Hi, everyone!
We had a week of unsettled weather, but that didn’t stop me from showing La Vache all my favorite places on Kauai!
On Monday, we had a very busy day! At noontime, we went to the Sunshine Market. La Vache and I waited right up front for the market master to open the market! When it was time for the market to open, everybody hurried to find the produce and flowers they wanted to buy. There were lots of tropical flowers for sale, and vegetables, and LOTS of pineapples and papayas! I made sure La Vache got to meet the market master. It started to rain just as we were ready to leave the market. Look at all the nice things we brought home!
After lunch on Monday, Grandma and Grandpa took us all to Lawai for the tour of the Allerton Gardens. It was still raining when we got on the bus for the tour, but it stopped raining by the time we were ready to start walking in the garden. We made friends with some orchids right away, then we walked through all the garden “rooms” that the Allertons planned and planted. First we went to the Diana room, and then we went to the bamboo room. Our guide told us that new bamboo shoots can grow three feet tall in four days! The Lawai river was really muddy because of all the rain we’ve been having! Next, we went to the room with the wavy water channel and mermaid statues. When the water runs down the channel, it starts to go up and down! After that, we stopped to see the Moreton Bay fig trees. The Allertons grew these trees from seeds! La Vache and I stopped to pose for a picture in the buttress roots — right where the dinosaur eggs were found in the movie Jurassic Park! Finally, we visited the Thanksgiving garden room. I introduced La Vache to my friend, the deer statue. It started to rain again on our trip back to the reception center, but it stopped just long enough for me to show La Vache a rainbow eucalyptus tree.
After dinner on Monday, we all went to E Kanikapila Kakou, the Hawaiian music festival. It was fun to see my friend Auntie Fran again! She made leis for Grandma and La Vache’s Grandma Julie-san. Then we tried to play the pineapple ukelele, but that’s hard to do with paws and hooves! The musicians who did play for the festival were very good and we enjoyed listening to their music. It rained again on the drive home!
On Tuesday, there were clouds in the morning, so we didn’t know whether it would be sunny or not. Grandpa decided it was worth driving to Waimea, to see if it was sunny there. I really wanted La Vache to see the Kalalau Valley overlook and Waimea canyon. Guess what? We had blue sky when we got there! Grandpa drove all the way to the Kalalau Valley overlooks first, before the clouds moved in from the ocean. La Vache and I got a very nice view of the Kalalau Valley from both overlooks! This is one of my favorite spots on Kauai! La Vache was excited to see the nene crossing sign, but we didn’t see any nenes, only chickens. I told La Vache not to be disappointed, because I knew another place where we could make friends with some nenes.
After we were done looking at the Kalalau Valley, we stopped at all the overlooks on the way back down the ridge to see the Waimea Canyon. Because of the rain the day before, the waterfalls were very pretty! Our last stop was at the main overlook. La Vache and I had to work hard to climb all the steps to get there, but the view was worth it!
After our perfect weather day on Tuesday, Wednesday was rainy again! Grandma and Grandpa decided to take us to the north side of the island. We hoped we could get to Kilauea Point lighthouse before the rain did! We stopped to see Wailua Falls on our way, because it was only raining lightly. The water going over the falls was really muddy from all the rain!
It rained really hard while we were driving to Kilauea, but it stopped just as we got there. We saw albatrosses and boobies and frigate birds overhead and watched the waves breaking on the cliffs. There were even some whales spouting just off the point. And I was right about knowing a place La Vache could meet some nenes. We made friends right away! It started raining again, just as we were leaving the lighthouse. We had lunch, then started home because we were afraid the road might be flooded if we waited too long!
When we got back to Poipu, Grandma walked over to the beach to see if there was a monk seal sleeping there. She called Grandpa to say that there was a seal on the beach, so we all walked over to see it. La Vache and I were careful not to bother the seal, just like the sign says. I was really happy I could introduce La Vache to two endangered species on the same day! We spent a little time on the beach watching the surf before it started raining again!
On Thursday, it was raining on and off all day! La Vache and I spent some time inside with the nene Grandma Julie-san bought at Kilauea Point. When the rain stopped, we took a quick trip to Spouting Horn for La Vache could see how the waves come up through the blow hole. It’s really noisy when the water spouts!
Papa Dick-san told me I had to make sure La Vache got to eat at Puka Dogs, so we went on Thursday, even though it was still raining lightly. La Vache got to make friends with the Puka Dog hula girl, and we were lucky to get a table inside to eat our Puka Dogs. Of course, we had lemonade, too! My Puka Dog had original garlic lemon sauce and mango relish. It was yummy!
The rain stopped for a little while, so we went to see Moir Garden. I wonder what the cactus plants think about all the water they’ve been getting? Luther Burbank developed a thornless variety of prickly pear in the hopes that cattle would eat it. La Vache says it’s not very tasty and she doesn’t know any cow or steer that would eat it. I guess that’s how the thornless prickly pears in Moir Garden got so big and old! Grandma thinks the plants with big blooming stalks are yucca.
This morning, La Vache and Julie-san and David-san were packing to go home. La Vache’s front leg was pulling away from her shoulder seam, so Grandma Julie-san got some thread and a needle to fix it for her. I held La Vache’s hoof and gave her a hug while Grandma Julie-san was making the repair. It was cloudy all morning, but we had sun right at lunch time. La Vache and I had one last chance to look at the ocean from Grandma and Grandpa’s lanai and sit in the sun together. Then it was time to take La Vache to the airport! What a great week we had together!
Love,
Lion-san
It looks like you enjoyed taking La Vache around. Your new little nene friend looks cute! Joe-san was interested to see a Lion-sansarus and a La Vachesarus hatching under the fig tree.