Jan. 27, 2014: clouds, cold, garden--


Woke up to more rain and clouds.  We piddled around the condo until about 11:30, then decided to head south in hopes of some sun and snorkeling.  Instead, we found more clouds and light drizzle.  But we still made a great day out of it.  First we stopped at The Stichery Store near Walmart.  For anyone interested in sewing, especially with Hawaiian prints, this is a great place to go.   We have lots of fabric stores in St. Louis, but none that carry Hawaiian prints!  They even encourage you to take pictures.

 So many choices!!!

  

 Then we headed on to Lawai.  Not only was it cloudy, but it looked like rain was heading in and it was cold for Hawaii---barely 70.  We had planned to go snorkeling, but with the wind and no sun, we decided we weren't up to it.  You know it's bad if we don't jump in the water!  Actually, we weren't the only ones not snorkeling!  You don't often see Lawai with no snorkelers.

I've always wanted to do the Allerton Gardens, so we went over to the garden and checked to see if there was an opening for it.  There was, so I went on the 2pm $35 tour.  Hubby didn't want to go, so he enjoyed peace and quiet mostly in the car while I was on the 2 1/2 hour tour.  I really enjoyed the tour, but was disappointed that we didn't go down to the beach.  I didn't realize all the tours didn't go there.  Good thing I didn't know that or I probably wouldn't have gone on the tour.  It is a gorgeous garden.  Our guide, Sam, was also very personable and knowledgeable.  Here are a few of the sights we saw.

 the bus that took us to the garden.

overview of the beach

 frog in a lily pond

Sam showing us how leaves are used to wrap food while cooking.

Moreton Bay Figs used in Jurassic Park

even a bunch of banana trees

 one of the 4 "rooms" we saw.  Wish I had rooms like this!

bamboo forest

 another fountain

 our last room

one of the statues in the garden

The last area we went to in the garden was an orchard of different types of fruit: a plum, tangerines, palomas, Hawaiian Oranges, a cherry, kumquats,  and some others I don't know what they were.  The pomelos and oranges were very good----the others, not so much!  I guess the others weren't ripe yet or they're extremely bitter!
These were the extremely bitter plums.

 ???? (Lipstick Plant--Achiote, great for red dye)

an odd cherry (Surinam Cherry---very sour!!!)

from the free garden by the office on our way out.

 Did I mention I love hibiscuses?

When we left the garden, we tried to go to Keoki's Paradise for happy hour again, but it was over.  So we decided to give the Wailua Marina Restaurant another try.  Made it there in pretty good time only to find it closed until Thurs.  We use to really like this restaurant, but the last couple times we went (4 or 5 years ago), we were really disappointed.  We like the location, though, so we thought we'd give it another try.  Oh well, not today!  Then it was back to the "what do you want, what do you want" conversation, until we finally agreed on the Brick Oven buffet again (since they have that on Mon. and Thurs. nights only).  This time we ate at the one in Wailua.  It was very good!  It started raining while we were eating and pretty much hasn't stopped.  We made it back to Kauai Beach Villas about 7 pm, so I went over to the free Monday night concert at the Kauai Beach Resort---wearing jeans and a lined fleece jacket.Yes, it was that cold!  It was standing room only tonight and the performers were very good.  ( featured Uncle Cyril Pahinui (son of Gabby "Pops" Pahinui"), Peter Moon (of the Peter Moon Band) and Jeff Ahoy (a wonder on steel guitar)......legends in Hawaiian music!)

 

Day 10 has come to an end!  Sounds like lots more rain tomorrow and this weekend.  Now if it would just get back up to near 80!  At least the weather extremes here aren't like our ones at home.  I understand we've had it up to 60 and a couple days later our high was about 5, with lows a lot lower.  It was actually a perfect day to go to the garden---it was cool, cloudy so there were no harsh shadows and colors were richer, and the mosquitoes were too cold to bother us.  I really expected it to start raining while we were on our tour.  I left my dslr with Ken and used my waterproof camera just in case.  Other than a few sprinkles, it remained pretty dry.