The day after Christmas we left early in the morning to spend a few days on Kauai with Ross’ family there. Unfortunately, they had been having lots of rain and it continued to rain while we where there. It wasn’t nearly as fun with all the rain – but we still enjoyed the time with the family. As always there was lots of good food — and it seems like all we did was eat.
Even though it was raining in Kalaheo, Ross and I escaped to Poipu beach for a few hours Friday afternoon. It was certainly a ‘tourist’ beach – but his Uncle thought it was the best bet for finding some sun. The beach was busy and full of people. The shoreline was kind of rocky, so we didn’t spend a whole lot of time in the water. Ross noticed ( I wasn’t so observant at first) that there was a section of beach roped off. We went to check it out and found that a Hawaiian Monk Seal (endangered species, and state marine mammal) had beached himself and was sunning on the beach. Having just read an article about the Monk Seals, I was excited to see one up close.
Saturday it continued to rain, rain, rain. Ross’ family was playing a chinese card game, Mah Jong. They taught me how to play, and we played for most of the afternoon. It’s a game like rummy where you try and make runs or matches with your “cards” (really tiles). I had a hard time with some of the chinese characters for the numbers – but once Phyllis made a cheat sheet for me, I did okay. I still don’t get the complicated scoring system, but I can learn that on some other trip. While I thought the game was fun, I thought it was way too long…it took us four hours to play.
Saturday night Ross’ family had a dinner to go to, so we went into Lihue to Hanamura’s for saimin. The place was BUSY since it was the weekend, and was cold and rainy. It was a small local owned saimin shop and very yummy. It must have made some guidebooks since lots of tourists managed the find the place. Ross, Scott and I all ordered the “special” saimin which included two wontons, meat, fish cake and a hard boiled egg.
