing bite at Wailua Shave Ice. It was nothing like Tege Tege, but it's really not fair to compare anything to Tege Tege.

Speaking of things that aren't fair, I think I would describe the island of Kauai as unfairly beautiful. It looks perpetually magnificent without even trying, and its splendor seems completely effortless. If Kauai were a girl, I would have to hate her and adore her at the same time.

Our mediocre dinner that night was pizza from the nearby Hideaways Pizza Pub. When we came back to the condo, we dusted off an ancient game of Trivial Pursuit found on a bookshelf. We learned about some pop culture from the 1960's and tried to remember when the Soviet Union was on the world map.

On Sunday morning, it was time to cut into that pretty pineapple we got at the farmer's market. It really was as delicious as we had hoped.

We attended church at Kapaa, where a kind (much too kind) gentleman asked us if we were newlyweds. He said we just had that "glow" about us. Hmmm...can a restful vacation really take away ten years' worth of aging?

After church, we strapped on some hiking boots and visited the Queen's Bath--a popular tourist spot not too far from our condo. On the trail, I actually recognized someone who was also on our Allerton Tour earlier that week, and she remembered me, too. What a small world, there in paradise.

The waves were relatively calm that day. We picked our way through the black rocks and enjoyed the views of dazzling blue water.

My favorite part was finding a quieter spot away from most of the tourists, sitting on the rocks, and watching sea turtles.

We walked around some more . . .

. . . and found yet another spot to watch sea turtles.

Then we circled back and faced the muddy trail again. This time we had to go UP.

I believe this is an action shot of me slipping the opposite direction I was trying to go:

Once we were out of the mud and back in the neighborhood, I took some pictures of these pretty trees growing along the road. Unfairly pretty, aren't they?

In the evening, we went for a walk on Hanalei Bay by the pier. From the beach, you could see quite a bit of the damage caused by flooding in April. But you could also sense a sort of peaceful submission toward nature on this island--there is a deep awareness that a big storm could easily wipe out any man-made structure because after all, Mother Nature is bigger than we are. Kauai seems to know this, and lets nature be in charge.

As we walked along the beach, we saw several couples--some in wedding attire--getting professional photographs taken as the sun was setting. We just took a few selfies with a phone . . . although we weren't celebrating a brand-new marriage, in many ways we felt like we had a lot more to celebrate at that moment than we did eleven years before.