Allerton Gardens and Aloha to Kauai

10 years ago, we went on a tour at the Allerton National Tropical Botanical Gardens, near Poipu. I thought it was good then, but this time it was great. Our tour guide was perfect. She was knowledgeable and thorough, and had a way of leading us around and yet sort of trailing off sometimes, a bit like Luna Lovegood from Harry Potter might if she were real and a botanist.

Sis made a cute lil' green bug friend.

I loved this...Miracle Berry from Africa. You eat it first and it makes sour things taste sweet. I read all about it later and apparently it was going to be commercialized here in the states but then there were some sordid doings between the sugar industry and the FDA and it never happened. I found out that you can buy 15 of them on Amazon and have them overnight shipped for $40. I'm not crazy enough to do that but I do wish everyone could try one.

Lots of little water features in the many garden "rooms".

Lots of giant plants.

Mom and Sis sitting on the roots of one of the fig trees from Jurassic Park. There are films being made in the garden all the time, most recently Pirates of the Caribbean 4. Our tour guide told us she'd had a dream about Johnny Depp looking deep into her eyes and saying "It's really cool how you're trying to save native plants." I loved that.

A bad picture of the "famous" beefsteak heliconia.

Mom found a bench that she really liked.

A view of the beach right in front of the garden. There were four protected sea turtle nests on it...and just a little way away, Chase Manhattan Bank was filming a commercial.

Today was our last day. We headed to two favorite spots: Kilauea Bakery and then Ke'e beach. I didn't take many pictures today, but I did get a shot of Lily on the way home, trying to keep her eyes wide open to stay awake. It didn't work.


My sis took a few pictures of the house and grounds where we're staying. It really has been peaceful, very jungle-y, and beautiful. We have lots of chicken residents, a family of black pigs foraging around, and we've had our fill of bananas, avocados, oranges, and limes.

This awapuhi plant is planted thoughtfully near the outdoor shower. You just gently squeeze, and then, boom, no need for soap or shampoo.

The lanai. Scene of lots of hanging out, grilling, playing, and a family of feral cats begging for food.

Plumeria tree.


Here's a little video my sister made of one of our favorite plants in the yard. It's invasive, thorny, and gardeners don't really like it, but it's pretty cool.

The house. Officially named Skipper's Beach Cabana. Lots of fun. Thanks for reading along and aloha!

Just photos and captions...

Gram and Gramps with Lily at Hamura Saimin. Gramps always looks happier in person, trust me. It's weird, or maybe not, but Hamura Saimin was EXACTLY the same as I remembered. Same people working there. Maybe higher prices, but not by much.

Waimea canyon, the next day. Mags was sleeping in the car and missed the whole thing, but I guess that's OK when you're 22 months.

She woke up in time to point out the Kalalua Valley to us all.

No other view like this one, anywhere.

We took lots of pictures, like good tourists do.

Then, we headed a ways back down the road for a picnic at a lovely spot in Koke'e State Park. It was perfect weather, perfect spot, and I could have stayed there all day.

Instead, Loretta and I went golfing at the 9 hole for 9 dollah place we found last week. I had been planning what I would do at the #6 tee since then, which was to skip the ladies' tee and try to hit my ball over the gorge. It was ambitious for me, but I did it. Best golfing moment ever.

Lo teeing off.

The next day at Tunnels, a Hawaiian monk seal swam right up on the beach near us to take a nap. A group of excited humans quickly surrounded him, including us. Mags had to be restrained.

Then she acted like a seal and cracked herself up (and Gram).

The last few days

The languid pace of life on Kauai is affecting me; I've been too lazy to post. That, and our internet situation here in the jungle house is less than ideal. In any case, we've been doing plenty of reading (everyone), playing the banjo ukulele (Pete), having to work some (Loretta), trying to capture frogs (Lily), planning the family trip to a luau (Jill), and running headlong into the ocean (Mags). Here are a few photos:

We tried another hike a few days ago. We made it about a mile up a pretty steep trail until we decided to turn around - it was pretty tough going for 4 year old legs. (Kind of steep and scary in parts for Aunty Sissy, too, actually.)

We didn't make it to the top, but still got a nice view of Wailua and the ocean.

Later that day, we headed to Ke'e for a lazy afternoon and a view of the sunset.

Lil and Mags haven't met a beach they didn't like!

Kindle-ing at Ke'e.

Lots of ooh-ing and aah-ing and picture-taking.

We took some pictures of ourselves too. :)

The next day, Lo and I headed to a place where we could golf 9 holes for 9 dollars. The pictures are stuck on my phone, which doesn't work here at the house, but I'll get them uploaded soon. It may have been a $9 price, but it wasn't a $9 view, for sure.

Since we were already almost there, we stopped at Jo-Jo's for the island's best shave ice. It was better than I remembered, actually, since I think they put more mac-nut ice cream in the bottom these days.

Today we headed back to Tunnels. I think it's my favorite place on the island.


We didn't get a picture, but there was a turtle that came right up to the edge of the surf - and just hung out there for about 10 minutes or so while we watched. Everyone in the family got to see him (her?) just bob along in the waves, eat, and pop his head up to breathe. It was very exciting.

Gunshots and Spankin's

Got your attention with that title, did I?

It all began so calmly yesterday. We got up and got ready for church. Pete and Jill had picked out a little church in Kilauea that they remembered from the last time they were here. Singing was fine - and then the worship leader put his guitar down, turned into the pastor, and began to exposit on the "Children, obey your parents" text from Ephesians. It quickly turned into a diatribe against the lax parenting of this age, e.g. children don't respect their parents because parents are "sparing the rod" and would do well to spank much more liberally. My sister got so mad she had to walk out. The rest of us stayed until we could politely duck out after the sermon. Then we went to Walmart and had some lunch. :)

After naps, my sister found an "adventure" hike in the guidebook that seemed, well, adventurous, so we carefully read the directions and headed out. "Drive to the end of the paved road, take the dirt road for 2.5 miles" turned into some very sketchy territory, including fording two streams, driving past quizzical looking locals surrounded by a certain wafting, herbal scent, and getting passed by some very tough trucks with lots of flag and troop bumper stickers. I took a not-very-good snap of my sister's car headed across one of the streams:


When we got to the farthest we could go, we hopped out of the car, confused about where the trail was, were quickly swarmed by mosquitos, and then noticed some loud, booming sounds in the forest around us. We ran back to the cars pretty quickly, but I do wonder what they were hunting out there. To console ourselves for the lost hiking opportunity, we stopped and looked at a waterfall on the way back, but the kids were way more interested in the guinea fowl that are ubiquitous here.


(Side note: since we arrived, Lily has been obsessed with asking about whether or not the chickens get run over. We keep reassuring her that we will not hit one...and then tonight, while driving on his own, Peter got one pretty good. Oops.)

This morning we decided to head out to Poipu pretty early in the day, and it was perfect. Just right for the kids in the gentle part, and pretty good snorkeling for the grown ups when we swam out a bit. I was delighted to spot my first sea turtle of the trip - can't wait to find more of them out there.

Today was someone's birthday...

Hers! Lily turned four today, officially. Our celebration began early (before 6 a.m.) with a walk to the beach down the road to catch the sunrise. Sunrise over the ocean, with the sun highlighting the edges of the clouds and the wind tossing around our hair, was, at the least, a great way to start the morning.


Plus, we welcomed a new addition to our group last night - she jumped right in the ocean this morning, not missing a beat.


Lily took a picture of my sissy and I. Pete had to step in and help things get in the frame a bit better.

I love that picture.

We packed up the cars and were at Tunnels beach by 8:30 a.m. - which worked out perfectly as for about an hour it felt like we had that amazing place to ourselves. I had only vague memories of snorkeling in Kauai and it was just so fun to do it again at one of the best places for it on the whole island. We headed home for lunch, a super slow afternoon, and a birthday dinner, complete with princess cake, for Lily G. Happy birthday to my lovely, funny, and feisty little niece!

Today we were all up by 4:30.

And now it's almost 7 pm, and it feels like we've been awake for a very long time. Our day included lots of time spent doing not very much. We took a nice trip to the Kilauea bakery for coffee and pastries. It's been fun for me to be here - I spent two long vacations here about 11 years ago and we keep going to places that I don't think I've been to, but once I'm there all the fun memories come back. It was pouring on and off all morning, but cleared up by afternoon so we could walk down the street to the beach at Moloa'a Bay.

I was struck by how local they looked, don't you think?

Maggie loved, loved, loved the water. She heads straight for it and has to be watched oh-so-carefully because she'll dive straight into the waves.

And, here I am. My sister took a picture of me blogging just now lest it seem like I was just brought along to chronicle their family's Hawaiian vacation.

I leave you with photos from yesterday of the two baddest rappers on the block here in the Moloa'a Valley.