chase the light

Today’s goal was to tour around Waimea Canyon. Basically a mini Grand Canyon. Left about 8 this morning and it’s now 6pm so it was a 10 hour day and I’m beat and need some food. The ride up was really winding and if you’re driving it’s not a lot of fun. You can’t exactly look out the windows because the next hairpin turn is only 30 feet away. After a few stops to check out the sights I ended up at the end of the road which looks out over the Na Pali coast. I got out of the car and hiked a couple miles up to the top of the mountain and got a gorgeous view of Kalalau Beach. Which is only accessible by foot or kayak. From the viewpoint you can look east to Mt. Wai’ ale’ ale which is the wettest spot on earth. Averaging 440 inches a rain a year. Um, crap that’s like 36 feet of rain. Crazy wet. Above is the view of Waipo’o Falls in Waimea canyon. I was getting a little loopy after hiking in the hot sun and I stopped at a little park area that had a small cafe and ate the second worst chili dog I’ve ever had. They really only had three things on the menu, a pork sandwich, a greek salad and a chili dog. Why is there a greek salad on the menu on top of a mountain in the middle of the south pacific? After heading back in to the town of Waimea I stopped at the highly recommended Jo Jo’s for some shave ice. About the only place you can get shave ice is in the islands as its a local concoction. A little like a snow cone but with ice cream in the middle.

After sitting out on the bench watching people drive by and eating my shave ice I headed home. I stopped of at a little shop north of the hotel and bought a little ukulele from a guy there. He was cool and we chatted for about an hour about ukulele’s. He played some songs and showed me some chords then I picked one out and was on my way. I made him pose with a ukulele which he was more than happy to do. Now it’s just me and my uke sitting in my room playing David Bowie songs.