Hi Honey, I'm home

 February 2024

I'm so glad I started writing the blogs. Mostly for myself as I truly enjoy reliving our moments here and it kind of becomes a bookmark in our history. We arrived Wednesday of last week, Clayton, Kellan (our 16 yo) and I. Arrival at Lihue airport is always such a thrill. At the first sight of the landing strip my stress starts to seep away. As I deplane and then walk through the open air corridors toward baggage claim and get that first inhale of humid floral scented Hawaiian air the rest of my stress just drifts away to be swallowed by Aloha. I'm ready for Island time. Locally that means that things just move slower and you slow down with it. I've sort of adopted this philosophy since the pandemic. I do my best to stay in Island Time year round. It's better for my soul ..and my blood pressure :). 

We started off our first two nights at Bali Hai using our Wyndham points. We met a few interesting folks at the hot tub there. One fellow from San Diego was here with a large group and was saying how difficult it was to coordinate going anywhere or doing anything. You could see the stress in his expression. He hadn't gotten the down time he needed. But they only had 4 days here. Not enough. 

The first two days were rainy and "chilly" (60''s) so we had to wear a light jacket. Only because of the wind and rain combo. We ate out mostly so we didn't have to transfer groceries to the new condo. We found two new scrumptious restaurants. The Hot Momma Fresh Mex in the Princeville shopping center and for breakfast the food truck Saenz Ohana. So good! For the prices at these places you can almost eat out cheaper than to shop for groceries and make it from the local grocery stores. Costco is the only way to go here.

Friday came and it was time to check into our timeshare at The Cliffs. I actually walked up to the reception desk and proclaimed to Glenda "Hi honey! I'm home!!" She giggled and got me situated into our room. 6202. Primo. The lanai looks unobstructed out to the ocean and our bedroom lanai looks out onto the botanic trail. Perfection for 2 whole weeks. We stocked up at Costco (only way to be cost effective here) and settled in. The ahi tuna sashimi at Costco is now $25 for a tray. More than enough for 2 people. We bought a large $13 mango at the local farmer's market that was so incredibly scrumptious. I also found our favorite orange supplier there and once again procured their last 4 most amazing oranges I've ever had. I'll find out what they're called next weekend when we go back. Saving the seeds. And yes Laurie W. I got some fresh soursop juice.. oh my.

The weather since Saturday has been in the low 70's and mostly sunny. Mornings are often overcast. We're eating our meals on the lanai (where I am now) and watching for whale spouts and breaches. The sounds of the ocean and birds is euphoric. I've entered a state of deep peace. It helps that there are currently no crises in my life that I'm personally responsible to (mom or kids). Mom is happily puttering around her Florida condo with Bud until the next rental contract starts in March. She's loving the makeover Andrew and Ashley did on her condo. She tells me about it every time we talk. :)

Yesterday, Sunday, we drove south to Hanapepe hoping to hit our favorite used book store. Alas it was closed but that opened the path to discover Polihale State Park beach. 4.5 miles of unpaved dirt sugarcane road. We have a Jeep Cherokee this trip and we certainly put it through its paces traversing the deep gouges in the road to get to the beach which is encircled by huge dunes. We perched our beach chairs on top of one of the dunes overlooking the ocean. The surf was powerful and not one to swim in. Also, Kellan is still using a cane and wearing an ankle corset. Jumping 3 feet down from the dune to the beach wasn't an option. It was a glorious day reading under the sun and looking out at the magnificent turquoise surf. I thought about the mineral larimar as I contemplated the hues of the ocean. 

On our hour and a half drive around the island Clayton gave the music helm to Kellan's eclectic play list. To demonstrate how eclectic, I listened to Egyptian, Angus the Prize Winning Hog, Metallica, Homer Simpson's version of La Gata Bajo Lluvia as well as the original, Cherry Bomb and I think some jazz. All encompassing but well curated. Clayton drove in the morning and that allowed me to work on my AirBnb things.  On our way home we stopped by a store and bought some koa wood and tungsten rings, a red dirt shirt and a Kauai mug. Fun stuff to remember our time here. We had a late lunch (dinner for us since we're staying on Central time) at a new favorite local place in Hanapepe called Kauai Ramen. Sashimi, sushi rolls, udon and chicken katsu were our dinners.

Finally to our hot tub encounters.

I didn't get names this time but will do better later. It's important as you will see. Our first visit back to the Cliffs hot tub we spoke at length to a gentleman we had met before, from Tacoma. He's a biology teacher and his wife was a teacher as well. We had spoken with her at length last year. She died sometime since then and this is his first time back without her. It's been a really hard year for him and it pained us to hear his wife had passed. They own 4 weeks here at the Cliff's. He also has condos in Seattle and Victoria. His sons are airline pilots with Southwest and Alaskan. We had a funny conversation about tapeworms and sushi... 

We also met a psychologist who specializes in autism. He's originally from Colorado and moved to Oahu for a job opportunity 11 years ago. Apparently there is a great need for his services there. He lives on the North shore of Oahu and says it's very quiet compared to Honolulu. He advised us to go to the Queen's Palace in Honolulu on our day trip next week. I'm so glad we talked to him. 

Another fascinating couple who we reconnected with are from the Northwest somewhere. They are retired Arabian horse photographers. He's the photographer and she's the one who gets the horse to pose just right. They worked 46 weeks out of the year travelling all over to take portraits. For 50 years they were only home 6 weeks out of the year. No time for a family or anything else. They have 4 weeks at the Cliff's. His hobby now is wood turning and she's an avid reader. They have a 500 bottle wine cellar. She told us about a new distillery giving tours near Kilauea. Years ago they had bought a unit over at Alii Kai and sold it at a considerable profit. They are million (2) mile members and have a free lifetime membership to the airport lounge (not sure which airline). 

Another retired couple are from British Columbia. His wife is from a town near Clayton's hometown (Sundre), Red Deer. They live south of Kelowna now (met a guy from Kelowna in the rental car line as well). They were here when the pandemic hit and used their insurance to stay as long as they could to avoid the crowds. When they finally went home they sailed through customs which was basically desolate and didn't have to quarantine anywhere. Once home he was recruited to administer covid vaccinations. He gave over 8,000 shots over the following 2 years. 

Another retired couple had escaped their senior home. He is a retired history professor and moved over 5,000 books to their retirement apartment, as well as over 200 bottles of wine. He has a rare 1st edition of a book by a philosopher who criticized the catholic church during the time of Napolean the 3rd. Napolean burnt most of the copies. There are only 8 editions left and he has one of them. They (she at least) are only 75 and I was surprised they had moved to a senior home. 

We met a family of Indian women from the Bay area. There were 5 of them. They had visited the Hindu temple in Kapaa. 

Finally there was a very burnt young couple who had fallen asleep on the beach. They are from Salt Lake City. 

Life is good here. Clayton has been getting up at 4 am and working at least until noon to keep up with work. I'm making good headway into my Christopher Paolini book. Very good read.