Travels – Page 106

Frankfurters

April 5, 2013 JWise Photo of the Day, Travels

It’s colder today than yesterday so it’s a good thing I brought my handmade psychedelic wool beany and multi-color photographers gloves Caroline made me! With almost everyone else wearing the drab grays and blacks of a European winter, I’m walking around looking like Mr. Lollipop Head. I do believe I have made my fashion statement out here by the German stock market as I gleefully welcome the onset of spring – which is yet to arrive. From there, we light the way over to the Alte Oper, the old opera house. Only the shell remained after World War II, and while Caroline was growing up, she got to visit this historic opera house after renovations came to a conclusion. After its grand reopening, Caroline had the opportunity to perform in the Mozart Hall of the Opera while she was in the choir. Later, she watched Itzhak Perlman conduct, and, following that caught Madness, Ultravox, and a few others over the years.

From Alta Oper, we walked through Taunus Anlage, a large park in the downtown Frankfurt area, on our way to the Hauptbahnhof. As we strolled under the new highrises under construction, we came upon a sight neither of us thought we’d ever see again: the old-style telephone booth that used to dot the city.

While much of Frankfurt feels smaller to me today than it did two decades ago, the Hauptbahnhof, or main train station, seems much larger. Over 20 main tracks enter the main building; more are underground. This icon was built in 1888 and today serves about 350,000 people a day, making it the third busiest train station on Earth, behind two stations in Japan. While this place sees its share of junkies and homeless people, they are barely seen by most of the throngs of people who are pouring through here. Across the street is Kaiserstrasse and the red light district, but there are also many nice boutiques, restaurants, and even a Little India residing in a side passage.

As we reminisce and talk about Caroline’s job across the street, no, not in the red light district, she worked as a sales clerk at a computer store that focused on the Commodore line called GTI; we dipped into a rather large magazine shop, a really large magazine shop. What struck us the most was the rack that offered scientific magazines; they probably feature more scientific publications than the average American bookstore has, featuring magazines on guns, hunting, and muscle building combined! We’re talking serious geekdom on this shelf. We leave impressed, if not a little sad too, that typically, we only find two to five science publications on offer, and in U.S. airports, we are lucky if we see one.

Back down in the underground, we once again board the U5 for our short ride to the National Library stop on the line where we walk around the corner to the hospital. Between the cleaning of her room, physical therapy, and lunch, we didn’t have much time to visit before we headed out to get our own lunch and visit Jutta’s apartment to take care of a few things. On the way to Saalburgstrasse, we stopped at a small shop to share a Döner Kebab; think of it as a gyros sandwich to make it easy on yourself. Sadly, our reunification with this Turkish staple was only mediocre, we’ll have to find better.

Walking into Jutta’s apartment was like walking into a museum. Books from the late 1700s to drawings and sculptures from her two daughters when they were in grade school, to the artifacts and souvenirs she has collected on the many trips to the U.S. she has made since 1997 when we invited her over the first time for a short two week holiday that brought her up the coast of California and over to the Grand Canyon. Jutta’s life is on display in every corner, but it’s a bit sad and cold in here without her presence. We washed the dishes and straightened up what we could, as there were a few things left undone due to her fall. With things in order and our own fill of nostalgia starting to overwhelm us, it was time to get back on Burgerstrasse to catch another train for a return visit with Jutta.

After one more visit to see Jutta in the hospital and following her dinner, we are again at Konstablerwache before heading over to Hauptwache for the train ride back to Stephanie and Klaus’s. Instead of taking the train all the way through, we left the underground to walk up Zeil again. Good thing we did, as it gave us this perfect moment to grab a photo of two Frankfurters in one amazing photo while on our walk.

Mein 50. Geburtstag in Deutschland

April 4, 2013 JWise Photo of the Day, Travels

It’s 11:00 pm when we wake; well, it is in Arizona; here in Frankfurt, it’s 7:00 am, and I feel like I could have slept another couple of hours. More important than sleep is my need to get outside and see the city. Not far from the front door of my sister-in-law Stephanie’s house is the train stop that will bring us to Hauptwache, one of the main train stops when traveling through Frankfurt. Stephanie brings us to a small food cart, informing us that this lady makes some great sandwiches. It is a good sandwich, maybe even as great as we were told, but is it a special way they cook their eggs? I don’t think so; it must be the bread, jaw-strengthening German bread, the kind that leaves little time to talk because concentration and a big effort must be paid to the satisfying chew.

Steph goes to her connecting train. We need to re-explore the underground area of Hauptwache to see what’s changed before popping up at ground level next to Katharinenkirche – St. Catherine Church. It’s cold up here; funny enough, a sign reads 4c (39f) here on 4/4 – my birthday. The familiar smell of the underground train system is replaced with the smell of bakeries. Most everything looks about the same. Some businesses that were landmarks to us 18 years ago are now gone; in some cases, nothing has replaced them.

Not far from the Römer, we approach the Main River (pronounced “Mine”). We won’t cross it yet this morning, as we are trying to pay attention to the time, so we turn around and head back to Zeil. The shopping area stretches from the Alte Opera through Hauptwache, on the side streets paralleling Zeil, over to Konstablerwache – our present destination.

Along the way, we are distracted by an encounter that was bound to happen sooner or later – Caroline spots a yarn store. This being a special day, I must indulge her, and so we enter, not to leave the way we came. Armed with new project material, we can now finish our walk to Konstablerwache. We were supposed to get on the train here, but as it’s Thursday, there’s an open-air market taking place. Not able to resist, we peruse the offerings. Something has changed in Germany; the choices on offer are well beyond what our memories remind us of what one could buy at these markets. Internationalism and the demands of a growing consumer market have obviously had their effect on staid old Deutschland.

Into the underground, we are looking to board the U5 train. We do not want the U5 going south, we are looking for the direction of Preungesheim. With my day pass and Caroline borrowing her mom’s yearly train pass, we are quickly on the train, listening to the still familiar female voice that informs us that the next stop is Musterschule, which means the stop after that will be our old neighborhood – Glauburgstrasse. The distance between stops feels shorter these days; the expanse we once knew has been replaced by familiarity with distances as defined by the American West, where things are truly on a grand scale.

We walk around our old stomping grounds with a strange feeling, not a deja vu kind of moment, but more of a kind of surreal, “Are we really here?” Things are slightly different here on the corner of Glauburgstrasse and Eckenheimer Landstrasse. The old corner building housing a chicken and egg shop with a veggie stand as its main shop fronts has been replaced by a new building that now has a bank on the corner. A bakery we shopped at frequently is gone, but we know exactly where we are.

At Gluckstrasse, we turn right, the apartment building we lived in (#8) is the only building that retains its original color. We go to the front door to see if there are any familiar names – none. I push the door; it’s open, so we go inside and check if our old key still works. Just kidding, but I do get a photo of Caroline in front of the door. As we go back downstairs, Caroline sees that the basement door is open, so we have to check that out, too. Besides the nostalgia, we see little else of interest.

Time to continue on our route towards Preungesheim to see my mother-in-law Jutta, who was just up the road one more stop at Bürger Hospital. At the front desk, we are directed to the 6th floor, N wing, room 614. Jutta’s smile was waiting for us, jumping out of the door before a word of hello could be shared. Next, her eyes told us just how big the hello would be as she was able to exclaim an enthusiastic greeting of how thrilled she was that we were here. With Jutta’s roommate still sleeping, we did our best to speak quietly, but the moment carried us away, and our voices soon filled the quiet with happiness. For the next couple of hours, we visited until lunch showed up. With a big hug and a promise to return soon, Caroline and I went to get some lunch for ourselves.

Caroline thought we should jump on the train, but I opted for walking. Over Händelstrasse to Eckenheimer Landstrasse, we walked along looking at the architecture we’ve been long away from. Along the way, a bakery demanded Caroline come in for an almond horn – the best one we’ve ever had! Back in the area of Glauburgstrasse, we started looking for more of the familiar, and there it was. Not only was ‘it’ still here, but it was open too; ‘it’ was our favorite ice cream shop – Eis Christina.

And what made it our favorite? Spaghetti ice cream, that’s what. To be clear, there is no pasta in “Spaghetti Eis.” This concoction starts with a large dollop of fresh whipped cream – the real stuff, no squirted out of a can foamy cream-like fluff. Next, vanilla ice cream is pressed through a sieve, producing what looks like spaghetti. Covered with strawberry sauce in lieu of tomato sauce and a bit of shredded white chocolate shaken on top of that, replacing the need for Parmesan cheese, and now you have an amazing Spaghetti Eis.

To work off the dessert we’ve placed before our proper meal, we continue our walk with the idea we’ll go to Sachsenhausen across the Main River. My brain works hard to find the way. As close as Sachsenhausen is, it wasn’t somewhere Caroline spent much time, so she’s of little help. During the American occupation of Germany, Sachsenhausen was a hugely popular spot with soldiers and tourists, too. Now, those military personnel with a healthy thirst for drinking are mostly gone. Sachs has to survive on the Germans and the still plentiful tourists that venture onto this side of the river.

I had been looking for Europa Grill, but where I thought I’d find it, I only found Caspian Grill. A guy standing across the street from “Europa Grill” told us that the place was sold five years earlier. Lucky for us, a few doors down is A’mir Sandwich, a Lebanese cafe that’s still in business. Back when I lived here, I would have one of their chicken shawarma weekly. We split my old favorite and then heaped a ton of gratitude on the owner for the yummy food and then he even pulled Caroline into the kitchen to pose with him for our photo.

From here, it was time to make our way back to the hospital, but that didn’t mean we wouldn’t do a small amount of sightseeing on the way. Before crossing the river, we came upon a church that neither of us had visited before, the Gothic Aisless Church of St. Mary. How could we have missed this before? Caroline had lived in Frankfurt for 28 years, I 10, while this church has been here since 1309, and we just happened to miss it. Oh, the things we take for granted.

At the river, we hesitated to cross it and instead walked along the bank until we reached the next bridge. Swans, ducks, seagulls, geese, and other aquatic birds moved along with us, obviously accustomed to others who pass by to feed them. At the pedestrian bridge, we are greeted by a guitar player on one end and an accordion player on the other. These are all reminders of things we truly do miss from our time living in Europe.

Back through Römer to Zeil, but again we are detoured.

This time, it is Klein Markt Halle, another marketplace, except this one is not open-air but still has many small vendors selling their wares almost every day of the week.

We had understood that this place had closed down long ago, but lucky for us, it is still here, and it’s looking better than ever.

Now we are finally walking up Zeil, passing Dunkin Donuts on the way (this was definitely an OMG moment) to Konstablerwache and back in the U5 to the hospital. While Caroline talked with her mom, I sat nearby and wrote and wrote and wrote so I might stay up to date with my blog. Jet lag has been complicating my efforts, as this will not have been posted on the 4th, which was my plan, but days later. When I finish my writing, I join the ladies, and we continue to talk through Jutta’s dinner until we, too are hungry. We bid Jutta well and offer that we’ll be back in the morning. Again, she beams in, telling us how happy she is that we are in Frankfurt to visit with her. It feels good to help her feel so happy.

Dinner for us will be at the place I have dreamed of visiting again someday; today is that someday. We are going to Wielandstubb, and nothing else can replace that. On the corner of Friedberger Landstrasse and Wielandstrasse, this restaurant was a favorite that is just around the ‘ecke’ of our old apartment. Walking into the place, it wasn’t too busy yet; we picked a table and sat down – we were all smiles. We look into all corners, at the other visitors, and finally at the menu.

Not that we needed to check out the menu, but nostalgia demanded it. I’ve known for years what I would order should I ever get here again. We are starting with Handkase mit Music. This dish is a soft cheese soaked in brine (Handkäse) served with chopped onion (music – maybe the combination of cheese and onion is responsible for the ‘music’) and a basket of dark rye bread. For our main course, I’ll be having Jaeger Schnitzel and Bratkartoflen – schnitzel in a mushroom sauce with fried potatoes. Mine was easy enough to describe, Caroline’s won’t be as she’s having Grüne Sosse. This uniquely Frankfurt dish is relatively simple, consisting of boiled potatoes, two boiled eggs halved, and four scoops of grüne sosse (green sauce). What makes this so special is this green sauce, which is no less than seven fresh herbs chopped fine and mixed into ‘dickmilch’ – a kind of thick milk. Caroline orders an apple wine with her meal, another Frankfurt specialty.

Dinner couldn’t be better. Actually, it could; I should have ordered the Grüne Sosse; it is amazingly better than my fried pork. Don’t get me wrong, Wielandstubb makes a terrific schnitzel, but the veg option was a thousand times better. Probably an age thing, or maybe I’m more in love with veggies today than I was 20 years ago. This was the greatest birthday dinner ever.

Back on the train, we are soon at Stephanie’s, but she isn’t home yet. She wouldn’t arrive for another 45 minutes after our return. Now almost 9:00 in the evening, and probably a smart thing to get to sleep; instead, we talk into the middle of the night. Waking up in less than six hours won’t be easy, but I’m a young fifty.

On Our Way To Germany

April 3, 2013 JWise Photo of the Day, Travels

Left the U.S. last night for Europe, Germany specifically, for the first time in 18 years – almost to the date. When we left back in April 1995, I had been away from the States for a decade. Caroline, on the other hand, had only been to America on two relatively short vacations, one of those so we could get married in Sin City – Las Vegas, Nevada. *Please note: if my photos are not up to the quality I would expect, rest assured they will be fixed upon my return to the U.S. when I have a proper monitor to work on them with.

The southwestern edge of Ireland is seen from 33,000 feet.

A good part of my previous time in Europe was spent in a near-constant state of bohemian decadence. That past is not following me into the Europe of the 21st century. Back then, we lived on a divided continent. The Cold War that blanketed these lands would fall some years before our departure; in fact, it would play a small part in convincing me to move back to the country of my birth. And in any case, I tend to believe that it’s a good idea to move on from time to time – even if it’s not a physical move. Should you wonder how detente played a role in motivating that relocation, well, this is not an autobiography, so I’ll spare you the narrative.

Snow-capped mountain in the western English countryside.

So here we are a full 18 years later, recovered and still alive after our drift into debauchery. We reenter Europe with a burning curiosity in things not only defined by altered states of consciousness. More than ever, we are driven by all things relative to the intricate workings of life, history, science, and culture. We look through the unclouded eyes of rational clarity, well as much as one can muster after the antics of indulgence we thrashed about in. Today, though we are not coming back to dip our toe into that nostalgia, our return after this nearly 20-year hiatus is not for purely selfish reasons either; sadly, Caroline’s mother fell and broke her hip less than a week ago.

Starting our descent into London, England.

At the moment I wrote this, we were sitting on the outskirts of London at Heathrow Airport finished with our trans-Atlantic crossing. We were waiting for the short seventy-five-minute flight over the North Sea and France before landing in Frankfurt, Germany, the city of Caroline’s birth and the place we first met. Finally, at the Frankfurt airport, we rented a car, drove to my sister-in-law Stephanie’s place, and had some dinner delivered from a local pizza and pasta shop that she enjoys before talking into the middle of the night. Details were fogged over by jet lag and a blurred focus brought on by exhaustion. And it was through this sleep deprivation that I attempted to pen this. Edits for the photos may not be the only thing that gets repaired at a future date.

Hawaii – Day 13

December 25, 2012 JWise Photo of the Day, Travels

Kahili Mountain Park on Kauai, Hawaii

Tossed and turned from 4:00 this morning until finally peeling ourselves out of bed at 6:00 to indulge in our Kauai ritual of making tropical oatmeal with our remaining pineapple and apple bananas. With things packed two days ago, we only needed to straighten up and sweep out the cabin before throwing our bags in the car. Prior to locking up, we grabbed the Poke Bentos and our coveted sweet potato haupia pie that we bought yesterday, knowing that on Christmas day, we’d be relegated to eating something ugly at the airport and we were going to have nothing to do with that.

Caroline Wise at Poipu Beach on Kauai, Hawaii

Down the bumpy dirt road and once more through the tree tunnel to Poipu. Luck would have it that a passing pod of whales was swimming by. The only things missing are the sun and a rainbow. Caroline jumped back into the sea for one last communion with the fishes and with that, we headed over to drop the snorkel gear, fill the tank of the rental car, and drive to the airport. We are in the outdoor waiting area after only needing a few minutes in security on this slow day. Pop open the bento lunches and split dessert. Boarding was just 15 minutes after our last bite before catching the short hop over to Oahu before the long haul back to Phoenix. Vacation in Hawaii is now over, Mahalo.

Hawaii – Day 12

December 24, 2012 JWise Photo of the Day, Travels

Sunrise at Kahili Mountain Park on Kauai, Hawaii

What a great sky to wake up to on Christmas Eve, or any day for that matter. That pineapple seen in yesterday’s photos was cut up along with some of the bananas we picked up at the farmer’s market and were used in making our breakfast of tropical oatmeal.

Kahili Mountain Park on Kauai, Hawaii

The last time we stayed at Kahili Mountain, we only used the location for a launchpad and place to lay our head down; this time, we were hoping to spend a while checking out the local landscape. There are 197 acres of land to explore, and we certainly won’t be able to see but a small fraction of those.

Kahili Mountain Park on Kauai, Hawaii

Behind our cabin is a small stream that is a little too wide to jump over, it is also the border of the property. We will take our time, giving nearly three hours to walk the perimeter to find what we might discover. This being Kauai, also known as the garden island, you can rest assured that we are out here looking for flowers and scenes not easily seen from our vantage point looking up the mountain or over the horizon at sunrise.

Kahili Mountain Park on Kauai, Hawaii

There are a lot of strikingly beautiful, delicate splashes of color out here, and it’s winter. I’d love to see what summer brings when the full bloom is on, but the idea of the humidity is a detractor.

Kahili Mountain Park on Kauai, Hawaii

Every corner and nearly every step forward shows us something new. All of this and no entry fee besides the cost of renting our cabin, which was an incredible bargain at only $85 a night with a free night thrown in because we were staying a week.

Kahili Mountain Park on Kauai, Hawaii

I took a nearly identical photo on the Big Island years ago, but as of this writing I’ve not done justice to that trip to Hawaii, but someday I’ll expand on the single photo per day that I posted back then.

Kahili Mountain Park on Kauai, Hawaii

Not your average garden variety spiders around here, right monsters that are difficult to get a bead on as to where the head, tail, or sides are at. Beautiful monsters, in any case.

Kahili Mountain Park on Kauai, Hawaii

We don’t see many orchids in Arizona besides the ones at florists.

Kahili Mountain Park on Kauai, Hawaii

I’d love to know what this is because when it blooms, it does something extraordinary.

Kahili Mountain Park on Kauai, Hawaii

It explodes into a fleshy meat bloom. Full disclosure: I didn’t note specifically that this somewhat ghastly sight belonged to the above image, but my memory is assuring me that the two are related.

Kahili Mountain Park on Kauai, Hawaii

What the heck, is this a fern tree?

Kahili Mountain Park on Kauai, Hawaii

Suckers for rain forests, as who doesn’t love seeing a garden within the garden?

Kahili Mountain Park on Kauai, Hawaii

This tree has some of the strangest leaves we’ve ever seen. This is why visiting a botanical garden is so helpful, as they identify the plants that we are looking at.

Mmmmm, yellow asparagus with fragrant blossoms, though Caroline insists that I’m wrong. If I’m starting to see food in the forest, I guess that means I’m getting hungry. Time to head to Koloa.

This is the mess of Poke Bento I’ve been going about. It’s not very pretty, but I often have that issue when photographing food I’m in love with. I must admit that I’m quite surprised that the Koloa Fish Market is open here on Christmas Eve.

Poipu Beach on Kauai, Hawaii

Armed with the greatest lunch we could hope for, it was time to head to Poipu to enjoy our feast. Under the same palm tree where we finished our previous trip to Kauai, we finished our lunch and shared a sweet potato haupia dessert before Caroline went out for some snorkeling, and I stayed put and wrote.

For a moment, we were considering going back to the top of Kauai for a return visit to Tahiti Nui, but once again, all of the traffic was foiling our plans. Rather than deal with the crush, Caroline takes us out on a detour into a park-like setting with what looks like a pretty good swimming hole, but we have other plans and were hoping for a shortcut to Wailua Falls that didn’t work out. So we turned around to the main road.

South of Kapaa but not quite in Lihue, we turn off for the four-mile drive up the road to Wailua Falls. Obviously, the setting is a sight to behold, but it was a local craftsman who captured the majority of our time here.

This is Donny, and he’s a bit of a wanderer. For $5, he offers to whip up something small with a bunch of coconut fronds he’s harvested and the small knife he’s trimming them with. While he starts to cut, notch, fold, and weave the pieces together, making us a bowl, we talk. He tells us of his hitchhiking adventures exploring the mainland from Texas to California. Not just that, though we stood there talking with Donny for 45 minutes, and the more we talked, the more he made until soon he had a rose mounted to the side of the basket with a butterfly taking flight and a grasshopper on the other side. Twenty minutes earlier, he insisted we didn’t owe him anything, that he was just enjoying the company and the opportunity to demonstrate his skills. All the same, we threw him a twenty and felt that we were leaving with the best Christmas gift ever.

Dinner was at The Feral Pig, and what he ate hardly mattered. Caroline was intent on continuing the umbrella drink adventure she started yesterday and went for something called a “Sazerac” made with rye whiskey, sugar syrup, Peychaud’s, and Herbsaint that was created as an absinthe substitute back when it became illegal. This potent concoction was followed by a Mai Tai that was said to follow the original recipe from 1944, when the drink was invented. Tonight’s version featured almond milk, sugar syrup, lime juice, and vodka, along with dark and light rum. Caroline left with a big silly grin on her face and a case of the giggles. This is how we spent our Christmas Eve.

Hawaii – Day 11

December 23, 2012 JWise Photo of the Day, Travels

Kahili Mountain Park on Kauai, Hawaii

That’s funny it doesn’t look or smell like Sunday, but it is. Well, if it is Sunday, then that means we have to head into Lihue and leave exploring Kahili Mountain for another day.

Hey, this isn’t the road to Lihue, and there’s no way we’ll be buying a Poke bento this early. Ah, we are just sightseeing before we get to our regularly scheduled activities. Wait a minute, we don’t have a schedule! Well, then, without anywhere we really need to be, I guess another drive up and down the tree tunnel is warranted.

Once back on the main road, we made it over to Lihue for breakfast at the Tip Top Motel Cafe And Bakery that’s been feeding islanders and visitors for nearly 100 years. The place is highly rated among locals, and we now understand why. It was packed and noisy, but all the same, we were seated pretty quickly. Our orders were taken within minutes, and coffee was delivered before we saw the menu, which was already at the table. Ten minutes later, my Moco Loco arrived, and Caroline’s banana pineapple pancakes with guava pineapple compote were placed in front of her. If we weren’t suffering from a wicked addiction to the Koloa Fish Market, we’d be wise upon a return visit to eat breakfast here every day.

We are on our way north, heading to Hanalei, as Caroline needs to exchange some ukulele sheet music that was misprinted. You can bet it will not be a direct out-and-back journey, as this beach stop attests. Which beach is this, you might ask? Who cares? It’s a beach on Kauai, and we were so rude as to carve our names into the sand, letting those who follow know that “We were here.”

Roadside, fresh, chilled coconuts sounded like a great idea, and with nothing stopping us from indulgence, we obliged our hedonistic sides and packed in some more calories.

Another reason to snack has presented itself with the Anahola Farmer’s Market. That’s right, you read it correctly, they are selling apple bananas, and we are buying them because one can never eat enough apple bananas when in Hawaii. As for that sample of BBQ pork, I tried that morphed into a plate to go; we’ll just call that “breakfast dessert.”

There is no pineapple such as these on the mainland of America. These giant, ripe, and incredibly sweet, perfect pineapples are unique to Hawaii. We may eat this later today, tomorrow with breakfast, or on Christmas morning before we board our flight back to Arizona. The cold reality that we are down to our last 48 hours in Hawaii is better left for dealing with in the minutes before we drop the rental car, for now, we need to return to the exploration of paradise.

Kilauea Point National Wildlife Refuge is a fond, fond memory from our first visit, and with perfect weather, we would be fools not to stop again. That there is a Junior Ranger Program here is an added bonus, and within minutes of arriving Caroline has her booklet and walks along noodling over the questions.

It’s mere minutes later before we see a pod of whales offshore, and while once again we are denied seeing a breaching cetacean, we do get to see plenty of tail fins, spouts, and arching backs.

Can one have a favorite bird? While I certainly have my least favorite bird in city-dwelling pigeons, I probably only know of a fraction of bird species from around our globe, and there are many beautiful specimens, but the albatross certainly holds a special place in my imagination. Just the idea that this bird can fly non-stop around the earth without landing while expending little to no energy is a feat of evolution that boggles my mind. Then consider that we know that they can live up to at least 66 years of age and that once bonded with a mate, they will stay together until the end of their lives. Of course, there are those beautiful eyes they have that I’m too gullible in assigning anthropomorphic qualities to. I’ll just go and blurt it out right here: I love the albatross.

Check out the nene, also spelled nēnē, otherwise known as the Hawaiian goose. This native of Hawaii is only found on the islands out here in the Pacific and is speculated to have arrived on the islands when they were blown off course at some time in the past. They are friendly, curious birds with a unique soft call compared to the harsh sound of the common goose.

The Kilauea Point Lighthouse could not stand out in greater contrast to the blue sky, deep blue water, and greenery out here on this spit of land.

The sky is also full of frigate birds, and while a little bit buzzardly looking, they are graceful and draw my admiration for their ability to live free, fly around, and not be subject to the arbitrary laws and whims of power-hungry bird enforcers.

I don’t really care if they are red-footed or blue-footed because this bird has the word booby in it. Yeah, buddy, this is the red-footed booby. I tried a good two or three minutes to get a pair of boobies in my shot, but all I got was this bird in front of the ocean. I’ll be looking for a pair of boobies to photograph and will get back to you, the reader, should I see them.

The ocean churns hard around Kilauea Point, and at times, we watched waves break on a cliffside, sending its waters a good 80 feet straight up. With birds, dolphins, whales, a lighthouse, and perfect weather all around us, it is hard to figure out what to give our full attention to.

You should know just how badly I want to reach out and feel how soft those feathers are around the nene’s neck. These official State Birds of Hawaii are protected and endangered and so even if my judgment is occasionally poor, I will respect the request not to interfere with these gorgeous birds.

The other day, when we were up and purchased the ukulele, the sky was overcast, and this overlook of the Hanalei National Wildlife Refuge was jam-packed with others who had the same idea of snapping this image. This spot on Kauai is probably the second most famous after the Napali Coast and is certainly an iconic location. Down below are paddies with taro plants, which are essential to the Native Hawaiian diet of both poi and lau lau.

Here’s the view from below the overlook of those plots of taro. The last time we were here, we didn’t make time to follow the narrow road that was more of a wide sidewalk leading into the refuge; today, we did. The road might go for a couple of miles, but it was hard to tell, considering how slow we were traveling. There are thickets of bamboo, a couple of homes, a trail we won’t take this visit, and a slow-moving waterway that is the likely source of irrigation of all this taro.

Over at Hanalei Strings, we learn that there are no refunds, only exchanges. That was okay as Caroline opted to leave with more yarn; as I went to pay for the difference, the guy waved it off, saying it was for the trouble of driving back up, like driving around a Hawaiian island is a hassle or something.

The next stop was at Tahiti Nui. Why Tahiti Nui? Because Caroline, prior to leaving for Hawaii, let it be known that she wanted umbrella drinks on this excursion, and the other day at the Limahuli Garden a lady told us of a particularly nice dive bar. While it was specifically described as a dive bar, we were reassured that it was a great dive bar. While I, being the teetotaler, opted for Julia’s Iced Tea, which was a mix of iced tea, lemonade, and guava juice, Caroline “started” with their famous Mai Tai. Sitting there, taking in the sights of bar culture, we couldn’t help but do some noshing until Caroline decided on her second drink, a lilikoi margarita. With the umbrella drinks checked off the to-do list, one of us walks back to the car, and the other weaves.

A small apparently little-used road led us to a small cove. There are no facilities, no lifeguards, and apparently, clothes are optional.

When we were finally ready to leave that isolated spot of tranquility, the clouds were moving in, suggesting that another spectacular sunset was being scratched off the itinerary. Over to Starbucks, we went and with coffee in hand, we walked around. Wouldn’t you know it, there’s a man talking to a woman while holding a piglet. Turns out the woman is his girlfriend who works in the shop; we volunteer that we are certified expert piglet caregivers and would gladly watch his new pet while he properly visits with his girlfriend. So here we are, just hanging out in Kapaa, drinking coffee and chilling with a piglet cradled in my wife’s arms because that’s how we roll when on the isle of Kauai.

Sadly, the owner came back for his little black pig, which was okay as I would have had no idea how we’d ever get it on a plane to Arizona. Before returning to the cabin, we stopped at Walmart which turns out to be the best place for cheap souvenirs to drag back to coworkers in Caroline’s office. For our friend Rainy, we found some Hello Kitty pineapple-flavored marshmallows.

We packed up a day early so our last night would be as stress-free as possible. I headed to the shower outside, and Caroline pulled up the ukulele and tried playing. I say she “tried” playing because she’d chosen to try Aloha Oe, and in between the tears, she would have to stop and catch her breath. I listened to her through the walls and couldn’t help but feel teary-eyed with her as her romantic notions were affecting both of us.

John Wise

Category: Travels

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Hawaii – Day 13

Hawaii – Day 12

Hawaii – Day 11