Hi, everyone!
The newspaper says that Rochester has been having spring weather some days and all the snow is gone. In Kauai, it’s summer! We are eating breakfast on the lanai on sunny mornings and nobody needs a sweater! Moose-san and I have been good helpers making breakfasts with local flavors! After I posted my last blog, Nancy-san helped Moose-san write a comment. I think Moose-san needs to practice his typing! Right after that, Grandma and Grandpa and Joe-san and Nancy-san sat down to plan all the activities we want to do while we’re here. A lot of that involves all the restaurants we want to try! Moose-san and I were good helpers here, too: we wrote down the plans that everybody agreed on.
We took a walk to Poipu Beach and saw another monk seal! I don’t think I could take a nap with that much sand on my face! Guess what? The playground at the beach is gone! I wonder what happened to it? Moose-san likes to wade in fresh water and eat aquatic weeds, but after we read the sign at Brennecke’s beach, we decided that ocean swimming is not for us!
The first Thursday we were here, we took a big hike! We walked from Shipwreck Beach to Mahaulepu Beach on the Mahaulepu Heritage Trail. This is a very pretty trail that runs along the cliffs in some places, along the beach in other places, and along the Poipu Bay golf course in the middle! In some places, the sand dunes have turned into rock and it’s hard to tell exactly where the trail is. In other places, we had to scramble over lava. That’s hard work for little lions and moose! One of the special places on the trail is a very old fishing temple, with a field of lava rocks and walls built out of carved stones. Because this is a sacred place to native Hawaiians, Moose-san and I were very careful to show respect and stay on the path! The trail is very long, and I was happy somebody put out a resting chair close to the place where the path goes back down to the beach! When we got to Mahaulepu Beach, we had a snack picnic. Moose-san and I looked for sea cucumbers in the tide pools, then it was time to start back. After we crossed the stream on the beach, we had to find the path back up to the cliffs. We were all happy when we found it!
When we were in the airport in Los Angeles waiting for our flight to Lihue, we met the Savage Shrimp lady, Susan-san. She invited us to come see how she makes her special dishes. We did that the day after our big hike. Susan cooked Bahia shrimp and Fire Rock shrimp and coconut shrimp for us. It was all yummy! Moose-san and I are happy to have Susan-san as our new friend! After we watched the sun set at Savage Shrimp, we all went to Art Night in Hanapepe. We saw lots of paintings and photographs and food trucks. Moose-san liked the slab of koa wood on display at the wood shop. We had yummy desserts at from the Hanapepe Cafe, and we made another new friend — the Soup Lady!
Saturday morning, we went into Lihue to the big farmers’ market at the Community College. The road to Lihue goes through the Tree Tunnel, made of eucalyptus trees planted along the road. I wonder if those are the right kind of eucalyptus trees for my Australian koala friends? At the market Moose-san and I tried a chocolate popsicle flavored with Chinese five spice in honor of the new Year of the Monkey. Then we made friends with a very big breadfruit! I was happy to see my friend the Heavenly Haku lady again, and she made me a lion lei to wear! Then I stopped at the Midnight Bear bakery table to say hello to Ursa-san, the baker. Grandpa really loves the crusts on her breads! Moose-san and I found a huge mountain of kale, and we brought home a pineapple friend.
On Monday, we went to the Sunshine Market in Koloa. The market just moved closer to the road, so it was hard for Grandpa to find a place to park. I saw my friend the former market master. He doesn’t have to open the market to shoppers any more, now that people can browse before the official buying time begins. The Sunshine Market is so close to where we stay that we didn’t have to go through the Tree Tunnel to get there. We did have to go through the Tree Tunnel later, to get to E Kanikapili Kakou in the evening. The music and hula were very nice, but I missed seeing my friend Auntie Fran and her leis. Moose-san and I made another new friend: the lady sitting next to Grandma is a former ice skating judge who traveled all over the world to score skaters in international competitions. She has visited a lot of the same places I have!
Tuesday was Ground Hog Day! We visited Waimea Canyon and Koke’e State parks and I saw my shadow at both the Waimea Overlook and the Kalalau Valley overlook! Papa Dick-san says that doesn’t count, because it’s never winter in Waimea! There were lots of steps for Moose-san and me to climb at the overlooks, but the views were worth it! We were happy Grandma arranged a tail gate snack for us after all that climbing! On our way back from the canyon, we stopped at Aunty Lilikoi’s to buy passion fruit syrup and wasabi mustard.
Wednesday was Nancy-san’s birthday! To celebrate, we took a helicopter tour of Kauai! It was fun to see places we visited by car the day before from the air instead, and we got there a lot faster! Moose-san and I made sure to thank pilot Greg for a very nice trip! Then, in the afternoon, Moose-san and I helped Grandma pick out a birthday lei for Nancy-san. Grandma and Grandpa and Joe-san and Nancy-san went out to dinner to celebrate, but that was after Moose-san’s bedtime, so I stayed home with him.
Yesterday, Joe-san and Nancy-san and Grandma and Moose-san and I took a walk to Plantation Gardens to see our cactus and orchid friends. Some of the cactus are getting very old, but they have areas of new growth coming from the old parts. The orchids are very pretty, too! How do you like my cactus “ears” and bird of paradise “mane”?
The walk back from the garden goes past the Poipu Shopping Village and the Suite Paradise office, so Moose-san and I took care of some errands. We found some Christmas ornaments for Bill-kun and Karin-chan and James and Thomas, and the ornaments were even on sale! Then we picked up another packet of laundry detergent so we could have clean clothes! It was a warm, sunny afternoon, so we were happy to find some chairs at the bus stop where we could sit down for a bit! Then we got to where the sidewalk ends! That marked the start of a Hawaiian historic site where a big village existed in the 1400s. Now it’s mostly shrubs and lava rock walls and new tiki poles at either end.
One of our favorite parts of day on Kauai is sunset. We usually walk down to Brennecke’s beach to see the sun go down. It’s very pretty!
Love,
Lion-san
Yes, you look good with the antlers. We also like the bird of paradise mane. We all really liked the plane ride over the island and Nancy-san really liked her lei. It looked really nice with her dress too! Yes, Moose-san needs typing lessons.