After we got back from our vacation last week, K. wrote about the stuff we did for some friends who are planning on visiting Kauai later in the year. I got her to let me post them here. I’ve added a few selections from our Hawaii Flickr set for spice.

Guidebook:

THE ULTIMATE KAUAI GUIDEBOOK

The author is one hokey dude, but this is the book to use. Our friends Joseph and Jen sent it to us, and seriously everyone we saw on our trip had the same one! Every time I mention “the book” here I am referring to this one. It’s incredibly detailed.

Beaches:

KE’E

The last one before the Na Pali coast starts. The trailhead for the Kalalau Trail is here – that’s the trail that goes along the Na Pali coast. The beach is gorgeous and cozy feeling because the left side ends in the cliffs and volcanic rocks, making kind of a cove thing. You can snorkel here, but we found there was more marine life and stuff at Tunnels Beach, which is farther east on the north shore, pretty close. People said they saw sea turtles here on the day we went, but sadly, we didn’t. Oh and there’s shade here, which is awesome. Parking can be tight at the lot right next to the beach entry, so either go early or late, or park at the public lot before the beach and walk (not too far).

TUNNELS

Another gorgeous beach with a larger and more expansive feeling. Great and easy snorkeling – just wade in and go! Awesome reef with beautiful underwater vistas. Go early (10 or 11?) if you can, because there are just a few parking spots by the beach access point. I think you can also park some other places, though – check the book. We rented prescription snorkel masks (not expensive at all) from this place Pedals and Paddles in Hanalei, so we could actually see.

HIDEAWAYS

Super beautiful and also cozy feeling because there are rocks on both ends. You have to hike down a pretty steep path but it’s not too long, and it’s worth it because it keeps most people away and isn’t crowded! They say you can snorkel here but it was super high surf when we went so we didn’t even go all the way into the water. Shade here too. Also, we apparently settled too close to the shore because a wave came up and OVER all of our stuff (mats, towels, magazines, etc.) with no warning! It was nuts.

SHERATON RESORT BEACH

A nice resort beach environment on the south shore complete with lovely tropical landscaping, pool, outside bar, bathrooms, and beachfront. Park on the road and walk in through the lobby or an outside path. I think all HI beaches are public access, so you don’t really have to sneak. A definite, but nice, change of pace from the wilder, authentic, non-commercial beach option. We went on a day that they have local music and a hula dancing show at 5p for people staying there, and we weren’t asked to show a room card as long as we didn’t try to get a free mai tai. Their bar has an amazing view by the way; it’s called The Point. (I think this is also called — or part of — Po’ipu Beach.)

QUEEN’S BATH

Not a beach but a swimming hole. A crazy awesome large pool formed by volcanic rocks on the edge of the ocean. !! A gorgeous spot – ridiculous really. The hike in (part jungle, part rocks once you get to the ocean) can be really slippery if it has just rained etc. so if possible, get those reef shoes the book talks about. Sneaks or Keens will work too, but if it has rained, be careful. There is a beautiful waterfall on the path in – very Hawaii feeling. Also, bring your mask because it’s fun to snorkel here. Can be scary if the surf is high – check before going with someone who would know (we asked our hostess, maybe this info would be online also?)

LYDGATE BEACH PARK

On the east shore on the way back down to Lihue etc. We stopped there for a few hours on our last day on the way to our night flight. It was fun in a state park kind of way. It’s kind of retro – there are bathrooms, an outdoor shower, and a big protected pool part surrounded with rocks to swim in because the surf is high. People were snorkeling. We walked down to the part of the beach that has a hotel on it — the Aloha Beach Resort — and went to the hotel bar; it felt like we were in South Padre (TX) kind of, but with a way nicer beach. The drinks were awesome though – mai tais, mudslides, etc. Yeah! Perfect before our horrid red-eye back to SF.

Sights/Activities:

KOKE’E STATE PARK/WAIMEA CANYON

Super beautiful, although we were lazy and didn’t do any hikes. We just stopped at the lookout the book recommends, as well as the regular lookout the book says isn’t as good. The Koke’e Lodge for lunch was odd but good (see below).

KILAUEA POINT LIGHTHOUSE

Crazy beautiful spot with a lookout all around. Nice birds and wildlife (it’s a refuge also). This is a pretty quick stop – could do it on the way to or from the airport if you have time to kill. Worth going regardless.

WAIMEA FALLS

Impressive … just a lookout at the side of the road, actually. I think the book says how to get down there maybe if you want to, but it looks scary.

NA PALI CATAMARAN

I was really excited to see the Na Pali coast by boat, and this is the company the book recommends. We were originally booked on a whale-watching tour (April is the change of season, so snorkeling isn’t guaranteed). But they called us before we arrived and upgraded it to a snorkeling trip ($20 more). While we would have LOVED to snorkel, it was unfortunately pretty rough the day we went, and I tend toward seasickness on the best of days. I should have remembered to take Dramamine or something. That being said, I was irritated with Na Pali Catamaran because they obviously know you really can’t snorkel when it’s that rough – and 5 out of 15 people on the boat got sick, so it was kind of a bust all around. We saw no whales and went back to shore early. I don’t think they put our safety at risk, but one of their staffers admitted they don’t usually go when the waves are 8 feet or higher, and that’s what the Coast Guard has estimated the wave height at that day (we later found out). I realize they can’t control the ocean, but they also didn’t offer any sort of apology or to, say, refund the 20 extra snorkeling bucks as a small gesture (we had to ask for that). Kind of tacky, in our opinion (especially since they charge $150 per person).

Restaurants:

HANALEI DOLPHIN RESTAURANT

A nice spot that’s open-air with tiki torches at night, next to a little stream or something. A cute, fun, good going out to dinner place — not super fancy or anything – but the one nicer place we went to on the north shore. We read reviews of all the really fancy places around Hanalei and nothing really sounded worth it, given that we now live in a foodie city. This place was perfect though for a fun dinner out — super-yummy family-style salad that comes with entrees, a fine pina colada, and geat grilled fish. Oh, they also have an attached fish market at which we bought fish for grilling at home. That was delicious (they recommended something local).

HANALEI GOURMET

A chill lunch spot that is in the old Hanalei School and has a few tables on the porch that are nice to sit at. Yummy salads with grilled fish, chicken salad in a papaya, delish fish and chips, etc. Good people watching if you sit outside – you’ll see a lot of unfortunate tropical fashions! A solid lunch spot, pretty reasonably priced even though the guidebook hates on it a bit.

WAKE UP HANALEI

A surfer-y, open-air breakfast spot. Decent. Nice to sit on the porch and good if you want fried spam and eggs, or something more than, like, a coffee and muffin breakfast. Cash only.

JAVA KAI

The coffee place. Yummy brownies. The one in Kapa’a (should you be there) has amazing cinnamon rolls and a weirdly good breakfast burrito. It also seems more like a local spot and has really good mango iced tea. The cinnamon rolls at the Hanalei one weren’t the same and the iced tea was just regular. But it’s still a fine coffee place.

WISHING WELL SHAVE ICE

This is the shave ice spot if you’re into that. It’s super cute and has picnic tables on grass. According to the crazy guidebook, it’s superior to the one in the middle of town (the one by Hanalei Gourmet and all that stuff). It also has some rules and regulations for ordering, so beware. I got yelled at when I asked to taste of the Kona coffee ice cream.

KOKE’E LODGE RESTAURANT

The only thing for lunch on the way to Waimea Canyon lookout, etc. Sandwiches, salads, soups, etc. I enjoyed my Greek salad and Ellen had the Portuguese bean soup and cornbread. The cornbread was OK, but has nothing on Jiffy – I’m actually not sure why they think it’s so special. This joint has crazy souvenirs.

VILLAGE SNACK SHOP AND BAKERY

Weird but good local spot for breakfast. Open early. Counter service. Good people watching. In Ching Young Village in the heart of Hanalei.

BEACH HOUSE RESTAURANT

We opted to do our one true fine-dining meal at this place on the south shore the day we did Waimea Canyon etc. It’s kind of famous — right on the water with great sunsets and food. (The south shore is the spot for sunsets because there are no mountains blocking the views.) It’s big and busy, but the food WAS as high-quality as it was supposed to be, and the service was good as well. We watched surfers as we ate. It was a gorgeous spot – ask for a window table and go at like 6 if you want to experience the sunset hour.

TRUCK AT HA’ENA BEACH

This is where Ellen got her fresh chilled coconut. It was the kind with soft meat you can scrape out with a spoon after you’re done with the milk (water, really), as opposed to the crunchy kind. They also had smoothies, water, etc., and it’s a great stop on the way to or from Ke’e Beach (it’s west of the turn-off for Tunnels). This is the only beach we saw on the north shore that had something commercial really near it.

Lodging:

JUNGLE COTTAGE

We loved our lodging. There are several pics of it in the Flickr set, inside and out. We actually forgot to take a pic of the outside shower, which was lovely, but it’s on their website (junglecottage.com). It wasn’t the cheapest option, but it wasn’t the most expensive, either – there are seriously expensive hotels there that I doubt offer the amenities that Jungle Cottage did. Also nice was that it was 100% as nice as it looked online, and worth throwing down for, in our opinion. (I hate when you decide to pay extra and then you get there and feel it’s not worth it.) It was great to have a kitchenette, a deck, a grill, a living room, and a closet, and they thought of everything you might need – even providing beach towels, snorkel gear, a beach bag, and random stuff like a drying rack for your bathing suits!

fresh chilled coconut milk

If you’re one of the many folks who can’t wait to dive in to the pictures of our Hawaiian vacation last week, you’ll be happy to know that we’ve sorted and titled them and they’re now available for your viewing pleasure. K. has also written up a recommendation list for some friends of ours who are planning to hit Kauai later this year, so I’ll post that here soon too.

Our feet, on the beach at the Sheraton

Aloha! We just returned yesterday from Kauai. It was our first visit to Hawaii, and quite sensational. We have a lot of pictures, which we need to edit and filter a little, but we’ll be posting them to Flickr soon. This first one is just a start.

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My current view: under a palm tree on the beach.

View from the cabin, after the fog dispersed on Sunday

It’s Saturday, and I’m writing this entry from Hope Cottage at Green Gulch Farm, part of the San Francisco Zen Center. It’s down Highway 1, within walking distance of Muir Beach, theoretically, only today we’re not doing much walking. This won’t be posted until we get back to town, though, since, although we’ve had an intermittant wireless connection here, it’s not consistent enough to post to the blog.

We got in last night just in time for the dinner served in the Green Gulch dining room; it was pasta puttanesca with homemade bread and homegrown broccoli, and for dessert there was a big bowl of chocolate pudding that was still warm. It was awesome. This is a serious Zen retreat and a lot of the meals are taken in silence, but people were talking at dinner on Friday night; dessert is not an everyday thing either, so we apparently arrived at a hedonistic time.

Here are some things we knew about Hope Cottage before we got here: There are electric lights that are fed by solar panels, and we could run out of power during the evening, so we should try to be conservative with our light usage. We knew that water is hauled up here and stored in a cistern, and heated with a propane tank, so conserving water would be necessary too. We knew that the place is heated with a wood stove, so we might get chilly, since the forecast said it would be in the mid 40s at night when we were here. We knew that it was a 20-25 minute walk up to the cabin, and that we’d need to haul everything up in backpacks. We expected it to be a little rainy today, so hiking might be a little gross.

What we didn’t know was that the 20-25 minute time for the hike was measured by people who weren’t packing in loads of stuff, and carrying your packs up the steep hills, especially after a rain, generally takes more like 40 minutes. It was pitch-black dark too, of course, so that made things interesting; you have to keep one hand free for your flashlight. Maybe that’s why all the Zen students kept wishing us good luck when they heard where we were staying.

We also didn’t know that instead of the “few showers” predicted for today, we’d get what feels, to us, at least, like a serious storm. This morning we woke up to a gorgeous view of the valley and the ocean, but the view was pretty quickly overtaken by a fog so heavy we can’t see past the edge of the ledge we’re on. Forecasts said it would be about 50 degrees this afternoon, but this is apparently a pretty cold weather event, since we’re still seeing our breath inside at 4 p.m. We do have a temperature gauge; it’s about 53 degrees right by the fireplace, and more like 46 by the bed. The fire is nice, but you have to stay close, because the wind is blowing strong and the cabin is drafty. And I haven’t kept the fire raging because I’m a little afraid we’ll run out of dry firewood (not likely, there were too big piles in the house when we got here, but we’ve had to have the fire going since we woke up at 8:30 this morning.)

And, we didn’t know that the pilot light for the water heater could blow out during a windy storm like this one, leaving us with no hot water. Last night we had hot water, but none today. We do have a three-burner propane stove where we’ve been able to heat up water to do dishes and wash our hands.

There’s electric lighting, but, as it turns out, no electrical outlets, so my rechargeable items aren’t recharging. I don’t expect to be able to use my laptop for long, and I’m a little sad I brought it, since it’s a heavy item to carry up and down the hill to the car. I had a fantasy I’d write all day, but probably a few hours is all I’ll get. Also, I didn’t think to charge up my camera battery before I got here, and the low battery light started blinking immediately, so it looks like there won’t be a tremendous number of pictures of this trip (Here’s all I took).

All that said, this is really lovely experience in a lot of ways. This is obviously a very special place. Last night, walking up here, we heard coyotes howling in the wood around us. Today we saw hawks hunting over the gulch. It’s cold, but we’re cuddling up. We brought up good snacks, and there’s also homemade bread and granola here, and eggs and butter, tea and coffee and milk. This morning I made eggs sunny side up, then warmed up slices of homemade bread in the skillet with the leftover butter. For lunch we made guacamole and had hummus and veggies, and wine, of course. We’re talking and reading and I’m writing this, and I’ve practiced my ukulele. The wild storm is raging outside, and we’re not in it. That’s nice.

Of course, my biggest worry is that this storm won’t end, and tomorrow morning will roll around, and we’ll be forced to hike down the hill in the driving rain and wind carrying 40 pounds of stuff. I’m trying to keep in touch with my optimistic side. I guess that’s our Zen lesson for this trip. At least, on the way back, we’ll be going down rather than up.

UPDATE on Sunday: We’re now safely back at home. This morning was sunny and clear, but only after a night of howling wind and pouring rain. We chose to move to the futon close to the fire to sleep rather than the cabin’s famous platform bed by the windows; there was just too much chi up there. Good thing, too, because the clothes I’d left near the bed were wet this morning; water had apparently snuck in through the edges of the windows. I woke up several times in the night with the winds sounding like a hurricane outside. It was nerve-wracking, and I didn’t sleep so well.

But this morning we saw a rainbow, and were able to pack up and head down the hill with the sun on us. We didn’t make it all the way down before the rains started again, though, and by the time we checked out we were ready to get out of there. We did a half-hearted tour of the farm before heading out to find civilization and hot coffee in Stinson Beach.

Last night we read the guest book in the cabin, and while most folks were waxing rhapsodic about the place (one guest described, in rather graphic detail, the sex he and his partner had after their hike in), we were relieved to see that not everyone was thrilled with long hike up, the state of the food left for guests, and the general uncomfortableness of the situation. At least we didn’t encounter the rodents one woman complained about.

Tonight, back in the city, we’re turning on the heat. And I’m about to take a shower — with hot water. Namasté.

Pigeon Point hostel

So, as of January 11, we have lived in San Francisco for one year. Notice that I’ve changed the blog title.

This weekend we went out and stayed at the Pigeon Point Lighthouse hostel, which has a terrific hot tub overlooking the ocean. You can hear the surf and the stars and moon were bright enough to see the waves crest, and, of course, the beam of the lighthouse would pass over. Pretty amazing.

On Saturday we went to Santa Cruz and watched a bunch of sea lions on the wharf. There were certainly more than 100 hanging out that afternoon, and they reminded me of Haylee and Tex. See for yourself:

We have returned from The Bronx and are back in San Francisco. Re-entry from the holidays hasn’t been particularly easy; I have fond memories of being in school and getting a month plus off.

When we came back to the city the weather was beautiful, and we have visitors coming this weekend, so it seemed like it was going to be great. Alas, they’re in for a damp excursion, as the West Coast is seriously stormy. At the moment I’m looking out my dining room window at the heavy rain and severe winds the Weather Channel has been promising us for the last couple of days. I’m actually seeing rain being blown back up into the sky, and now and then a chunk of something will fly off our neighbor’s roof.

All of this is supposed to die down by tomorrow, when the tourists arrive, and just go back to the showers I’m getting used to. But for today we have real weather. If I didn’t have meeting to attend today, I’d use this as an excuse to miss work. Taking the bus today, this is no good for scootering.

Our tent cabin

On the spur of the moment, K. and I took a trip during our Thanksgiving break to Costanoa, what we’re calling a “fancy camping” resort, about half an hour south of Half Moon Bay on Highway 1. We drove in Saturday afternoon, stayed Saturday and Sunday nights, and then got up seriously early on Monday to get back to work. This was a really spontaneous trip, much more spontaneity than I can usually manage; it was all K.’s idea. Thanks to C. for making it possible by watching the hounds at the last minute.

We stayed in a “Cypress Village” tent cabin, which was very cute. It wasn’t heated, which meant that it was about the same temperature inside the cabin as it was outside, and it wasn’t a particularly warm weekend, with lows hovering around 40 degrees. However, in our queen-sized bed with the heated mattress pad, things were warm and toasty. And we didn’t need a refrigerator to chill our white wine to the proper drinking temperature. (A tip: Turn on your heated mattress pad early and tuck your PJs under the covers for awhile, so they’ll be nice and warm when you’re ready to change into them.)

There’s no indoor plumbing in any of their cabins, but they do have nice comfort stations, which have heated showers, saunas and a fireplace in the middle. It seems a little strange to bring a bottle of wine to fireplace nestled between two bathrooms, but it’s actually quite pleasant. There was a hot tub that we took advantage of, and another nice fireplace outside the lodge with a great view.

We also had a great dinner on Sunday night at the Cascade restaurant at the resort, although the breakfast buffet there wasn’t stellar. On Saturday night we drove 10 miles into Pescadero and ate dinner at the local favorite Duarte’s (pronounced DOO-arts, apparently). Our Sunday lunch was also in Pescadero, at a gas station/taqueria, actually, and very tasty.

We took a couple of nice hikes right around Costanoa itself; there’s apparently some other good hiking areas close. There’s a lighthouse nearby with a hostel for lower-budget experiences; we may try to check that out soon as well. It’s also very close to elephant seal habitat, which we’ll visit on a later trip. We saw deer and even a bobcat (that’s a bobcat, right?) while we were exploring the resort. It felt very out of the way and remote.

It was a totally great way to wind up the holiday. Here’s our big set of pictures from this trip.

K.’s first Texas high school football experience

I have to say, going to my 20-year high school reunion was pretty awesome. It was a weekend that had everything: laughs, nostalgia, cheap beer, old pals, football, fist fights, rock and roll, nakedness and Mexican food. The rest of the long weekend was great too; I’ll have more pictures up later, but my reunion pictures are all here.

It’s nearly 11:30 p.m., and we’ve finally finished packing for our trip to Texas for my 20-year high school reunion in Sweeny, followed by a quick stop in Houston to see M. and K. and our lovely goddaughter, and then finally off to Wichita Falls for my grandmother’s 99th birthday. Yee haw! Our flight leaves at 7 a.m. That sucks. But other than that, I think it will be both an fun and fascinating trip.