The Silent "I"

Kona Coffee: A Traveler's Tale

Visiting coffee plantation tasting rooms on the Big Island of Hawaii is one of our favorite things to do when traveling there. On prior trips to Kona, we stopped at coffee farms and did some coffee tastings of island-grown Kona Coffee, and have been addicted ever since.  Last week, Frank attended a conference in Kona, and before he left, my one charge to him was to bring back some coffee.  He took that seriously, and this is his tale of finding a special family-owned Kona Coffee farm at Da Kine Coffee Bean.  You wouldn't dream of visiting Napa Valley without tasting the wine, so you shouldn't visit Kona without a taste of the rich, wonderful coffee.

Da Kine Sign

I landed on time in Kona, and after getting a grey Chevy Impala and a bite to eat, I headed down Highway 11 to Kona Coffee country.  Before I left for Kona, I had tried looking for some places to try coffee online and found a website for Kona Coffee Roasting listing a huge number of coffee farms and plantations on the western slopes of the Big Island. The list was lengthy, and it was hard to pick a place. However, many of the listings boasted about “cupping competitions,” so I started doing Google searches for Kona coffee farms who won these, and stumbled across an old article that mentioned Terry Fitzgerald and his farm Da Kine Coffee Bean.  It seems he was one of the Kona pioneers.

In the early 1970s, Fitzgerald took over a coffee farm that had gone wild, and helped cultivate Kona Coffee to be what it is today. This sounded like a piece of Kona Coffee history, so I e-mailed him through the website to ask if I could visit, and was told to “come on up”.

So, between milepost 105 and 104 on Highway 11 in Honaunau, I saw the small yellow sign for Da Kine, and headed up the mountain. 20 minutes and 1 mile later (yes, it’s a really rough road), after wondering if I’d made a wrong turn somewhere, I again saw a little yellow “Da Kine” sign, and parked.

Terry Fitzgerald came out to greet me a very friendly man with a beard in a sarong. His wife, Susan, peeked out and also said a cheerful “Hello”, and wanted to know if I wanted my beans dark or medium. They had some dark, but no medium, and I said I’d try both and so she fired up the roaster. At first I was honored at this special treatment, but they said the way they always do it - the beams are all stored green and roasted to order, even when ordering through the internet. While we were talking, their 7 year old son, Sonny, started poking out from behind the bushes, taking pot shots at me with his Nerf gun.

Aulani Resort & Spa: The Disney is in the Details

I had the opportunity to visit Disney's new Hawaiian Resort & Spa, Aulani last week.  It is a gorgeous resort that was much more Hawaiian than Disney, but a little Disney magic thrown in for good measure.  The decor and ambience pays homage to the Hawaiian culture, without being over-the-top or kistchy. There isn't a tiki bar in sight (which is not authentically Hawaiian anyway), nor is there an anthropomorphized animal wearing a grass skirt and doing the hula at every turn.  Instead, it's a restful, rejuvenating place where familes can relax and have fun, while learning a little about Hawaiian culture along the way.

 

The standard room with two queen-sized beds is big enough for a family of three or four to enjoy without tripping over themselves. There was a folding crib in the closet and an empty mini-fridge that you could fill up with your own snacks and drinks. Each room comes equipped with a DVD player, so you can bring along your favorite Disney movies to enjoy when you need a little down-time. It's those little touches that make this family-friendly resort even more friendly to families traveling with small kids.

The decor is fairly simple, with accents of koa wood, batik-style prints, and Hawaiian quilt patterns.  The only noticeable Disney reference was a cute Mickey Mouse lamp, carved out of wood and distressed to blend in with the rest of the room's Hawaii-centric theme.  It reminded me more of upscale version of the Volcano National Park Lodge than the Disneyland Hotel.

My room had a balcony with a "partial ocean view", meaning the ocean was right behind the parking lot.  Luckily, the room was on a higher floor, so the view of mountains and ocean were not obstructed when I sat out on the balcony.

As if Hawaii itself were not enough, the main attraction of the resort is the incredible pool/waterpark within the resort itself. Fashioned to look like lava tube structures, the xxx square foot pool features a giant slide through the rock structures, a climbing structure and a "lazy river" where you can float around in a large innertube.

Disney Aulani Resort: A Very Disney Sunset

I'm in Hawaii this week, attending the opening of the Disney Aulani Resort.  As if on cue, the first night fell with a gorgeous sunset on Oahu's northwest shore.  The colors were spectacular, and I could swear I could see a hidden Mickey in the clouds.  More on this adventure later, but I had to share a little bit of Disney magic, Hawaiian style.

Disclosure: Disney Parks & Resorts paid for my airfare and accommodations to attend this event.  I did not receive any compensation for writing this review, or payment in exchange for posting.  The opinions expressed herein are mine, and do not reflect the views of the Walt Disney Company or any of its affiliates.

The Road to Hana is Paved with Good Intentions

The Road to Hana is a legendary stretch of road through the northeast coast of Maui, through lush tropical forests and along the jagged, rocky coast of the island.  It is probably one of the most beautiful roads in the world.  While only about 50 miles from Kahalui, it takes about three hours to make it to the town of Hana, because of the many twists and turns and 46 one-lane bridges you have to cross to get there.  Count in carloads of tourists stopping to take photos every mile or so, and you have yourself a day trip.

On our trip to Maui, we decided to explore this famous highway, and see what we could find at the end of the road. We had some Dramamine along for our motion-sickness prone boy, and for the first half of the trip, he was just fine.

The highway is probably one of the greenest roads I've ever been on.  In parts where a light tropical rain was falling, it looked almost neon.  We slowed down in a stretch of bamboo forest that seemed like it could glow in the dark.  I half expected Po from Kung Fu Panda to come bounding down the mountainside, snacking on some delectible bamboo treats (and yes, I do know there are no pandas in Hawaii, kung fu masters or not).

When the warm tropical rain started to fall, all I could see out my window was a soft, green blur.  In some parts, we hugged the mountainside and could see the ocean stretched out below us, like a misty blue blanket. When the rain cleared, we found ourselves looking out over a green valley and some gorgeous blue water below.

Greetings from Maui: Surf's Up

We're in Maui this week, staying at the Westin Ka'anapali Ocean Resort Villas, on a long-overdue family vacation. We were supposed to come here in June, but Frank was not fully recovered after having open heart surgery in March.  Frank and I visited Maui about twelve years ago, before Alex came along, so this was Alex's first visit to Maui.  He's been to Kauai four times, and Oahu a few times, but never to magical, mystical Maui.

On arrival, Alex picked up just about every brochure the concierge had to offer. He promptly decided that he wanted to try surfing, parasailing, ziplining, and extreme hula. He was disappointed to learn that: a) his parents are not made of money; and b) are old fogies who like to just lounge around on the beach with rum drinks in hand.  He was also disappointed to learn that he had to have a parent with him if he wanted to plunge to his death on the jungle floor on a zipline or into the depths of the Pacific from a parasail. It's hard out there for a kid.

After much pressure of the sulking variety, we opted for surfing lessons.  The concierge cheerfully arranged for the lessons with a local shop called Outrageous Surf on Front Street in Lahaina at a discounted price. Alex agreed not to mention the words "parasailing" or "zipling" again for at least fifteen minutes after the lesson. We had a deal.

We arrived as instructed at 10:30 am for an 11:00 lesson, forgetting that nobody is ever on time for anything in the entire state of Hawaii.  Slowly, other intrepid surf-bum wannabes trickled in, including an Italian family who informed the shop manager that their combined surfing skills were "less than level 0." 

The shop manager assured them that they could teach anyone, which got a big eyeroll from Alex, who said, "I think I'm going to be the only person who ever surfed before in this class," and yawned.  By "surfed before" he meant the one time in Kauai when he managed to stand up once and declared himself ready for the Mavericks competition.

The shopped filled up quickly around 11:00, and Frank and I were shooed out and given beach chairs to hang out on the beach to wait for the surfers to arrive.  The shop had a small truck that they loaded surf boards onto while the students watched a safety video.  Frank and I decided to have a snack at Maui Swiss Cafe, a small ice cream and pastry shop next door with pink umbrellas.  Who knew that you could get homemade crepes in Maui? Not us, that's for sure. We ate some freshly baked mango and banana bread, then strolled down to the beach to watch the surfers.

Saving the Oceans with Jean-Michel Cousteau

A few weeks ago,  we were invited to hear a lecture by oceanographer and environmentalist, Jean-Michel Cousteau, son of the late Jacques Cousteau.  Frank and I grew up enthralled by The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau and are proud owners of several of Jean-Michel's video series on PBS.  We wanted Alex to hear what he had to say, since care of the ocean will largely be left to the next generation. 

Cousteau was speaking at the Northern California regional convention of Rotary International.  We were invited to the dinner as guests of District Governor Loren Harper.  The Rotary Club has a longstanding tradition of community service and involvement in important issues, and it was an honor to be among this distinguished group of community leaders.

Jean Michel Cousteau's passion for the deep blue see was evident in his remarks, probably a result of his taking his first dive below the surface at age 4.  He showed video clips of amazing animals and underwater habitats, along with startling scenes of plastic debris washed up on the shores of one of the uninhabited islands of the Pacific.

Cousteau runs the Ocean Futures Society, which runs educational programs on conservation of the world's oceans and how people can get involved.  The Ocean Futures Society runs an annual family camp on Catalina Island, where families spend a week in August learning about the ocean.

During his remarks, Cousteau urged everyone to consider the environmental impact of throwing trash into the ocean and into landfills.  Millions of tons of plastic garbage are floating in the Northern Pacific Gyre, in a mass the size of the state of Texas.  Cousteau's group and others are working toward cleaning up the mess, but in the meantime, wildlife ingest bits of plastic debris and die from it. 

He spoke about the practice of shark finning and showed a video of Chinese fishing boats capturing sharks, cutting off the fins and throwing the shark back into the sea to die.  The fins are used in Shark Fin Soup and other delicacies in China and other parts of the world, without regard for the impact on the shark populations. Cousteau noted that sharks have a particularly bad rap, mainly due to Hollywood's portrayal of Great Whites and human-hungry predators.  He showed footage of himself diving and catching a ride on the dorsal fin of a Great White.

Visiting the Arizona Memorial in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii

 

We flew back from our Christmas-New Year's trip to Kauai via Honolulu, and were able to visit the USS Arizona Memorial.  I think this was the part of the trip that our son Alex was most looking forward to.

Way back in third grade (as in last year), Alex developed a keen interest in World War II, culminating in a class project on the bombing of Pearl Harbor.  He researched the event for more than a month, and gave a rather stellar (no parental bias here) presentation and poster on the topic.  When we told him we were coming home via Honolulu, the first thing he asked was whether we could stop at Pearl Harbor.

We found out from the Arizona Memorial website that tickets to the Arizona are free, but first-come first serve. We made a plan to get there early so we could take the ferry boat to the memorial.  The ferry runs from 7:45 am - 3 pm daily, but you need a ticket with a specified time stamped on it to board the ferry to the memorial.

Kaua'i's Western Beaches

Surf's Up at Polihale State Park

Kaua'i has a multitude of gorgeous, white sand beaches, and we had time on our last trip to explore some that we hadn't been to in prior years.  We also spent a good deal of time at the beach by our hotel, Kalapaki Beach, due to its convenience and accessibility.  Despite its convenience, it got a little crowded some days, so we went in search of a quieter spot.

Probably the most popular beach in Kaua'i is Poipu Beach on the Western side of the island, but when we were there briefly on Friday, it seemed as though every square inch of this tiny, crescent-shaped bit of sand seemed was covered by someone's beach towel and coconut-oiled body.  One of our local friends characterized it as "the new Waikiki."  The abundance of timeshares, hotels, and guest-houses in Poipu make it a popular tourist spot.  While it's a nice spot, with shallow pools for kids to play in, and interesting fish to look at, it wasn't quite what we were looking for in terms of "beach getaway."

We drove a little further north to the equally beautiful (and relatively empty) Salt Pond Beach Park.  Near the historic town of Hanapepe, the Salt Pond is where Hawaiians have traditionally gone to gather sea salt for cooking.  It's a lovely park, with a grassy area leading to a sandy beach, with a rock-enclosed space perfect for kids to splash around it in, protected from the rough waves.

Limahuli Gardens, Kaua'i: A Walk Through Ancient Hawaii

Kaua'i is known as the "Garden Island" due to its abundance of flowers and plants. There are a number of gorgeous botanical gardens on the island, but in all of our years of visiting Kaua'i, we've rarely taken the time to explore them.  On our trip to Kaua'i in December, we opted to spend an afternoon exploring Limahuli Garden and Preserve, a beautiful hillside garden featuring plants native to Kaua'i and those introduced by the Polynesians.  Limahuli is one of the National Tropical Botanical Gardens located on Kaua'i.  It is located at the far, far north end of the island, in Ha'ena, near the end of the road and the beginning of the Napali Coast.

Dining in Kaua'i: 2010 Edition

 

Kauai has a number of great restaurants that will suit any palate, even the pickiest of children (or adults for that matter).  This was our sixth trip here, so we have some old stand-bys that we try to get to every time we come, and always try something new.  I wrote up a list of recommendations on our last trip here, and already shared my thoughts on Verde, so here are a few additional recommendations:

1. Brennecke's Beach Broiler:  Brennecke's in Poipu is a venerable seafood restaurant, unpretentious, but featuring fresh, grilled fish dishes and generous portions.  Decorated with a sports theme, it doesn't look like much, but the food is good, and the site offers views of the sunset off the western shore of the island.  I had grilled shrimp and ono, served up with hearty potatoes au gratin and broccoli, with a side of crisp pineapple salsa (pictured above).  Everything was cooked to perfection, and tasted great together. Location: 2100 Hoone Rd., Poipu Beach, Koloa, HI. Reservations Recommended.