Hawaii (part 2)

Hiking on Kauai

We spent four or so days on Kauai, mostly hanging out in the hotel or by the beach. One day we were feeling adventurous, and drove to see the glorious Waimea Canyon on the island's west side.

We were thinking of going on a hike that afternoon, so at the beginning of our drive, we purchased lunch that morning from a modest little grocery store in the town of Koloa. Walking through the store aisles, we'd tried to find lunch food that would pack well. Angela noticed a shrinkwrapped lump of rice wrapped in nori (seaweed), a snack that Japanese call musubi. Traditionally, a musubi has something in the middle, like a bit of tuna salad or dry bonito. This is the food Japanese moms pack in their kids' lunchboxes, a Japanese PB&J if you will.

We asked the checkout woman what was the filling in the middle of this musubi. She replied, "Spam", although she said it with that rising intonation — "Spam...?" — you'd use to answer an obvious question. ("What's the big ball of light in the sky?" "The Sun...?") Jan said something about how we'd been hoping the musubi would have a more traditional filling. She asserted, "Spam is traditional."

The Hawaiian islands are unique in all sorts of ways, including the high status they accord to Spam. They also have a cool canyon:

Waimea Canyon ("The Grand Canyon of the Pacific" — Samuel Clemens)

Just beyond the canyon is Kokee State Park, where a ranger station lists a variety of hikes you can take. We opted for the Awa'awapuhi Trail, a moderately exerting but not ridiculously strenuous hike to see the island's western Na Pali coast. (Both of us like to hike, but both of us have knee problems that provide us with convenient excuses not to attempt really killer hikes.)

Kauai is probably the greenest place on Earth. It gets tons of rain. The trail we hiked started at the top of a long ride, and descended along one arm of the ride. The top of the hike was lush tropical jungle, but as we descended, the surroundings changed to drier brush.

Relieved we've come to the end of the trail

It was hard to see much of the scenery as we were hiking down the trail, but the view from the end was spectacular.

Angela looks out over the Na Pali cliffs

We had lunch at the end of the trail, looking out over the Pacific. After trying her Spam/rice/seaweed combo, Angela said the Spam wasn't actually all that bad.

Mmm... Spam...

The scenery was an ample reward for the hike down. It was gorgeous enough to make your jaw drop.

Whoa — a long drop to the bottom of the Nualolo Valley

We weren't the only ones who thought the scenery was awe-inspiring. The entire time we were eating lunch, there were always one or two tour helicopters in the sky circling over the cliffs.

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