Tag: Vacation

Our kitchen door looks solid, but it has a fun hidden feature. Matt demonstrates.

This hook is the key.

When you unhook it…

…the panel lowers and you can see through the screen to outside.

A very fun find!

We walked over to Waimea Theater to catch the Batman. Our visit to the theater turned out to be quite the cultural experience.

We bought our tickets online before we went, as requested by the theater. Upon arrival, we waited in line and observed much chatter among the other people in line. People were running into each other and catching up.

When they opened the doors we filed in. Matt had our ticket receipt ready, but no one checked to see if we had paid. There were a few super comfy seats and we grabbed them, not really knowing if we should or not. No one said anything so either we were terrible visitors or they were free game.

Before the movie started, we watched audience members circulating and chatting. Most people seemed to know the other people in the audience, which was a change from how movie theaters work in my world. I would guess the last time I saw so much conviviality at a movie theater was in college in Nevada, Missouri.

After the movie, a larger chunk of audience than usual settled in to wait for through the credits for the final credit sequence. They continued chatting.

It was a very fun experience, especially since we got to walk to and from the theater.

The movie itself was good, if a bit long.

We stopped in Hanalei for lunch and enjoyed our plate lunch as usual.

The Hanalei Valley Lookout was so pretty that three people were painting the landscape.

And I took another picture of a rooster.

I also grabbed a picture of this pretty church. It’s the Wai’oli Hui’ia Church.

It’s in the guidebooks, so it’s not much a secret, but you do have to hike down to it, so that cuts down on people. On the path down:

Good signage.

And here it is! Mostly empty and very pretty, with the lighthouse in the background.

We sat and watched some surfers for a bit.

Aloha! We stopped for mini golf and I did not stop to fix my camera before taking this picture.

Miniature golf places seem to either be old and worn out (yet still enjoyable) or faaaaancy (and enjoyable). This place was in the latter category. It had a ton of plants (the botanical garden part) and really interesting interpretive signs.

We were behind a large group, so there was some hanging out waiting.

The holes were challenging and interesting.

I really liked this graphic. Very nicely done!

More killing time, this time with timer photos.

I had time to grab a picture of this lily. So pretty.

As you can see, I got the most points, and so I won.

Afterward, we got OnoPops and sat in their picnic area. Matt got a green tea variety (he liked it, I didn’t) and I got a Mexican chocolate variety.

Because it was gorgeous.

And plus, more cemetery! I’m curious who is still remembering Charles Wilson Smythe 133 years after his short life came to an end.

I loved the sea glass and shells on this gravestone.

Because we did no planning for this trip aside from reserving hotel, car, and buying plane tickets, we did not get entry tickets to this attraction. We did stop at the place everyone who doesn’t have tickets stops and took the same pictures everyone else takes.

Here’s a bird refuging on the refuge.

We stopped more than once at this tiny post office to mail our postcards. It has very limited hours. I wondered about the two chairs, but it appears they are there because this is one of the stops for the bus. One time we drove by and a woman was sitting under the tree waiting.

Matt had fun looking up the words on the various Hawaiian language signs and translating them. He asked me to grab pictures of this road sign, which was only in Hawaiian.

Matt said that the sign was basically about wearing your masks in the spirit of kokua, which is care for one’s community

We rented bikes in Kapa’a and rode the 10-mile roundtrip Ke Ala Hele Makalae Path.

We got a lot of sun and great beach views.

We also found this pretty tree tunnel.

On the way back, we stopped to take a photo and ended up looking for whales.

That reef-safe sunscreen really doesn’t rub in.

After biking, we ate pizza for lunch and headed to the beach for some swimming.