Touchdown! A group of young men and women were playing touch football in the Nawiliwili Park. There were a number of chickens running around too. My high school football coach, Gary Preisser, would have been impressed with one of the quarterbacks. Kathie said I should go out and join them. I quickly thought twice about it grabbing my hamstring.
Football is part of the fabric that makes the United States. Here we are 6000 miles away from Florida, speaking the same language, using the same money and seeing a touch football pick-up game. We live in a great country.
We are at the southern end of Kauai which is the oldest of the Hawaiian Islands. It is known as the “Garden Isle.” For many, it is the most desirable island, away from the hustle of Waikiki and the tourism of Maui. This is the place where many movies were made like “Six Days, Seven Nights,” “Blue Hawaii,” ” Jurassic Park” and one of my favorite shows, Amazing Race was shot here.
We flew from Kona on the Big Island to Honolulu on our first leg. The Kona airport is unique being AC free and having to load from the tarmac. There was a large group of Hawaiian teenagers flying to New Zealand for a weeklong cultural trip. They were all wearing school red tee-shirts and having fun.
In Honolulu most of the airport is self-contained. You literally freeze in the domestic area. There is a small park in this complex, like an oasis in the desert.
From the far eastern part of Hawaii to the northwestern part of Hawaii is only a little more than 300 miles. Unfortunately, the vog of the Big Island is upon all the islands. The volcanic fumes is not healthy, but not too dangerous away from the source. It just creates this terrible haze.
We are at the Garden Inn Hotel for five nights located near Kalapaki Beach which is the home to a much liked Marriott Resort.
It is a mixture of a harbor area, industrial complexes and resorts. Once again we came across our old friend, “Pride of America.”
We enjoy the food and ambiance of Dukes on the Marriott property. We met Coleen and Rich from Maryland (they live but seven miles from BWI). Rich is here on business for John Hopkins University. They recommended for us to see Garmisch, Germany someday. Rich also said Southwest Airlines is going to make Baltimore their international hub when they expand to the European market. We just enjoy meeting people and finding out about new ideas.
We made it to the “dry side” of Kauai to an area known as Poipu. We once again acted like patrons at the Hyatt Resort. It is so beautiful there.
Kathie and I did some of the coastal area hike which had been done by the early Hawaiians in 600 AD.
We drove to the famous Spouting Horn Park to see the blowholes. The waves were up and the water and air that came through these blowholes were awesome.
We later stopped in a marketplace so I could have my one and only Polish sausage at Puka-Dog. This place was made famous on the Travel Channel. I must admit, it was delicious and Kathie did not even want a bite.
