North Side of Kauai, Week Three

Today we visited Kilauea Lighthouse, a bird sanctuary and the lighthouse that saved the first flight from the continental US to Hawaii when it overshot the islands and nearly was lost in the middle of the Pacific. Then, watched some surfers on a beach near Kapa'a, checked out some Fijian tapacloth in a bookstore called the Tin Mailman, and bought our first Noni juice, which will cure us of all ills, or so we now are convinced. Have a whole file of papers "tasks" to go through before starting class August 21, going to have to buckle down soon. Or, ?

Happy Birthday David!

David is 24 years old today, a son we are so proud of! He returned from two and a half years on his own in Seattle, cooking, running, taking courses at Seattle Community College and generally having a fantastic adventure in the Northwest. Now he is catering at the Como Pavilion for weddings and banquets, tending bar, and contemplating school in the fall.

At 6:30 this morning walked along the ridge overlooking the Napali mountains. Cooler without the sun up, palm trees, birds of paradise and hibiscus in hedges(!). Got rained on (of course), dried off, sun came out with a fantastic double rainbow. Jumped in pool, ready to start the day. We have only 1 week before class to finish 4 grammar books! Yikes!

Third week of the journey

Walking the beaches, today the Napali coast. It rains, it's sunny, it's windy and it's still, all in the same day, every day. Hard to figure out what to wear, but usually flip flops and bathing suit are ok. Yesterday we went to Kapa'a and stumbled into a Tahitian hula contest -- lots of drumming, wild costumes, shaking hips and then a deluge of rain!

We're learning how to travel together, taking time together and time alone. Harwood Benton III gave a delightful watercolor class we took last week -- we each did a watercolor using the same techniques and elements, as you can see (can you guess whose is whose?).

Mark thinks he bought the most beautiful and unique Hawaiian shirt "known to man" and encouraged Elizabeth to wear her Hawaiian lei as shown...We each received a lei for attending a timeshare lecture in order to get a free $100 dinner. Unfortunately, we bought the timeshare, making the dinner less of a deal. But, fortunately, we came to our senses, cancelled the timeshare and now our grandchildren and greatgrandchildren will not inherit a week every other year in Hawaii at the Hanalei Bay Resort! But who knows, someday soon if there's another dinner opportunity, there could be more weeks per year and better deals.....