The Western Bankers’ Association convention, Grand Hyatt Kauai, April 22-26.

It’s been so long since we’ve traveled anywhere other than to Norman or Beaverton. It was just a bit strange.

Among other things (like packing lists and remembering paraphernalia and taking enough meds so we can survive a quarantine if we catch the bug the day before we’re supposed to fly home)…when I called to reserve a taxi to haul us to the airport at 0-dark:30, I was reminded that our standby – Boise City Taxi – is no longer in business.

So we Ubered it. Different, but at that hour who can tell the difference.

We arrived at the airport (along with 2 dozen other night owls), cleared security in typical Boise fashion (if it takes longer than 2 minutes you’re doing something wrong.)

Eventually the world woke up. We traveled (with a short layover in San Francisco) and landed in beautiful Lihue Hawaii.

Having retrieved a car, and having several hours to kill before we could check in to our hotel, we did a bit of touring.

First, we wanted some food. Between our early morning and a 6 hour time change we didn’t really know which meal we wanted, we just knew we were hungry. Leaving the metropolis of Lihue behind (it’s easier to find local food in a smaller town) we drove south to Koloa. Actually, our plan for the day was to focus on the south of the island, so Koloa was on the way. Anyway, on the edge of town we happened upon a group of food trucks. They were closed. Sigh. So we drove a bit farther and on the other side of town we found…another group of food trucks. Cheryl had a great Thai curry chicken (anyone surprised?) and I had a fish burrito. Serendipity!!! Even the intermittent deluges of rain didn’t dampen our spirits.

Adequately fed we proceeded on. Our plan was to head to Waimea Canyon – big dramatic vistas and such. However, we looked at the low-hanging overcast and decided that we could better use our time closer in. So we headed for #2 on the list – glass beach. Glass beach figures heavily in youtube videos about Kauai. It’s a beach where, for some reason, lots of bits of glass show up (along with sand and pebbles). It took a couple of tries, but we eventually found the dirt road at the end of a string of warehouses that twisted and turned down to the beach.

After checking off #2, we headed for #3 – Allerton Garden. This is an amazing garden showcasing hundreds of native plants in a natural setting – another highly rated choice by youtubers. Sadly, what the youtubers don’t tell you is that the garden is only accessible with a guided tour. And the last tour today had already left. So, no luck today. The nice lady did suggest that we go on line and reserve space in a tour tomorrow. (I did that this evening – and discovered that all tours tomorrow are already booked. So I reserved for Saturday morning. be watching for too many photos then.) While there, however, we did note that they have a connection to ‘Dad Jokes International’.

Then it was on to #4 – Spouting horn park.

OK, that’s pretty cool. We watched it blow for a bit, then on the way back to the car we noticed some more pretty cool wave action.

By then I had received an email telling us that our room was ready, so we went shopping. We stopped at a small mall in Poipu that we had enjoyed visiting the last time we were here (maybe 6 years ago). It seems to have survived the pandemic mostly intact. There were only a few empty storefronts and there were lots of people around.

Then it was off to the hotel where we checked in, found our room, did a bit of unpacking, and headed our for a bit of sustenance.

As we were sitting on the deck, looking out at the sea, eating good food, we were serenaded by a really good local guitar/vocal duet. It was a great climax to a very long, very adventurous, sometimes disappointing, sometimes serendipitous day. (For the record, when I typed this I spelled disappointing wrong and serendipitous right. Go figure.)

We’ll see what tomorrow brings.

The clock on the wall says it’s 9:10, so it must be bedtime. Nite all.