From Beaches to Peaches!

Sept. 1, 2016 Wiamea Canyon and West county---

So we checked the beach reports and found they are all closed! My plans for coming here in the summer to snorkel the north shore has some flaws! Not a good time for water sports when you have 2 hurricanes barreling down on you! Madeline went south, but bands of her winds and clouds spread all the way here. Now Lester is expected to affect Kauai on about Sunday. Hoping that'll be it and the waters will be back to snorkelable in a few days.

When we checked in yesterday, we were told to come down to the island orientation and they had free malasadas. Ken wasn't interested, but I liked the idea of malasadas, so about 8:30 I walked on down to where they were suppose to be. I say suppose to because noone was there---and no malasadas! So I walked back to our unit and took a few pictures along the way.
One of the walkways within the Kauai Beach Villas.

Looking across the lagoon to one of the condo buildings from the Aqua Kauai Beach Resort hotel side of the complex.

another view towards the condos.

Back at the condo, we decided to head up to Wiamea Canyon since we couldn't get int he water. So by about 9:30, we left our condo. I was a bit surprised to see this vehicle next to ours. I guess we have cat people as residents in our building.

Before heading up into the canyon, we stopped at Grinds for breakfast. We've always enjoyed going here. They've even renovated the restaurant since we've last been there. They do have great bakery items at Hawaii reasonable prices. A loaf of homemade bread is about $5. Day old bakery goods are $.75@ or 2 for $1. I got a pack of cookies and a brownie for later. Our breakfast was good, too.

After breakfast, we continued on our way to the canyon. Whenever we happen by the overlook and it looks nice, I make Ken stop. Today was no exception.

By the time we were heading up the canyon, it was after 11. We made several stops on our way up. Like this stop overlooking the town of Waimea.

one of the pull offs.

zoomed in to the river in the bottom of the canyon.

I love the red dirt here and the water working it's magic on the landscape.

another pull off

a couple of the water falls within the canyon.

People are always saying go early or clouds will come in and your view will be bad. Every time we've gone up the canyon it's been in the afternoon. Most of the time we've had fantastic views.

Just another spectacular view.

I also loved all the wild flowers growing all over the canyon!

and, yes, there are chickens up in the canyon, too!

We didn't get to Kalalau viewpoint until after noon. There were a few clouds up there, so the view to the ocean was blocked. Did get a bit of a rainbow,though.

Also saw these cute little Cardinals. I had never seen them with brown heads. Someone up there said the brown headed ones were juveniles.

The mother wasn't far off.

another pretty wildflower.

This was at the end of the road---Pu'u o kila lookout. hiking paths continue on from here, but we just hiked to the viewpoint. By now it was drizzly and ocean views were still blocked, so we didn't stay long.

Heading back down to the car. Ken pointed out the radar dome in the distance.

on the way back down, i saw blue skies by the Kalalau sign, so made Ken pull back in there. This time there was a great view down to the ocean.

There were also a bunch of different colored hydrangeas growing wild here.

We had gone from 91 at sea level to 69 and windy. But it felt good!

These were all over the place near the top of the mountain. ( Kahili Ginger)

I don't know what they are, but they are gorgeous!

More wild flowers

more unique wildflowers.

These reminded me of lilacs, but it's way too late for them.

Even some pretty little yellow wild flowers.

Ken was more intrigued with the gnarly trees growing up there.

more of his trees.

We left the 2 big lookout for the trip back down. This is Pu'u Hinahina Lookout. I never noticed before, but there's a trail on the orangey cliff to the middle left of the picture below.

close up of that orangy area.

another wild "flower"

Next stop was the main lookout----Waimea Canyon Lookout. There was a tour bus there parked right in front of this fruit stand.

First time I've ever seen Dragonfruit!

on the fencing around the viewpoint was a small collection of locks. Guess they're copying the "locks of love" movement that was (is?) going on in Europe.

my hastily put together pan of the canyon from the viewpoint.

Looking down on the lower viewpoint area from the upper one.

There always has to be those few that don't stay behind the protection barriers!

Close up of one of the points in the canyon.

As I was walking back to the parking lot, I noticed a few trees with this orange stuff on their bark. I assume it s a type of fungus or algae.

Near the bottom of the canyon we stopped one more time. It was about 3:30 now. This looked like the start of another trail. Would be nice to hike some of them some time, but Ken hardly even gets out of the car anymore.

Since we were down on the West side, we did a little more sightseeing down there. Years ago we happened near here at sunset and I got some of my favorite sunset pictures from here.

We walked part of the pier, but didn't want to disturb the high school kids that apparently hang out there after school. Wish I had a place like this to hang out at after school when I was in high school!

Heading back to the car, I saw this family of chickens. Always fun seeing the chickens all over kauai!

Got a kick out of this chicken coop. That's one fancy coop!

The Russian Fort was near here, so we decided to stop there, too. We stopped at it about 20 years ago, but don't remember seeing anything. Now there's a nice placard and a sort of walking tour. So I walked around to where the map showed the opening to the fort.

This is inside the fort. Russian Fort Elizabeth is a National Historic Landmark and was the last remaining Russian fort on the Hawaiian Island. It was built in the early 19th century by the Russian-American Company as the result of an alliance with High Chief Kaumualii.

This fort was built in the shape of an irregular octagon, about 300 feet to 450 feet across, with walls 20 feet high.

It was constructed in 1817 on the east bank of the Waimea River overlooking Waimea Bay and abandoned by the Russians in the fall of that same year.

We rode over to Salt Pond after wandering around the fort. Sat and watched the waves pounding the shoreline near the little airport there.

Even drove through the little town of Hanapepe.

Cute little town.

Also went by the Japanese Cemetary by Glass Beach. The waves were crashing on the cliffs there, too.

even made a spouting horn similar to the one in Lawai.

A rainbow appeared then and lasted quite awhile!

Made for a good opportunity to show off our upgraded ride!

We headed into Kalaheo to Brick Oven Pizza for their Thursday night buffet special. Now $19/person! It's gone up $4, since we were here last. But it was good. Nice having salad and wings, too. They also had clam chowder, pasta and lots of pizza. Even dessert pizzas!

Since we were still in the area, I suggested we go back to Salt Pond for sunset. It had rained most of the time we were in Brick Oven and drizzled off and on all day. Figured Salt Pond would be the best chance for a sunset.