Hawaiian Time

Well it's been a few days since we first blogged and we now on Hawaiian time, bruddah.  

Sunday started out slow. We went to a local coffee spot in Hanalei for breakfast and by the time we got there, so was everyone else on the island.  We opted for the quick-fix breakfast rather than waiting 30 minutes for one of their famous waffles.  After eating, we tinkered around town to see what there was to see, then headed to the grocery store to stock up.   It was fun to take our time going up and down the aisles looking for all our favorites and rediscovering treats we used to enjoy when we lived here.  Hooooo-oooeeee, I had long forgotten how much groceries cost on the islands. Little bit, scratch that ... lot o' sticker shock at the register.

We headed to the Hanalei Community Center on Sunday afternoon to attend a Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar & Ukulele concert.  75 guests in a room with two musicians who "talk story" and play truly beautiful, old-school Hawaiian Guitar music.  We thoroughly enjoyed then entire 2+ hour concert.

Musicians are Doug & Sandy McMasters

Hanalei Mountains outside Hanalei Community Center

Bob

What we learned:

- The Hawaiians were introduced to the guitar in the late 1700's when the Mexicans were brought in to help round up all the wild cattle that existed on the islands back then.  The Hawaiians loved the sound the Mexicans made with their guitars and the guitars were left as gifts when the Mexicans returned home.  The Hawaiians had no music training and learned how to strum the guitar in such a way that expresses the essence of Hawaii - warm tradewinds, fragrant tropical flowers, gentle surf and the true spirit of aloha.  Ki ho'alu literally means "to loosen the keys".  It is a soft and sweet (nahenahe) sound.  Slack key is always played in altered tunings and each family created their own tunings and music.  These tunings were fiercly protected by a member of each family. Due to isolation and scarcity of intruments, the Hawaiians developed a self accompaniment.  The thumb plays a rhythm on the lower strings while the fingertips play melodies and harmonies on the upper strings - all at the same time.    

- There are roosters and chickens EVERY-where.  All the roosters at the Community Center are named 

"Bob" or some variation on that theme, Bob Junior,  Bobsy Twins, etc.  We've seen t-shirts with the words "Kauai Pride" accompanied by a very colorful chicken.  We've also seen t-shirts with the words "Stoopid Frickin' Chickin'" accompanied by a very colorful chicken.  The local theory is the Phillipinos had all these roosters and chickens from running illegal cock fights and when Hurricane Inikki hit in 1992 the chickens were blown all over the island, and just started procreating.  Now they're literlly everywhere you go since nobody eats them and they have no natural predators here on Kauai.

Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday started out exactly the same.  The weather is perfect, enough said.  We've not totally adjusted to the 2-hour time difference so we've been up early everyday.  Dad and I start the day at the pool at 9 am and enjoy a couple hours with the place pretty much to ourselves.  The timing is great because the sun is out and it's well before all the kids get there and the heat gets too intense.  

Monday afternoon we headed south to Kapa'a for a little retail therapy - and we all felt better afterwards.  For dinner we stopped at Mermaid's Cafe for fish tacos.  Then across the street for a killler Margarita ... Yum.

Tuesday afternoon we headed North into Hanalei, through Haena State Park where the Napali Coast hiking trails begin and the road ends at Ke'e Beach.  

Waipouli Beach looking at Wainiha Bay (between Hanalei and Haena State Park

Wenesday is still unfolding so more to come ... in due time

Aloha

Aloha from the Kauai!

We arrived in Princeville yesterday after a long flight over the big blue ocean.  We started our flight with a POG Mimosa's (POG = Passion Orange Guava juice) and ended our flight with Mai Tai's garnished with fresh pineapple and a cherry.  Great way to start a vacation if you ask me.  

We got off the flight and as typical Seattlites, were jones-in for a Starbucks.  After the GPS drove us in circles for 15 minutes we finally narrowed in on one.  Dean will be doing 100% Kona after this fix.  The weather could not be more perfect.  It's sunny, in the low 80's with a light breeze.

We had dinner in Hanalei at Postcards Cafe.  Deee-lish.  Dad and I had Ono (swordfish fresh from the ocean that day) topped with macadamia butter, and served with green beans, mushroom mashed potatoes, and a pesto topped tomato.  Dean had a wonderful dish called Sorrento.  A creamy pasta dish with fish, clams, shrimp, spinach.  

We have a running stream and pond next to our unit and it was lovely to fall asleep to the sound of water and singing frogs.  The frogs are actually pretty loud, though not unpleasant.  We'll try to record them somtime this week.  Sunday morning view from our lanai below.

We woke Sunday morning to sun peaking over the mountains and chirping birds.  I forgot how much I missed the sweet smell of the air here.  We've also enjoyed listening to the locals talk with that sing-song flow to their speech.

We'll check in later to let you know how the day unfolded.

 

Canada Days 6-9

Day 6

Was a driving day.  We drove 275 miles from Jasper to Kamloops.  It was a beautiful drive and two lanes pretty much the whole way.  We went from 32 degrees in Jasper to 80 degrees in Kamloops.  It's a fairly large town but not particularly distinguishable from some others we've driven through.  This was our stop over spot before heading to Vancouver.  We had a good dinner then spent a sedate evening in our room facing the river and reading.  It was nice to be still for a few hours.

Day 7

We had a beautiful morning start on the South Thompson river in Kamloops and a delicious breakfast.  We met couples from France and Switzerland who were traveling to Jasper from Kamloops.  The conversation was interesting and breakfast was quite tastey.  We headed to Vancouver this day to catch the ferry over to Vancouver Island with our destination in Duncan (267 miles).  It was a gorgeous day for a ferry ride through the San Juans. 

Below are shots from the B&B in Kamloops of the river.

Day 8

We went to the Pacific Northwest Raptors "park" in Duncan, BC today.  We spent most of the day visiting the birds, holding/handling the birds, flying the birds and even making a couple birds "laugh".  Jamie was our expert handler and showed us the ropes.

This is Gollum, a Harris Hawk; nickname Gaullie.  This is the guy we flew through the woods.

This is Elton.  He was a total sweetheart.  Very few raptors like to be touched (petted) but Elton loved to have the top of his beak rubbed.  He make a sound like he was purring, would close his eyes and tilt his head so you could get a good angle on it.

  

Elton enjoying the sun after a beak rub

The Kukaburra's are adorable and had a whole vocabulary of sounds.  At times they sounded like cats with a deep meowing sound.  You could also get them to laugh by trilling and rolling an 'r' sound at a high pitch.  The are Boomer and Roo.  The male has the longer stripe of black feathers under his eyes.  Watch the video below, Terrie got them to laugh.

This is Arctos, the Great Horned Owl.  He's about 4 months old and is just learning the ropes of being trained to the glove.  Out handler said training owls is like training cats.  They think totally differently than the other raptors and are easily distracted by other things going on.  They hunt by sound rather than relying on their eye sight, and actually have a blind spot up close to their face.  The move their whole body to see and it looks like they're dancing.

We also got to feed a Maribou Stork named Gaston.  Our handler was a bit apprehensive about letting strangers into his pen.  Gaston stands about 4½ feet tall and has a wing span of 10 feet. This raptor handled us strangers like a champ and easlily gobbled down ½ a raw chicken.

We watched a flying demonstration with a bald eagle, a barn owl, a harris hawk, a perriguine falcon (fasted bird on the planet) and a turkey vulture.  All equally fascinating.  Also got very up close with a fully grown, three month old Golden Eagle named Ares.  This santuary has about 120 birds, some are rescues, some are movie stars and some are paid to work at airports and landfills, chasing away nuisance birds.  It was a fascinating day and we hope to visit again.

Tomorrow we're off to Victoria, BC then home on Tuesday.  It's been an outstanding trip.  We met interesting people, saw some amazingly beautifyl places on this planet and had some unique experiences.  We'll definitely be back to Canada someday soon.

Canadian Vacation Day 4

Day 4 Lake Louise to Jasper

After a somewhat leisurely morning we headed outside the Chateau to see a bit more of the grounds.  The clouds were giving way just a skosh and the rain stopped pouring down, so we took advantage.  Here are some great shots from around the resort offering a small taste of the gorgeous majesty that surrounds Lake Louise.  Fresh snow fell on the glacier overnight.

Victoria Glacier from the far end of LakeLouise

We headed northwest out of Lake Louise towards Jasper.  The drive was 145 miles of the most spectacular scenery full of pristine mountain lakes, ancient glaciers, stunning mountain peaks and broad sweeping valleys.  The route between Lake Louise and Jasper is completely within the Canadian National Park system and leads us up the Icefields Parkway from Banff National Park right into Jasper National Park.  We spotted caribou in a lake and a small black bear crossing the highway as we pulled into Jasper.  Here are a few shots of our drive.

Below is part of the Columbia Icefield and photos of Athabasca Glacier.  This glacier is one of six principal "toes" of the Icefield in the Canadian Rockies.  The glacial toes are Athabasca, Castelguard, Columbia, Dome, Stutfield and Saskatchewan.  The Athabasca Glacier is approximatley 3.7 miles long, covers an area of 2.3 square miles, is measured to be 300-900 feet deep, receives up to 275 inches of snowfall per year and recedes about 16 feet per year.  It is also the most accessible toe.  Yes you can walk up to the edge of the glacier or even take a special snow vehicle right out onto the glacier.  If you look closely in the second photo below you'll see the bus on the glacier.

Day 5 Climb a Mountain

Today we went a few minutes out of town to the Jasper SkyTram.  Opened in 1964, the gondola whisks you up Whistler's Peak to 7,500 feet in 7.5 minutes.  Then there is a 656 foot trek to the summit at 8,100 feet.  The climb gets steeper and steeper as the path ascends to the summit.  It was a tough, lung burning hike which rewards the effort with 360 degrees views of the Canadian Rockies, including Mount Robson (highest in Canadian Rockies at 12,972 feet).  

Dean was certain he would die long before reaching the top then we were both unsure our legs would hold up on the way back down, as they turned into shaky noodles.  The town of Jasper appears to be shaped like a boomerang, which reportedly serves to "catch all the Australians".  There are a LOT of Australians in Jasper; they come for the busy tourist season.  The town grows from 5,000 to 25,000 during the summer.  The weather at the top SkyTram station was at 32 degrees with a wind chill going well below freezing.  I bought a new coat in Banff and was greatful to have it on this day.  We had a terrific lunch at the Treeline Restaurant.  The restaurant sits in the second floor of the SkyTram station just as the treeline begins ... or ends depending on your approach.

The structure you see at the top of the hill in the photo below is just a tower ... the summit station is much higher and not visible from the starting point.

Edith Mountain below

Pyramid Mountain to the left

After getting back down the mountian we drove to Pyramid and Patricia Lakes.  Below are shots of Pyramid Lake

Me in front of Pyramid Mountain at the end of Pyramid Island  ... on Pyramid Lake

We were exhausted by this point so we decided to go over to the Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge for a cocktail.  Beautiful setting for a hotel and it has an authentic rustic mountain feel.  Though we both agreed it was not nearly as appealing as the Lake Louise Chateau.  Tomorrow we come back down from the Rockies to western British Columbia to Kamloops.  We'll catch you up in a couple days.  

Canadian Vacation 2014

Day 1 Seattle to Penticton

The morning started early.  It looks like it's going to be a gorgeous day here in Seattle.  Our first rest stop is planned for Bob's Burgers and Brew in Birch Bay.  We met Dean's brother, sister and the kids for breakfast.  It was great to see them, it's been almost a year since we've seen each other and the kids have grown so much.  Here's a family photo.

From there we headed northwest to the border at Sumas, a very tiny border crossing with no wait.  We rode the border East for 2-3 miles before heading Northeast to Hwy 1 and the Canadian and U.S. roads ran side-by-side.

We had roughly a 4 hour drive to Penticton, British Columbia.  328 miles from home with more and more winding, twisting roads the closer we got.  Penticton is a resort town which is situated at the far south end of Okanagon Lake.  The lake is enormous.  It takes over and hour to drive top to bottom and it's pretty wide as well.  It's a gorgeous day here.  We checked in to our hotel, then after a quick Google search we headed in the direction of wine and food.  The area is full of wineries and reminded us of the Lake Chelan, WA area with its varied colored rock, brownish-red dirt and scrubby brush.  

The first stop was Hillside Winery and Bistro.  We had a tasty late lunch and had a marvelous glass of Gamay Noir.  So good we bought a couple bottles.  The second stop was Red Rooster winery.  They had a deeee-licious Gewvertriminer and Viogner.  The reds were OK to blech.  The ice wine was a tastey-sweet finish.  

Day 2 Penticton to Lake Louise

This drive started out great.  The scenery was amazing ... then the traffic lights along and two-lane, "trans-Canada" highway got tedious.  489 miles of tedious.  We hit lots of slow traffic and even sat in a construction backup, on a national holiday no-less, for at least an hour.  Do I seem annoyed?  We were.  The weather also turned to gray and rain.  A six-hour ride turned into 8 and we were sooooo ready to get out of the car when we finally arrived at our destination, cranky, hungry and stiff.  From here it gets much better.  Days 2 & 3 are our splurge days and we stayed at the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise.

The second we stepped out of the car things got better.  We were already checked in and the bell man had our room keys and took care of the luggage.  The bell men are all dressed like Swiss Mountain Guides from the late 1800's, hats and all.  We only went through the lobby to get to the elevator.  Loved that.  The Chateau has some fun shops and several places to eat, all with different menus.  The food has been quite fantastic.  We ate at the pub our first evening because everything was reserved until 9 pm.  The breakfast buffet had a marvelous selection and everything was tasty.  Dean particulary loved the pineapple fritter (donut doough around a pineapple slice and deep fried).  

Below is Victoria Glacier sitting above Lake Louise.  

Day 3 Lake Louise & Banff

Lake Louise sits inside Banff National Park.  Both Lake Louise and Banff are winter sport destinations.  We had hoped the weather would cooperate better today, but alas it rained heavily most of the day and is slowly starting to clear as we head into early evening.  We inteneded to take the gondola to the top of the mountain today to see the Lake and the continental divide and the clouds just got in the way.  Instead, we headed 40 minutes east to Banff for some retail therapy.  Worth the drive.  Banff is an adorable town situated between several peaks.  There are clear German and Swiss influences in the town.  Sorry, not photos.  It rained like mad while we where there.  We caught glimpses of the spectacular beauty of the Canadian Rockies today, yet no lasting impressions.

After getting back to the Chateau we went to the dining room for high tea around 2 pm.  They knew we had just celebrated an anniversary and treated us to a glass of a one of the best champagnes we've ever tasted.  They told us only 2 places in all of Alberta have the priviledge to serve it, so of course we had to try it.  We had a lovely seat in the window overlooking the lake.  The finger sandwiches and the scones with deveonshire cream were our favorites.  Tonight for dinner we'll have dinner in the Poppy Brassierie.  It will be a difficult deciding what to eat.

Some interesting observations and things we've learned:

- I found a cat toy in my luggage on the morning of day 2.  Dude spent the morning we left playing in my luggage and must have packed a mouse for me to play with while I was gone.  We miss them.

- The chateau is full of foreign guests.  We've heard so many accents from all over Europe and Asia.  

- Much of the wait and shop staff are Australians.  We learned it's easy for them to get work visa's and its a great way for them to see the world while working.  We're deducing work visa's are easier for folks who are part of the commonwealth nations.

- Everything about the Chateau is elegant.  The lobby, the rooms, the restaurants, and even the different types of music playing throughout the resort spaces.  I would love to have a bathroom decorated like the one in our room ... have you ever admitted that about a hotel bathroom?

- The reservation I made has apparently put me a "gold" status with the Fairmont.  We are staying on the "gold member only" floor which has a private concierge service and lounge.  Priviledge does have it's perks, and we like them.

- The glaciers grind the rock beneath them into a fine powder,  Meltwaters wash this powder into the lake.  The resulting silty water absorbs all colors of the incoming light, except the turquoise and vivid blue that reflects back ... the color of the lake we see.

We head to Jasper, Alberta tomorrow.  The weather is supposed to start clearing so we're hoping to do the gondola ride here at Lake Louise before we leave.  The weather should be better by Thursday ... we have another gondola ride to the high peaks of Glacier National park planned for that day.

We Are Home

We made it home yesterday, landing at about 4pm and arriving around 5pm. 

The flight home was, fortunately, uneventful. Terrie and I stayed up almost the entire way to allow for quick equalizing with the time shift. Fortunately we had some comfy seats and many movies at our disposal. I know I watched four movies and I think Terrie did the same. 

Picture of my seat - it faces backwards. Terrie's was just through the drop-down window facing forward. 

Note: The screen in the side panel swings out towards the seat and the seat lays flat for sleeping. Very nice. 

The only downside (minor) was our seat selections - we selected seats which happened to be right next to the cooler (refrigeration unit) exhaust vents. They happen to spit out into the cabin right where we were sitting. I think B.A. (British Airways) actually stands for "Big Apologies" as they did everything they could to cool the cabin and even offered to move us if it became unbearable. I'm sure everyone else was freezing as it was very pleasant for me by the end of the flight. I also offered to move in case anyone became too cold. Overall the flight was pleasant and calm. Customs was a breeze as well with Global Entry (I happened to find the only broken kiosk computer though - thought this was amusing, being a computer geek).

Upon arriving home, the cats were meowing at the door and very happy to see us.  All yesterday evening they were stuck to us (mainly Terrie) like glue, running up and down the stairs to follow us. They especially loved it when we both awoke around 1am this morning as this was even more "play time" for them. 

Our welcoming

Note: No shots of Edna as she was being her skitty self while Dude was being his nebby (nosey) self. 

All-in-all it was a great trip and we had a fun time for the week off I had and the two weeks Terrie had; enjoying some beautiful sights, food, people and more. We both agree, though, we are glad to be home. Even if it is rainy, wet, and cold here in Seattle. :-)

Day 11 - Barcelona

Our final day in Spain.  We have had a fantastic vacation and we are ready to go home.  In fact, we are on layover at Heathrow Airport in the UK as I write and post our final Spain vacation blog.

What We Did Today:

We hopped on another train and went an hour or so outside Barcelona to Montserrat, meaning serrated mountain.  The monestary is nestled in the jagged peaks at 2,400 feet.  The first monks built huts at Montserrate around A.D. 900 and the monestary was founded in 1025.  The Choir School followed shortly thereafter and is considered the oldest music school in Europe.   The boys choir still perform concerts.  We were fortunate enough to hear them sing live while we were visting.  As with many monestaries and places people consider religiously sacred, Montserrat has had it's share of turmoil and destruction.  

We took the cable car (funicular) to the top

View from the funicular while ascending the mountain

The top attraction of Montserrat is La Morneta, the small wood statue of the Black Virgin, discovered in the Sacred Cave in the 12th century.  Legend states she was carved by St. Luke and brought to Spain by St. Peter, hidden away in the cave during the Moorish invasions and discovered by shepherd children.  Carbon dating puts her at 800 years old.  The original statue was lighter and she has darkened over the centuries from candle smoke, humidity and the natural aging process of her original varnish.  Pilgrims follow a long, ornate passageway inside the basillica for their moment to touch the virgin and be "alone" with her.  We followed the pilgrims in and had our moment with her.  Just before you get to her, is an arch-coverd stairwell filled with shimmering tiles of several female saints.  The space stood out from the rest because is sparkled with light where the rest of the basillica is dimly lit and filled with dark, ornate wood furniture and carvings.  She sits behind a protective case and her hand is accessible through a small hole just big enough to put your fingers on hers.  Sorry - no photos allowed.  

Outside the Basillica 

Inside the Basillica - La Morneta is in the window above the the back of the alter and if you look closely you can see the boy choir in their white robes.

Then we ventured up even higher via the Sant Joan Funicular, another 820 feet.  Looking down at the monestary.  

The view on the way back down from Sant Joan

We met people from all over while spending the day here.  We heard more English spoken, with American accents, here than we did our entire two weeks.  We met people from Philadelphia and Houston.  While waiting for the Sant Joan funiclular we had a lovely chat with two gentleman from Norway.  We learned the English, Scandanavians and Irish all vacation in Spain.  The main reasons being it is easy to get to with loads of flight options and it's much less expensive than other warm climate countries in Europe.  These two gentlemen were snowbirds from Norway.  One has a house with his wife outside of Barcelona.

Word of the Day

We saw this on a couple menues and finally asked.  "Farm crashed eggs" means fried egg.  We assumed it meant scrambled eggs just due to the word crashed.

Till next trip,

Adios