Entries about park

We started off this morning by playing with our niece and nephew, Aubrey and Dalton. It was a fun morning and we made the plan to go see the Kilauea Lighthouse. We all drove up to the lighthouse, but we took a separate car because we intended to go beyond the lighthouse to drive as far as possible.

The lighthouse is on the grounds of a beautiful nature preserve. There were beautiful views of the ocean, and a lot of native birds.

The lighthouse itself, as well as a picture of us in front of the lighthouse.

A nene, or Hawaiian goose.

Another pandanus, or tourist pineapple.

Catherine and Dalton in the wind.

Us at the lighthouse.

After the lighthouse we went to lunch at a restaurant nearby. We got Portuguese bean soup, and even had the chance to try breadfruit hummus! It tastes a lot like regular hummus, but it was interesting to try it anyway. Aubrey made friends with two girls who were also eating there. They asked her to stay, feeling that she shouldn’t leave if they are friends. “Where do you have to go?” one asked. “To our Hawaiian house” replied Aubrey.


We drove as far as we could west to the northwest corner of the island. The state park required reservations for non-residents, which we didn’t have. We went back a bit to the next farthest beach, Ha’ena. It was beautiful and very calm water. We swam and got shave ice from a nearby stand. It was a great afternoon!

Us at the beach.

Tropical landscapes on our way back.

We got a delicious dinner at “Da Crack,” a Mexican food stand near where we are staying. It was very good. After that we went back to the house. It was a wonderful first full day in Kaua’i.

Today we slept in, having gotten back from the Road to Hana fairly late and needing sleep. Here are some pictures of the resort, which we haven't yet shown in great detail. It's very large, and the architecture is very open allowing the breeze to come through. We decided to head to the Nakalele Blowhole, north-east of the resort. In addition to the interesting nature of the blowhole itself, we heard that Julia's banana bread stand, said to be the best on the island, has a "pop-up stand" near the blowhole.

We did find Julia's stand, but they had just run out of banana bread. We talked with the two men who were working there, and they advised A. That we come back tomorrow when they would have bread and B. That we not hike all the way down to the blowhole before first confirming that it was "going."

Some views of the beautiful cliffs near the blowhole.

It was extremely windy. The blowhole is at the very northern tip of the west side of Maui, which exposes it to the trade winds and makes this part of the island very windy. It was so intense that you could feel yourself almost being pushed back. We minded the edges and walked very carefully.

The blowhole, which is emphatically not a water park. It is essentially a tube that waves go into, which then shoots water up like a geyser. We saw many people walking close to the blowhole. We had read an article saying that people die every year by being sucked into the blowhole, so we stayed well clear of it.

We had some spam musubi in the car. This is a food, popular in Hawaii, which is essentially a piece of marinated spam with rice and a seaweed wrap. It was actually very good, and made a very decent lunch.

A beautiful view on our drive back.

Dessert: shave ice!

Half guava and half lilikoi (passionfruit).

The old fort in Lahaina, built by the Kingdom of Hawaii after a group of whalers fired cannons at a missionary settlement.

Some views of the banyan tree, a huge tree planted in the late 19th century. It's as multiple trunks, which descent from the branches as vines and then attach to the ground. It is an amazing tree, providing shade for the space of an entire small park.

Some of the historic district of Lahaina, including the Baldwin house, where a missionary/ physician named Baldwin lived.

Kukui nut trees. These nuts were historically used to make torches, as they have a great deal of oil. They are also used to make leis.

Some views of the beautiful sunset in Lahaina.

We had plans to go to Lahainaluna Cafe at Front Street and Lahainaluna, so we parked by the banyan tree and walked down Front Street. It was beautiful. The "Lahaina Store" was an interesting historic building, and the street itself was very picturesque.

On our way, we noticed this store selling prints of old art and maps. We went in...

We bought this map and frame. It is the first map to be published in Hawaii and in the Hawaiian language, thus rendering, for instance, Molokai as "Molokai" rather than "Morotoi" as it had been on previous maps.

We didn't buy this one. It cost over $20,000 because it is an original from the first publication of Captain Cook's map. It seems to have been written by Tahitian speakers (thus "Morotoi" and "Ranai"). While we didn't decide to buy it, it was thrilling to look over it and hold it. We also had a long and interesting conversation with Bob, who works there. We discussed maps, linguistics, and the various groups of people who settled in Hawaii.

Delicious food at the Lahainaluna Cafe. The POG juice was very good, despite Daniel's objection to the mid-nineties children's game of POGs, which was named for the juice. We had a very nice evening, and were very happy to have found the Lahaina Printsellers shop.