Canyons & Tacos
Mar. 1st, 2013 09:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shannon_aI was excited to do some things on Hawaii this year that I hadn't in the past, so this morning we went up to Waimea Canyon, what Mark Twain called "The Grand Canyon of the West" - which is pretty funny, as the Grand Canyon is in the West by my definition.
We went up the very long and very winding road, stopping at various lookouts and views along the way. It was stunningly beautiful to see the interplay of red cliffs, green valleys, and the occasional blue waterway cutting through it. Along the way we also stopped at a little stream which cut through a red dirt area just off the highway. It was pretty cool for its alienness and for the fact that we could tromp around right *in* it (not literally in the water, though we surely could have). Eventually we got to the top lookouts. The first was extremely windy and more full of touristy-looking tourists than anywhere I'd seen on the island. But it still had great views. The very top view was supposed to look out to the ocean to the west, framing it with gorgeous cliffs ... but it was almost totally clouded in. Which is a frequent danger there. The museum we visited later said the only way to figure out if the top lookout was clear was really to go up to the top lookout.
At the museum I started feeling super tired and muzzy headed. Later when we down on the ground, I wondered if it was the altitude, as we were about a mile up. But maybe it was the windy roads too. Anyway, I felt off my game until I got back down to earth. After that we had lunch at home and I napped then laid around reading. By evening I was feeling myself again.
Tonight we went out to the Art Gallery night in Hanapepe, which is several miles west of my dad's house. We wandered up the one street and looked in several galleries. It was all very touristy work, but some of it had attractive technique and some of it was nice despite the touristiness. K. particularly liked some of the jewelry (and even bought some). We had dinner there too, as it was served by various places on the sides of the road. I had a very delicious pair of pork tacos in taro shells. I was amused by the "medium" salsa, which was almost entirely non-spicy (but entirely tasty). Good food. We also visited the westernmost book store in the US (again), and I would probably have bought a few things that caught my eye ... except my cell phone signal was so bad that I couldn't see if they were any good. (K. is much more likely to spontaneously buy a book than I.)
Anyway, a good but busy day. I purposefully opted to forego swimming as we had other stuff to do and I've learned I don't *need* to swim every day.
We went up the very long and very winding road, stopping at various lookouts and views along the way. It was stunningly beautiful to see the interplay of red cliffs, green valleys, and the occasional blue waterway cutting through it. Along the way we also stopped at a little stream which cut through a red dirt area just off the highway. It was pretty cool for its alienness and for the fact that we could tromp around right *in* it (not literally in the water, though we surely could have). Eventually we got to the top lookouts. The first was extremely windy and more full of touristy-looking tourists than anywhere I'd seen on the island. But it still had great views. The very top view was supposed to look out to the ocean to the west, framing it with gorgeous cliffs ... but it was almost totally clouded in. Which is a frequent danger there. The museum we visited later said the only way to figure out if the top lookout was clear was really to go up to the top lookout.
At the museum I started feeling super tired and muzzy headed. Later when we down on the ground, I wondered if it was the altitude, as we were about a mile up. But maybe it was the windy roads too. Anyway, I felt off my game until I got back down to earth. After that we had lunch at home and I napped then laid around reading. By evening I was feeling myself again.
Tonight we went out to the Art Gallery night in Hanapepe, which is several miles west of my dad's house. We wandered up the one street and looked in several galleries. It was all very touristy work, but some of it had attractive technique and some of it was nice despite the touristiness. K. particularly liked some of the jewelry (and even bought some). We had dinner there too, as it was served by various places on the sides of the road. I had a very delicious pair of pork tacos in taro shells. I was amused by the "medium" salsa, which was almost entirely non-spicy (but entirely tasty). Good food. We also visited the westernmost book store in the US (again), and I would probably have bought a few things that caught my eye ... except my cell phone signal was so bad that I couldn't see if they were any good. (K. is much more likely to spontaneously buy a book than I.)
Anyway, a good but busy day. I purposefully opted to forego swimming as we had other stuff to do and I've learned I don't *need* to swim every day.