D: Today was one of those days without a real plan. The kind of day when we really didn't know what we were doing from one hour to the next. Here's how it unfolded.
It all started with some breakfast in our room. Actually, it really started with some roosters crowing around 5am, but ear plugs and some half-awake meditation have me almost convinced that they don't exist. Anyway, having the full kitchen has really been handy. It's nice to be able to make your own coffee in the morning without having to go anywhere and get dressed for that matter.
Over breakfast we decided to head west. There's a beach area out there called Polihale State Park that is literally at the end of the road. So we packed up some supplies for the day and headed out. On the way there we passed thru Waimea again. We were familiar with the area since we'd been here the other day when we went to Waimea Canyon. As we were driving we started thinking about where we'd be eating when we returned from Polihale. We decided upon a place called the Shrimp Shack. All they serve is shrimp prepared various ways. Pretty much a no brainer.
As we neared Waimea, we decided we could just stop at the Shrimp Shack first and share something. Some human fuel for the drive and eventually beach walk. The pictures pretty much tell the whole story. Order at the window. (We chose sweet chile and garlic shrimp.) Wait a few minutes. Pick up food. Eat. It's pretty apparent when L and I like something we are eating, because the conversation pretty much ceases. Not much was said once we got our food at the Shrimp Shack.
The drive to Polihale was pretty straight forward for the most part. Until, that is, we got to the "end of the road". That's where we were presented with the last leg of the drive which was an unpaved 5 mile pot hole extravaganza. We had been forewarned by some friends about this part of the drive so we were prepared. We had rented a 4WD vehicle just for such an occassion. It took us about half an hour, but we arrived in one piece and lunch intact.
Polihale State Park was amazing. Possibly the best beach I've ever been on. It lies along the west coast of Kaua'i. It stretches for nearly 15 miles. It's sandwiched between the beginnings of the Na Pali coast to the north and the Pacific Missle Range Facility to the south. You stand on the beach and you are surrounded by some pretty incredible mountains.
It was pretty hot out and shade was not an option. You're pretty much required to where some sort of shoes while walking on the sand so you don't scorch your feet. We walked along the water's edge for a good half hour or so. It was the weekend so there were a few small groups of people around. Most of them had tents and campsites setup up for the weekend.
Once the sun had taken it's toll we headed back. The drive out was just as bumpy only this time we discovered a few things. Putting our seatbacks down and sitting upright along with driving slightly faster (believe it or not) provided for a somewhat less jarring ride. L also added the technique of holding her arms out in front of her. She looked like she was on a rollercoaster.
We stopped off in Waimea again for some shave ice. This time instead of going to Jo-Jo's, we opted to try it's newly opened rival... Jo-Jo's "Original" Shave Ice. I don't know all the details, but there's definitely some drama involved with this new shop opening up a mere stone's throw away. L and I guess that it involves a broken heart with a twist of bitterness. However it came to be doesn't really matter, because Jo-Jo's "Original" was pretty much exactly the same as Jo-Jo's. And that amounts to merely an "average" shave ice experience. Though I was glad that this Jo-Jo's actually had azuki beans, which went quite well with the tropical flavors suggested by the lady behind the counter.
On the way back to the room we passed thru Hanapepe and I abruptly pulled the car over. The reason, I can't quite explain. You can look at the pics and create your own explanation for the oddity that lay in front of the lens of my trustly little Nikon Coolpix. "Haunting" is about the only word that comes to mind for me.
Further down the road we stopped off at Salt Pond Beach. It was described as being more of a local's beach. It definitely had that feel. It wasn't too crowded and the people that were there seemed like they'd been going there for quite a while. We might go back ourselves since the surf wasn't too crazy and it might be a good place for L to practice.
When we pulled into Salt Pond Beach we heard a noise coming from one of the tires. Turns out we'd run over a screw and it was stuck in one of the tires. The tire was fine and wasn't losing any air, but we wanted to get it taken care of if possible. Luckily enough, on the way back we came upon a service station right across the road from the Camp House Grill. I asked the guy if they'd be able to plug the tire and how much it'd cost. He said it'd be no problem and cost 10 bucks. That sounded fair to me so I let him do his thing.
While he was fixing the tire, his friend was standing next to him. He struck up a conversation and turned out to be pretty friendly. Not "shave ice man" friendly, but friendly nonetheless. We ended up talking to the two guys for about 20 minutes or so after the tire was fixed. One of them had lived in LA briefly years back and was comparing it to life in Hawaii. It was interesting to get some local insight to life on the island and how it's changing. We found out where all the white people live. He said that the next time we came back to Kaua'i to come find them and they'd show us the real Kaua'i. I invited ourselves over to his house for dinner the next time we were here. He said okay, and the thing is....he really meant it.
With the tire fixed, we headed back to our room. We got cleaned up and decided to try and catch the sunset. This lead us to an area just down the road that is littered with various resorts. And where there's resorts, there's tourists. When I go to these sorts of areas I start to feel a little dirty. I know I'm one of them, but I try to avoid the places that exist solely for tourists. The reason for this is that they ultimately all feel the same. A touristy resort area in Kaua'i feels pretty much the same as a tourist resort in Costa Rica or anywhere else. They tack on a layer of plastic knick knacks and try to pass it off as local culture.
We'll be going there tomorrow morning. There's a breakfast buffet that's got my name written all over it. Go figure.
It wasn't much of a sunset since we're on the south part of the island. Not to mention an over abundance of billowy clouds obscuring the could-have-been-magical moment. We did get to see the Spouting Horn. It's a local attraction where ocean waves slam into the rocky shoreline. Water shoots up high in the air at one point as it's forced thru some natural lava holes in the rocks. It's pretty interesting. The tourists love it. We did too, for about 2 minutes.
The rest of the evening unfolded with another trip to Wal-mart. You see, I wasn't kidding about the buffet. I'm going to eat myself sick tomorrow morning and I'm going to look the part when I'm doing it. I needed a shirt with buttons and a collar, something that none of the 5 or so t-shirts that I packed for this trip manage to have. Wal-mart to the rescue again. No harm, no foul. Oh and I also picked up a DVD for a buck. L pointed it out that the register when we were checking out. It's called "The Sci-Fi Invasion". It's got 4 movies on one disc. That's 330 minutes of "who the hell knows what" sci-fi glory.....for a dollar.
After a quick discussion on the way to the car. We decided to pick up something for dinner. I left the decision up to L since I wasn't too hungry. I still had a chocolate mac nut cookie doing laps in my coffee filled stomach so I was going to sit this one out. She decided on a burger from Camp House Grill.
As we waited for them to put our order together we realized that they served breakfast as well. I grabbed one of their breakfast menus and we looked it over for future reference. Pretty standard fare, but eating it in a place with such atmosphere and charm as the Camp House Grill made it even more appealing. There's a fake wood chicken that sits in the green light section of an old traffic light in an area next to a stuffed deer head that is patrolled by a live tailless gecko that lives behind one of the framed photos on the wall. I'm definitely having pancakes at this place before we leave.We got back to the room. L ate her burger. I had a little bit of a salad while watching some of my sci-fi DVD. "Cosmos War of the Planets" was first up. Must've missed that one when it was out at the theatres. So far this one astronaut just died because he got battery acid on his space suit while he was doing a space walk. I shit you not.
That about covers today. I've got to wrap this up so I can get some rest for tomorrow. Buffet is only 8 hours away.
