Kaua'i, Hawaii
Final leg of our 21 day migration.
Day 1:
5:30 am wake up call, jump on some old and tiny jet.
Maybe not the most favored form of air travel...
Yeah. Sorry. We are not 70. This just won't do.
Low and slow, goes the gray hairs...
That's more like it...
Bypass hotel, head straight for the one and only, the original...
Spicy hot, tropical fruity deliciousness all stuffed into a tubular bun...
Kaua'i is home to many feathered friends...
Many of which Lucky will grow to become master of...
The Hyatt on Poipu is big and fancy...
Our new place has many beautiful pools...
...a really nice salt water lagoon...
...and sits on a sharp, rocky beach with vicious waves...
I think we can make due.
Go to bed with the news of the 8.8 Chilean earthquake on the tv...
Day 2:
Loud air sirens wake us at 6:00am.
The threat of an unknown sized tsunami is due to hit every shore in Hawaii starting with the big island around 11:15am...
The civil defense calls for an evacuation. Shelters are set up and most hotels get the all clear for vertical evacuations, meaning move to a higher floor. We grab a few necessities, such as internet, Lucky's movies and video games. The hotel has opened each room, occupied or not on 5th or 6th floor. They ask us to be in place by 8:30am. We find an empty one and set up camp. Watching the news and not having any idea what to expect.
I take a couple "before" pictures off the balconys with the anticipation of total destruction in a few short hours...
We make a few calls to family and friends and try not to worry Lucky any (as we watch the nonstop news coverage)...
Yes, we brought his life jacket up. We know how to sit under our desks with our legs crossed, our heads down and our hands clasped over the backs of our necks in the event of a tornado, but what the hell are we supposed to do in the event of a tsunami or a hurricane for that matter? Your guess is as good as mine. RUN!
And there we sit and wait and wait and wait...
11:15 came and went. The ocean receded on the coast of Hilo a few times and that was that.
At 2:00pm the civil defense lifted the evacuation and gave us permission to move about the island.
Hawaii dodged a bullet they said.
When the criticism started rolling in, they defended themselves saying they are still getting a handle on how tsunamis work and the equipment they have in the ocean to read the activity.
I say, better safe than sorry. I was worried and scared and am very thankful for the results.
The hotel, even gave us a free natural disaster relief lunch buffet...
...and sent up free natural disaster relief cookies to our room...
Can't beat that.
Though, Lucky did need to blow off a little steam after all that sitting around. He ran back and fourth in this field as fast as Bret Favre, Percy Harvin, Bernard Barrian and Jared Allan (minus the mullet)...
Then took a swim in the lagoon after he got himself all hot and sweaty...
That's enough action for one day.
Well, until Mike welcomes Gary into our room.
Meow...
Day 3:
Enough of this resort all ready.
Hitched a windy ride down the Wailua on a river boat...
...with some hula girls...
...to the Fren Grotto...
I explain to Lucky that I took the same boat ride and walk with him when he was a baby in my belly. Again he askes how babies get in mama's bellys. "Do they crawl in there or walk in?"
I'm no Pamela Anderson.
Then he turned his attention to the cat, relieving me from my duties to explain things...
I guess it's time to get a book about such delicate matters...
Opaeka'a Falls off in the distance...
A sleeping giant...
...some chicken feed...
...ya know, the favored island cuisine of his majesty...
...in mcnugget form...
This old burned down abandoned motel was home to the last reigning queen of Hawaii and the King of Rock and Roll during the filming of Blue Hawaii. It was greatly destroyed by Hurricane 'Iniki in 1992 and with bad economic times was never rebuilt, though plans are still in the hopes for a grand reopening...
All of your fantasies can come true...
..at the Wailua waterfalls...
Waterfalls don't kill people. Guns kill people...
Mike drove recklessly and erratically to the Spouting Horn in hopes to get pulled over by the likes of the Busty Cops, just like in the summer blockbuster, Busty Cops II...
Well, that would be the southern and eastern sides of the island in a nutshell...
2 1/2 days left for us in the isles of Aloha. We are all about ready to get back home, especially Lucky who misses his friends and his toys. After yesterdays scare, I was feeling like we may have been a little greedy, taking a 3 week vacation from the snow and cold....
...but then again, why not...
1 comment:
What is Gary?
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