Saturday, December 02, 2006
I'm back! It's great to be back. More updates coming very soon.
Posted at 9:07:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
Today didn't even exist (it's been night all day) -- when we arrived in New York it was already dark. Left Kauai around 11pm last night, and the hours in between disappeared into time zone changes and dark airplane miles. The plane from LA to JFK was great--footrests and leany-back seats, all swaddled in two big thick quilts, everything blurred, drifting in a daze. Warm chocolate chip cookie with milk to wake up by. It feels good to be home, to hear taxis honking and feel cool air.
Posted at 5:55:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
Last night I was thinking of things I miss after a month in Hawaii: Rocky Hill Starbucks, Trader Joe's, my computer, Themetime Radio Hour and my podcasts, normal home-cooked dinners, driving my car. Things I don't want to leave behind from Hawaii: the perfect air, the ocean, the way it make my hair and skin happy. From Kauai: the clear clear skies; from the Big: the stars. But most of all, the ocean.
Friday, December 01, 2006
Posted at 11:59:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
[Friday's Ratings: Kalaheo Cafe & Coffee Co. breakfast = Ono / Surfing & washing machine-ing = Ono / Puka Dog = Ono / Lappert's smoothie = Ono / Red-eye home = Ono / Limo (Saturday) = Puh (late)]
General Kauai Ratings: Chickens = Ono / Crocodiles (aka Crocs) = Ono / The Showers at our place = Ono / The soaker = Good / Love's bagels = Ono / Lazy Isle atmosphere = Good / Traffic = Good / Noisy cars driving past our place = Puh / Having a beach 100 feet away = Ono / Lushness & topography = Neut. / Sandy hair = Ono / Radio stations = Puh / Restaurants, overall = Ono / Diving & snorkeling = Puh.
Posted at 4:10:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
I love ocean-ing! Dean: "Your surfing style is silly! You just stand there and wait to get guushed!" Laura: "I'm not trying to surf!" Dean: "What are you trying to do, then??" Laura: "Get washing-machined!"
Dean surfed on the boogie board (some ladies walking on the beach watched one of his catch-a-waves and gave him an OK sign!) and I just let the ocean knock me over, tumble me all around inside the wave, slam me into the bottom, and wash me up. It's so powerful. (Like wake turbulence!) I got 4 ocean injuries, yesterday + today combined: sand scrapes (very visible ones) on my back, a sand scrape on my left shoulder (also fairly visible), a sand scrape on my face (not visible), and a practically snapped off right arm. (Plus, minor scraped knees.) The arm hurts, at my shoulder and above where it bends. I had it sticking out when I got all upsidedowned and my hand hit against the bottom in an extended position, so my arm got all bent back and twisted. I couldn't bend it back to protect it because of the density of the water. I'm kind of babying it now. But it's not too bad.
Dean, laughing while shampooing the sand out of my hair afterwards: "You look like a cappuccino!!" :-)
Still semi-voiceless. We had breakfast at the Kalaheo C&CC (it's almost pancake time!) and it was good. Mailed our package and the rest of my postcards at the little Waimea post office, and the clerk thought the box was going to East Berlin, Germany. (??!) It had the state and zip code written on it...
Posted at 12:45:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
Thursday, November 30, 2006
[Thursday's Ratings: Waimea Canyon Lappert's = Ono / Riding waves on our beach = Ono / De-sanding in dog shower = Ono! / Mming on beach = Good / Lihue SBUX = Neut. / Caffe Coco, Pt. 2 = Ono]
Posted at 11:59:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
Posted at 10:44:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
I am LOSING my voice. Massively.
That was REAL FUN! I got all whumped by the ocean and slammed into the ground! I even have a skinned back to show for it. Completely HIT, engulfed by the sea, surrounded by water, holding my breath, tumbled, mixmastered with sand, and WHAM! Afterwards was real fun too, getting all de-sanded in the sand-room dog shower. And it even helped my nose.
Posted at 3:00:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
I am kind of tired of being sick. My throat doesn't hurt anymore, at least. But now I'm losing my voice. And my nose's all stuffy. I picked the plan of the day: 1) local Lappert's, 2) ocean in front of our place, 3) de-sanding shower in big fancy shower, 4) write postcards on beach chair in front of our place, 5) Cafe Coco Pt. 2 (Dean's vote, but I agree), stopping at SBUX on the way so I can say I've been to SBUX in Kauai. I thought the plan was slacky but Dean pointed out that some people go on vacations where the whole point is to slack. I guess so.
Posted at 12:00:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
I just realized: mangosteens are the same color as helmet urchins.
Posted at 11:05:00 AM by Laura W. Petix.
and, mangosteens have a 5-part design echinoderm star on the bottom.
Wednesday, November 29, 2006
[Wednesday's Ratings: Lappert's = Ono / Gillin's Beach = Good / Naniwa = Good / My Cousin Vinnie = Good]
Posted at 11:59:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
Posted at 4:15:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
The Voyage of the U.S.S. Coconut:
I made a very seaworthy boat from a coconut half. It had a fancy shell figurehead on the bow, and a comfortable seaweed berth for the sailor, a brave helmet urchin explorer. He sailed for 4 minutes, all the way out to the open ocean, and overcame many perils (like getting dizzy from whirling in circles, getting stuck several times, and very bumpy seas when he had to navigate over high sand ripples close to where the stream met the ocean). He finally made it but was shipwrecked and capsized when the frothy waves took him. But he was glad because he likes it better underwater anyway. Now scuba divers can dive the wreck.
----
[Edit, 1/5/07: I have no idea what the following is all about. It must've been a list of all the noteworthy things we saw on Kauai, or something. It's on the same page as the Voyage, but has nothing to do with it. Very anti-linear.]
Millions of wild chickens
A dragon
Grand Canyon of the Pacific
the Fantasy Island waterfalls
2 sea cucumbers
a bunch of helmet urchins
I like having a ceiling fan on when I sleep (here & at Fairways)
Tuesday, November 28, 2006
[Tuesday's Ratings: Fantasy Island waterfalls = Good / Beezer's = Neut. / Kiluea Lighthouse = Neut. / Banana Joe's (place) = Neut. / Banana Joe's (frostys/oranges) = Ono / Mangosteen! = Ono / North Shore Beaches = Good / Postcards Cafe = Ono / 13 Going on 30 = Ono]
Posted at 11:59:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
[More Tuesday photos from our North Shore road trip: me on the northernmost North Shore beach (I'm wearing my new homemade skirt in this photo); great sign at the beach (my fav part is, "Put your hand in a crack and you don't get it back, that's a moray"); lots and lots of warning signs (the North Shore is rough in winter) (and it's also insanely beautiful).]
Lots of stuff to fill in between my last post and now, but I just had to say right away:
Posted at 8:52:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
I found (and ate!) mangosteen!!!
Once again, the book dropped the ball. Postcards was great. 1/2 vegetarian, 1/2 fishytarian = perfect combo. Very speedy service, too. And unique food. (They gave us a postcards postcard!)
Posted at 6:52:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
Current ranking:
Pomodoro (m,w) -- 2 (D) / 3 (L)
Mema (th) -- 5 / 5
Caffe Coco (sat) -- #1 (D) / #1 (L)
Tidepools (sun) -- 4 / 4
Postcards (mon) -- 3 (D) / 2 (L)
(Not even listed: (fri) Brick Oven Pizza --> LOATHEMENT)
(Also: Kalaheo Cafe & Coffee Co. breakfast, sat. morning --> it was good!)
Dean says he could agree with my order!
Throat still hurts but I've turned the corner.
[The holy grail of fruits! The forbidden fruit! Outlawed on the mainland! My years-long quest is complete!]
[I should draw some chickens. And also mangosteen.]
Posted at 2:41:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
MANGO-STEEN
Banana Joe's
Dean saw sign about rare mangosteen and pointed
I got all excited in a very quiet (buzzing) way, circled store looking for them
Dithered when I saw the basket of actual steen.
We dined at Beezer's! It was O.K. But it was Beezer's! Very enthusiastic soda jerk.
Posted at 1:33:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
I liked the Fantasy Island falls. Dean is shocked. It smells good here, and it's a nice double (triple, really) falls with a rainbow at the bottom. I just like it. Maybe I'm brainwashed by Mr. Roarke.
Posted at 12:46:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
Now it's raining hard! Good thing we didn't go on the trail. (We were going to, but then it started to sprinkle. I'm still semi-sick, anyway.)
Monday, November 27, 2006
[Monday's Ratings: Waimea Canyon Snack Shop (Lappert's treat) = Ono / Menehune Mart = Neut. / Swim (D) / Mm (L) on our beach = Good / Pomodoro, Pt. 2 = Ono]
Posted at 11:59:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
Better than Novaki's??! How could it be better than Novaki's? That's impossible.
Posted at 7:11:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
[Godfather Themesong and "Gloria" in Italian (Umberto)--i.e., Pomodoro again. Because it's close and it's comfort food and it's good.
Lilo and Stitch is such a good movie.]
Posted at 2:20:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
There's a Lappert's two inches away from our place!! Not a real Lappert's, but a place that serves Lappert's. I got mac nut and it's even better than Tropical Dreams. The book guys are crazy. We also got popcorn at the Menehune Mart so we can eat it and watch Lilo & Stitch tonight. We're slacking today because my throat hurts a lot and I don't feel good. (Kind of tired, mostly.) Our place has very comfortable couches (and I'm going to really miss the huge walk-in shower, but not the tub because it's too deep.) We got to meet the caretaker, Buddy, since we were hanging around when he came to collect the trash. He called Kauai "the lazy island." Very true. He was nice (he hugged me) and talked reeeeally slow.
[Edit: I actually lay around on the couch for hours and even dozed off, I think. I really AM sick! Went out to the beach w/Dean and sat in a chair w/my feet in the sand while he swam. Wrote a postcard. Today was nice.]
Sunday, November 26, 2006
Posted at 11:59:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
[Sunday's Ratings: Jo-Jo's shave ice = Puh / Lappert's = Ono / Koloa Landing = Puh / Crumbly Place = Ono / Dragon = Ono / Tidepools = Good / Sore throat = Puh]
The bread at Tidepools reminds me of Savage cookies. I like it. My throat hurts a little. [Edit, 9:00: now it hurts a LOT.] I ordered a lobster/mango cake w/li hing (it was very tasty) and opah aka moonfish aka the animal cracker I always eat. I can't believe it! Dean likes his tofu poke! The atmosphere is nice (swarms of koi; tiki torches burning, reflecting on the tidepools; palms against the sky), but it seems like a much more casual restaurant (Big Boy's), service-wise. Kind of a weird dicotomy. (Maybe it's supposed to be a Beaches?) !! My opah looks like the animal cracker! I can't believe it #2: I actually like my opah! Very good moon. Dean's baked tofu teriyaki is very good too, and non-boring. Praiseworthy!
Posted at 6:35:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
[Edit: Additional photos from today: Kawailoa Bay; very crashy waves at the crumbly cliff on the path Ha`ula Beach; crumbly chasm; crumbly cave made from lithified sand; more cool crumbly lithified sand.]
Premium. Koloa landing was the best spot for particulate matter we've ever been to. Hands down! (AAK.)
Posted at 2:28:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
Thumbs down on Jo-Jos! (Home of the sixty shave ice flavors.) Their shave ices are 1) too icy, and 2) too strong/sweet. I got my classic li hing/passion-orange but it tasted like eating an orange soda. Too much syrup. Tragic! Kauai shave ice is the opposite of Kauai lemonade (too strong vs. tastes like water with a piece of lemon soaked in it).
Posted at 11:56:00 AM by Laura W. Petix.
