Allerton Gardens

On Saturday morning we took a drive down to the south shore of the island, having several possibilities in mind. One of them was a visit to the McBryde/Allerton Gardens, famous gardens of the National Tropical Botanical Garden organization. 

Jeff loved driving on Kaua'i. Speed limits max out at 50 mph, and there are not too many stretches of that. 

This mile-long tunnel of trees was curious. I later discovered that they are eucalyptus trees and were planted in 1911 as a gift to the community by the Pineapple Baron himself, Walter McBryde. The trees were left over from his own landscaping projects. They were stripped to the bare branches by Hurricane Iniki on September 11th, 1992, but have recovered nicely. You can still see many lasting effects of that hurricane on Kaua'i.

We were unpleasantly surprised by the tour prices for the gardens, but Jeff really wanted to do the three-hour guided tour around the Allerton Gardens, so I gulped and forked over the credit card. Luckily, we had this coupon book  and got a 10% discount.

Tip #2: Pick up and peruse thoroughly all of the coupon books you will see outside stores. They won't save you a fortune, but every bit helps on this expensive island.

We were warned about mosquitoes, and I should have listened, so I picked up my first large batch of mosquito bites in the gardens, thanks to all the water features.

We boarded the bus and listened to the garrulous guide as we traveled down a dirt road to the entrance to the gardens. The air conditioning wasn't working very well and I was not happy. We passed this gorgeous view, the site of the house of Robert Allerton, wealthy heir to the founder of the First National Bank of Chicago. He had a lifelong passion for garden design, sculpture, and landscape architecture, and traveled the world with his gay lover/adopted son, collecting statues for his gardens. 

Queen Emma of Hawaii was the original owner of the land, and the McBrydes purchased the whole valley in the late 1900's for a pineapple plantation. Allerton purchased 80 acres in 1938 and spent the rest of his life developing the gardens and pushing for the establishment of a tropical botanical garden on US soil. He witnessed the granting of a charter and the creation of the organization a year before he died.

The gardens are less about rampant hues and more about layers of texture, shapes, and subtle variants of colour. This orchid was an exception.

Breadfuit trees line the path. The guide was effusive in his praise of the nutritious benefits of the lowly breadfruit. Apparently, we should all be eating it. 

I find most guides to be a bit annoying. They foist their lifestyle, opinions, and often dubious information onto their captive audience, and then hold their hand out for a "gratuity" at the end of the tour. This guy had the temerity to voice his opinion that the Christian missionaries (who, apparently, only prayed on Sundays) had a real nerve trying to tell the native Hawaiians (who prayed to their gods all day, every day) how to be spiritual. Yeah, I made a rather loud comment about that one.

Oh thank you, I feel better now!

This deer statue was kind of scary.

We sampled fruit in the tropical fruit orchard. Jeff is eating pummelo, which was much sweeter than any I have tasted.

I picked up a few macadamia nuts from under a tree, so I hid them in my little purse and made Jeff crack them open for me later. They are tough little buggers! And only one was viable, but it was delicious.

There are distinct rooms in the garden, and you can see the different textures created by plants on the floor, walls, and ceiling.

I will now let the pictures do the talking.

This clumping golden bamboo (which has random green stripes on every section) is spectacular. It grows at a rate of eighteen inches a day. When the wind blows, it cracks and creaks above your head. I would estimate that it was about twenty feet tall.

These ficus trees were used by Steven Spielberg in Jurassic park. 

I love them, but will only subject you to three of the myriad of photos I took.

We had planned to do more, but were pretty wiped out by the end of the tour, so we went back to our little nest in the trees.

Mahalo for reading.

Driving, driving, driving.....

After we indulged in the shave ice, we drove down to Costco in Lihue, the biggest town on Kaua'i. I could already tell that we needed a backup plan for food, as it is very expensive in the restaurants, fruit stands, and grocery stores. We bought apple strudel pastries, energy bars, rolls, a pineapple, bananas, and a roasted chicken. Oh, and a couple of gorgeous sarongs from a special event that was going on. 

Tip #1: By all means, sample the local cuisine, but be thankful for Costco. We ate for three days on that chicken and other prepared food,  for less than we paid for one dinner in Kapa'a. Costco's prices are not much more than what we pay on the mainland, except for bananas, which are almost twice the price. Go figure. And the pineapples are so much more delicious than we get at home, even though they all come from Maui. Can't figure that one out either.

Then back up north to the famous Kilauea point lighthouse. It was built in 1913 as a navigational guide for ships on the orient run. Today it is a National Wildlife Refuge. Many native and endangered coastal plant species have been restored here. It costs $5 a person to enter the area.

The setting is sublime, and the cliffs and air space are teeming with sea birds. The red-footed booby makes its home here and can be seen in large numbers, roosting in the trees that line the cliffs and swooping over the waves. 

The parents leave the babies alone during the day and return to their nests at night with food.

This little guy was under some bushes right next to the museum.

Giant frigate birds, whose wings can reach spans of seven feet, also ride the wind. Their long wings and short legs make them ill-adapted to land on the water, so they spend their days trying to make the boobies drop their prey so that they can steal it. 

It took many tries to get a focused photo of the frigate bird, they never stand still!

There are supposedly albatrosses in the area, but I am not sure if we saw any.

We drove most of the road on the north shore, almost to where it runs out at Ke'e Beach, a few miles past Hanalei. There are many one-way bridges, and the road gets progressively narrower the closer it gets to the end. The only way you can see the incredibly beautiful Napali Coast is by sea or air, as there are no roads. You can hike it for about eleven miles, but even the hiking trails run out eventually. Somehow, the hippies have figured out how to get to some of the best beaches and they live there.

This is a very famous view of the taro fields of Hanalei.

And that was our Friday. We drove up and down the coast a fair amount and felt like we were getting a handle on the island. The gorgeousness of the scenery was incomparable. 

How to eat shaved ice

First, you have to talk your SO into taking you to Hawaii.

Which proved to be not too difficult after I told him I wanted to go to Kaua'i, not the more populated islands, against which he is unreasonably prejudiced.

The flights and layovers were long and arduous.

Memo to self: next time, pay the extra fifty dollars for a more direct flight.

Here we are at Honolulu airport, the most beautiful airport in the world. We are still smiling, but still have one more flight to go.

Just to back up my claim, these are views from the open-air corridors in the "secure" part of the terminal.

Then, when you have had a good sleep and have suitably gathered yourself together, go exploring in a lovely little touristy-trap town like Kapa'a. Decide (within minutes) that your crinkly-cotton travel-wear is not going to do the trick at all because you are dying from the heat and humidity and you just have to get not-one-but-two of those cute little dresses at the market, even though they reveal the white flabby tops of your arms and are made of rayon so will probably shrink-beyond-all-fit after you wash them the first time. 

Then.

And only then.

Should you go get a shaved ice.  

With macadamia ice cream in the bottom (because you have a coupon for a free scoop) and banana/passionfruit/coconut syrup (because that's what the server recommended) poured heavily all over the ice.

And then, make your sweetie share it with you, even though he ate a huge breakfast and claimed not to want any, because you just can't tackle all that sweetness on your own. 

First, scoop off the syrupy ice, trying different flavour combinations.

Then dig under the ice to find the ice cream.

When you get tired of scooping, use the straw to drink the icy/creamy slush at the bottom of the cup.

And when you absolutely cannot face another spoonful, toss the remains into the nearest rubbish bin.

And then, shy away from sweets for hours afterwards because you are both suffering from sugar overload.

That is how to eat your first (and in my case, my last) Hawaiian shaved ice.

You're welcome.

P.S. I have been gently reminded that it is correctly called "shave ice". Which, in my mind, is ungrammatical, so I shall leave the nomenclature as is.

Hangin' with the elk

I bought a couple of Groupon deals, even though I temporarily swore off them some time ago. I am just more careful about what I buy. One was for a tour of an elk farm that is about an hour away, and the other for miniature golf in Tualatin. I bought enough for a small crowd, so off we went on Tuesday.

Annie was at the tail end of a week here with her baby, Victoria, so be prepared for unending sweetness.

The elk farm is called Rosse Posse Acres. The tours are only $5 a person, and half that with the Groupon. The owner seemed very happy with the business that Groupon has brought their farm, so yay for that!

First up was a fun and educational lecture in the barn. We got to handle some elk antlers and other body bits, and read about the individual bulls.

I noticed, after a while, that Daniel was acting a little pouty  sad, and Bethany informed me that he was missing the water polo day of his swimming classes. Which explained it.

I could only con two of the darlings to pose for me.

Extra points for Kenz and Thomy.

The antlers of the bulls are proudly displayed on the wall. They are sawed off each year as soon as the velvet falls off, to forestall any murderous inclinations. Which are likely to happen, apparently.

Mamas and babies are kept in their own field.

Funnily enough, the girls of the family had been discussing community breastfeeding a couple of days earlier, and here is an example of it. Whenever a baby starts to nurse, another one or two will sneak up and have a nibble. This means that babies that are born later in the season tend to be runts, as they lose some of their milk to their friends.

The yearlings, who will face the butcher next year.

The bulls, who are named and measured for genetic characteristics and generally treasured.

The velvet on their antlers is full of nutrition and is eaten by the elk or other critters. When antlers fall off in the wild, they are also eaten by critters as a source of calcium.

There is a petting zoo on the farm and the kids (and a few parental types) enjoyed the animals.

Popcorn (gender unremembered) the baby goat was a big hit.

Popcorn's mama was probably too old to bear another baby and isn't doing well.

Kind of like how I felt after my last baby.

The wallaby was very friendly.

Daniel, still looking sad and not enjoying the animals.

The owners also breed miniature Schnauzers. 

They were more of a hit than the elk.

I made the mistake of handing over the camera when I held Victoria.

Daniel still looking ambivalent.

Next on the agenda was golfing at Tualatin Island Greens. 

I like this little course much better than those at amusement parks. It has trees and real green grass and a little stream running through it. And, while there were people in front of us and behind, we didn't feel crowded or hurried. And there is a nice clubhouse where you can take a load off and enjoy the air-conditioning.

Sweet little curls, cheeks, ears, dimply arms. Gets me every time!

Daniel was much happier playing a sport.

So, if you're local, I highly recommend both activities for an end-of-summer fling. 

And I also recommend that you take along something adorable like this.

Feel free to be jealous.