Every Picture Tells a Story - Kauai is a perfect example

So it's time to get caught up, and I'll do it with pictures.

Only pictures, with captions ...

We went up to see the Waimea Canyon, known as the Grand Canyon of the Pacific, but it was pretty wet and foggy that day.  We did capture this moment, but it was not the full meal deal.

On the trip to the top of the Waimea Canyon, we attempted to get a selfie picture using a self stick, but the outcome was pretty weak.
Love Gabby's expression on the right. 

Remember I mentioned Caption Cook earlier in another blog about Kauai, Hawaii?  This is a statue of him in the coastal town of Waimea, where he landed in 1770.  He was a British explorer who went on to explore the Oregon coast, among other places.  He had an interesting life, but ironically, was later killed here in Hawaii.

There was a boat cruise up a local river to the Fern Grotto, pretty touristy, but still kinda cool.  They gave us a hula dance show once we got there, the kids loved it.  The adults had a good time too. 

At a town nearby, they had a cool footbridge over a good sized river.
I got this photo of Fiona crossing over.
She was a little uneasy, as it was a wobbly bridge - shifty and precarious.

There are a variety of places to eat, some really nice and some rather routine (for Hawaii).  We chose this patio cafe on a former coconut plantation, it was fabulous.  Good food and great scenery.  We could see the ocean off across the lawn. 

Kauai is known as the Garden Isle, and there are a lot of waterfalls.  Especially after the heavy rain we've had.  This waterfall was not normally quite this full, and not usually brownish, but with the runoff it was a powerful sight to see.  

Much of Hawaii has converted away from the old days of sugar cane and pineapple, and now grows other things, like tourism ... Ha!  Actually there is a lot of coffee grown in Hawaii these days and it is excellent.  This picture captures me and Gabby checking out the local production.

This picture shows more coffee, up close.  They will harvest in a few weeks, when the beans turn a little more reddish. 
Kauai Coffee Company is a huge producer of high quality coffee. 

On our trip to the far end of Kauai today, we encountered a scene a bit out of place - a lighthouse!  Beautiful and very scenic, and the weather has now gotten nicer.
What a great spot!  

Of course we have been hitting the beach as much as possible, and spending time in the waves and looking at the fishes.  This area is known for the former Salt Ponds where Hawaiians used to gather salt to export (and still do). 

Please forgive me for yet another picture of the sun and sky here, but it is so irresistible, and picturesque.  This was taken around four in the afternoon on the way to the waterfall.  

A Story - Rain, Rain, go away - ... should I build an Ark?

   

 

     This was the heaviest rain I can remember.  Or to put it another way, I can't ever remember this kind of rain.  We were told to expect heavy precipitation, with a hurricane on its way.  And since this is Hawaii it rains a lot anyway, almost every day.  
     But when we went to sleep, we had no idea what would hit within a couple hours.  First off, our phones started to ring, with recording warnings of severe weather to hit soon.  The house phone (a land line) and then Beka's cell phone and then Fiona's phone.  We had already been sleeping for a couple hours.  Apparently Hawaii has a pretty well developed system for spreading the word.  
     Less than five minutes later the storm hit hard.
     If we had any chance of dropping back to sleep, it quickly vanished. The rain was beating hard on the tin roof of the house where we're staying.  The majority of homes in Hawaii have metal roofs.  Have you ever heard rain beating on a metal roof?  It's loud!  It grew from a dull roar to an incredibly deafening explosion of sound.  It didn't waver or diminish, in fact it grew even more. 
     And then the lightning began, followed by booming thunder.  The house shook.  And the winds came, intermittent blasts of cool air, which ironically felt pretty good in relation to the tropical heat here in Hawaii.  It was wild.  It was so intense that Fiona and I just lay in bed looking out the window at the amazing display of weather.  There is a window at the head of our bed, and we lay on our stomachs, gazing out, fascinated by the spectacular exhibition, regularly blinded by flashes of lightning. 
     The lightning was closer and closer, and at one point the flash was so intense we could feel the heat.  This lighting display lasted for a long time, well over an hour.  The noise was overwhelming.  We thought the house was going to wash away.  I'm still amazed the power didn't go out. 
     As an example, in Oregon and the Northwest, we're used to rain falling out of the sky being pulled down from the clouds by gravity.   Not this stuff.  It was like water was being shot out of a cannon.  I pictured a thousand strong fire hoses blasting water on our town and the island.  I didn't realize rain could "fall" this hard.  It was an awesome moment in time.  Only the moment lasted for a couple hours.  We couldn't sleep.  I don't see how anyone could.        
     Eventually, the rain subsided and the thunder and lightning went away.  I'll never forget this storm.  The wind kept blowing, but the storm was spent.  I kept wondering how much rain had actually fallen.  We finally drifted back to sleep.  When I checked the weather stats later, a place near us recorded 7.67 inches of rain overnight! 

     
     The next morning, it was surprisingly mellow.  We sipped our coffee and told stories about the night and said it would be something we would tell our grandchildren (only they were staying in the same house and slept through the whole thing!).  
     I went for a jog in the morning and there wasn't much evidence of the massive storm and drenching that took place the night before. 
     I figured there would be flooding and houses washed off their foundation, and cars washed away.  We were emotionally impacted by the event, but it seemed like ... no one else was.  Did Hawaiians just take this kind of thing in stride?
     It turns out most of them did take it in stride.  We went out for an early lunch and mentioned the night before and some of the locals said, "yeah, it was a bit wet last night ..."
     A bit wet?  You call this "a bit?"  Are you kidding me?  During the night I contemplated what our plans were to evacuate and maybe seek higher ground ... and they were like "yeah, I had to make sure my car windows were rolled up ..."
     Our friends from Hawaii commented "did we forget to mention this part about living in paradise?"  However, some other friends (also living in Hawaii) also admitted that this was the worst weather of the year, and ... weren't we lucky to be here to witness it! 

     Anyway, Hawaii is full of surprises.  We lived to tell about it. 

Hawaii - The Russians are Coming! Well ... they actually left a long time ago

We landed in Kauai, the Garden Isle of Hawaii last night

(Hey man, I captured this picture above as the plane was landing at sunset ... ! )

     This is an actual vacation - like spending time with family and friends and staying in one place, more or less.  What a concept!
     We are with our daughter Beka and her husband Jake, and their two kids, Yoppie and Gabby.  We will be in Hawaii for a couple weeks and plan to visit our good friends Jeff and Debbie on the Big Island next week.

     For now, we are staying in a house, shown below, in the small town of Kekaha, on the the westernmost island of Kauai, which is known as the Garden Isle, for good reason.  It's incredibly green and lush here, and not terribly crowded.  
     In fact, it rains a lot, pretty much every day.  And they say there's a hurricane coming this way, but we're not going to worry about it (until it happens).  As I write this blog post, it's about 9:00 at night and there is a torrential rain coming down  ...  

     So today we went to the beach, in Poipu.  I won't bother to give pronunciation tips, you can probably figure it out.  
     It's a cool beach, very kid friendly.  We went snorkeling and swimming and other things.  Really hot and humid, kinda tropical, which makes a lot of sense. 

     We have been to Hawaii before, but it's been a while.  The island of Kauai has changed and there are a few more people here, but still less than the other islands.  There are some really nice beaches.  This should not be a surprise, as it is one of the primary reasons people come to Hawaii.  
     The picture below was captured of me by Jake underwater.  I don't know if it's slightly creepy or not, but I decided to include it.  The water was murky from sand and waves.

One the way home we passed an old Russian Fort

     At one point in time, the Russian came to Hawaii and established a fort here.  It's in ruins now, but it was built in 1817 and they had a foothold in Kauai and were planning to take over the place.  Only things didn't work out for them and they eventually left with their tails between their legs (that's an editorial comment by me) when the kingdom of Hawaii had a resurgence and ran them out. 

     So the ruins stand on the beach shores of the Pacific.  They are not particularly inspiring, but they are intact.  The spot is not far from the actual point where Captain Cook first set foot on this island chain in 1778.  A lot of history here.  Maybe more on that later. 

     We will be here in Kauai for about a week then move on to the big island (which is a actually called "Hawaii", the same as the state).  
     
     We envision a variety of activities.   Generally this means we will be running around like maniacs, getting in trouble, getting lost, possibly getting arrested, and discovering things that were better left alone. 

A couple more miscellaneous pictures

     Below we see Gabby our granddaughter standing on the stump of a coconut palm tree.  Her brother Yoppie, was standing on the same tree moments before.  She tries to copy everything he does. 

     

   
     And this picture was taken at a view point with a huge drop off to the canyon below.  When I see this kind of thing ... well, I take it as a challenge.   

A Wedding in a Castle! ... in Canada!

     

It's not every day you go to a wedding in a castle!

     This has been the summer of special weddings!

     And we went to another one: This time in Toronto, Canada.  Our nephew Sean was getting married to the love of his life, Vanessa.  This particular wedding had a twist, it was in a castle!

     We flew to Toronto with our daughter Beka specifically to attend the event, and nearly missed the flight because of traffic in Portland.  (I wrote about this recently, how bad the traffic jams can be.  This is not exactly news, but there was a lot of response about the traffic blog post.)

     We arrived in Toronto early on Tuesday morning, following the overnight red eye flight.  We touched base with the other family members and such, and promptly made our way to the AirBNB accommodations and took a long nap.  We awoke in the afternoon and went for a walk to procure a few groceries for the apartment. 

     There was a meal that night for the wedding attenders at a local Chinese restaurant in the Toronto Chinatown which was pretty lively.  In fact, the restaurant was packed and really busy and had great food!  

     There was one moment of emotional turmoil at the restaurant when our grand nieces from England realized that the fish and crabs in the large aquarium were there to be caught and eaten.  When a guy fished out some of the seafood and it went into a pot, they were very upset.  Life can seem cruel to a small child. 

     We had a good time socializing with both sides of the family. 

 Although it was a very busy time, we were able to connect with Sean that evening and spend some time together after the meal. 

     

A brief chance to sight see in Toronto 

     The next day was the wedding and since it was an evening event, we were able to take advantage of the time to have a visit to Toronto.  I have only been there once very briefly years ago (Fiona and Beka not much either) so we made our way downtown on the subway and looked around.  

     

     Toronto is right on Lake Ontario and has a vibrant downtown with a lot to see and do.  We did some sightseeing, had coffee, went to an outdoor train museum, walked along the lakefront, and had lunch at a nice sidewalk restaurant.  

     The weather was hot and humid, and more than once there was a thunderstorm with an intense downpour, which quickly went away.  

     

     We made our way back to our apartment, which was pretty funky and quirky, as these pictures show.  It was small but had a lot of character.  

     

      

     The picture below shows Beka helping Fiona with a wardrobe issue as they were getting ready for the wedding.  They take longer to get ready for a wedding than I do.   Of course, when they're done they look a whole lot better than I do. 

    

      The apartment was in a great location, near shops and parks.  In fact, we were able to walk to the wedding around 5:00 since it was so close and it was a nice day.

The Wedding

     The marriage ceremony would take place that evening at the castle called Casa Loma.  It is a full sized castle about a hundred years old, and was rather impressive both inside and out.  

     Since Sean was born in Scotland there was a bagpipe player there, and he and his brother Paul were wearing kilts.  Sean is a fairly recent transplant to Canada.  

     His wife comes from a Philippine background so there were several there from her side of the family.  It was a real global affair and many came from far away to attend, including us!

     The ceremony was simple but stylish, and included a Philippine ritual or two.  The dinner that followed was top quality in the elegant dining hall.  

     There was a real mix of people there.  Following the dinner, there was considerable social time and dancing, and a few toasts to the new bride and groom.   

     At one point, Beka and I went outside to catch some fresh air, as the evening was quite muggy, and we were surprised to find ourselves in the middle of another torrential cloud burst of heavy rain.  It definitely cooled things off.  Fifteen minutes later it was dry.  

     They even brought out reinforcements of food later in the party and reception - good stuff!

     We were able to walk home after the conclusion late at night, and managed to make it home without getting wet, which was an item of concern!   

     All in all, it was a great time. 

     

     I think this more or less concludes the wedding season for the year.  We leave for another trip on Saturday.  

The Scourge of Mankind & A Circus In the Middle of the Woods!

A rather unusual wedding - and a whole lot of traffic.  

It's not every day you have such a combination of experiences 

     So we went to a wedding last weekend in Seattle.  Actually it was north of Seattle in a town called Arlington.  Actually it was out in the woods near Arlington.  Remote as all get-out.  Took a while to figure out where it was and even longer to get there. 
     This was a wedding involving good friends and special people. Getting married was the son of our dear longtime friends, a young man we have known since … birth.  
     I say all this to make a point.  We experienced a well-known and very common experience (but somewhat unfamiliar to us) …

     We ran into the modern scourge of mankind – traffic.  

     Or to be more precise, traffic jams.  Endless traffic jams.  It was terrible.  We spent hours and hours sitting in one continuous traffic jam after another.  It took forever getting there and back.  It was horrible and something I do not wish to repeat any time soon.   
     I am simply not wired to sit in an automobile for hours on end while going nowhere (is anybody?).  Honestly it felt a bit like torture.  It was like punishment.  

     We left on Saturday around mid-morning after meeting a friend who was carpooling with us.  His wife had gone up ahead to help with the wedding preparations.  In fact, our beginning turned out to be a bad omen because we got stuck behind a really long slow moving train in Salem - you know, the kind where people eventually bail and turn around to find another way to get around the unending train.   
     However, we sailed through Portland without much problem, but we hit traffic in Olympia Washington and it was bumper to bumper until we got well north of Seattle.  It seemed like forever.  Fortunately we left early and gave ourselves plenty of time. As it turned out, we needed it. 
     The whole trip was around 280 miles and took nearly six hours.  And going home was not much better.  On that trip, we left Everett at 8:30 on Sunday morning and moved south through Seattle pretty quickly and were making good time … until we hit Portland, when traffic basically stopped.  Something related to work on the 405 bridge.  It was hideous.  
     The return trip took over five hours.  So we spent a total of twelve hours driving there and back.  We were only there at the wedding and the overnight stay for around sixteen hours.  Not a good equation.  We spent 43% of our time sitting in a car - and half of that not moving.  Nobody’s idea of fun, certainly not mine.  
     Fiona and I live in the country, near Jefferson Oregon.  We are not used to this kind of misery.  In our modern world, with all the progress and technology, it seems like we are still fairly primitive when it comes to getting around in cars.  
     I heard a statistic one time that said 25% of all gasoline was consumed in automobiles while they were not moving.  That is a staggering amount of fuel, just burning away in the engine and polluting the atmosphere.  
     And the amount of time wasted is also mind numbing.  The average commuter in a big city spends almost a week and a half each year sitting in traffic.  At some point this becomes counter-productive.  
     All I know is, I hate sitting in traffic, and rural living gives me a better chance of avoiding it. 

Moving on, it was a cool wedding …

     So this was not your ordinary wedding.  For one thing it was deep in the woods, a long way from anywhere.  They had done a good job of setting things up and there was good food and beverage available.  The actual ceremony was simple (if unorthodox) and was pretty short.  There were a lot of bridesmaids and groomsmen.  There were a lot of hipsters.  

      They had music and lots of people and it was relaxed and fun.  
A more unusual element of the wedding was a cirque du soleil kind of acrobatic display of two young ladies hanging on a silk “curtain” and climbing all over each other.  It was rather impressive, except their music stopped working halfway through and they had to improvise, and oh, it started raining.   
     

     There was a really bright spotlight shining on the act, and as it was in the middle of the dark forest,  it added to the striking image of the performance. 

One more item of note:  

     During our challenging journey to make it to the event, I made one of several inquisitive turns onto dirt roads, trying to find the right location.  Somewhere in this process, our Volvo began to make a loud squealing sound that was very disconcerting.  It was troubling to realize that we might be having car problems out in the middle of nowhere.  
     When we finally pulled into the parking area for the wedding, the sound was very distinctive, and people turned heads and wondered “what the … ?”  It was somewhat embarrassing, although we quickly parked and just figured that we would deal with it later.   
     However, it was somewhat hard to relax and enjoy the event with a car that seemed to be having problems and was making an ungodly noise and … would we make it home tonight?
     So after the ceremony and dinner I eventually asked a young man (Noah) with whom we were long acquainted to help me identify the problem.  I made my approach with the time honored “hey ole buddy ole pal …” and since this activity involved rolling around underneath the car, I was looking for some help, especially from a guy with some mechanical talent.  
     We walked out into the darkness using our iPhones for flashlights, and examined the offending part of the vehicle.  It didn’t take long for Noah to spot the rock stuck in the shroud of the brake pad.  This kind of problem makes a horrendous sound, but is fortunately easy to fix.  He pulled out his trusty knife and pried out the stone, and instantly the problem was fixed.  Nice job my friend!
     We were able to enjoy the rest of the evening and the circus show, and it was a fine and memorable wedding.

     And then we had to drive home …..