In Which I Reflect Upon Leisure
Jan. 22nd, 2020 08:15 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shannon_aI haven't been biking, gaming, or hiking since I moved, and those were my traditional forms of recreation out in the Bay Area. Oh, I've been swimming three times now, and that's certainly going to be a new recreation for me, and I've even ordered a new swim-proof Fitbit, to supplement my old faithful friend (who I accidentally wore into the ocean a few days ago at Poipu, but who survived the experience; nonetheless I was encouraged to spend some Christmas money on a sibling).
As for the rest: I do have plans.
For biking, I need to get my bike fixed: it arrived on Kauai missing a pedal. That's because the bike had been partially disassembled before shipping: the tires were off and deflated and the pedals were off and stored in the wheels. Well, one was. I presume the other was at some point, but that it fell off somewhere between the Port of Oakland and the container in front of our house. It shouldn't be a big deal: I just need to order some more pedals, install them, and then figure out how they messed up my back brakes too. After which I can deal with the fact that street biking largely isn't safe on Kauai. But I always knew I'd be biking less out here.
But, I can't really state how big of a deal it is that I'm not biking. I mean, biking was how I got around for ... my whole life. I was thinking that my New World Order, where I largely have to hop into Julie the Benz to go somewhere, is similar to when I was growing up, living in the suburbs of San Jose. And that's true ... but I still biked to school and to my friends' houses and to the comic store and ... Really, it's like how my dad and mom lived when I was growing up in the San Jose suburbs, because if they were going somewhere they'd hop into their vehicle.
(And I'm still figuring out how to get around a bit without the horsepowers. Even though biking is largely out as transportation, I can walk, and more on that momentarily.)
For gaming, there's a game store that opened in Lihue last year called 8 Moves Ahead, and they have Thursday night reserved for board games, so I'm hoping that can be my new eurogaming venue. But, I don't know yet how much (if any) community they have. I haven't gone there yet because it's in Lihue and it's at night, and I'm still getting my driving feet under me. I made a first unchaperoned trip to Lihue last Saturday, and that went fine, but my dad had suggested I should drive with him at night some time before heading out on my own, and I've been listening to my dad for driving related things like this. I'd thought about going tomorrow, but we haven't done our night driving yet, and that's probably fine because my evenings have remained very busy. So, we've committed to some night driving in the next several days, and I'll see if I'm up to going next Thursday.
For hiking, well, I've been walking. The Kukuiolono golf course is right across the street from our house, and it's county-owned, so it's also a park. There's an entryway to a loop trail just across the major(ish) street that's on one side of our house, and so I often walk the loop trail, and then out to the other side of the course, where there's a pavilion and some nice views of the ocean. I guess that's sort of hiking-adjacent. And it'll certainly be something I continue doing.
And on Monday, after work, I did a much larger "hike", on Puu Road, which goes around about three-quarters of the golf course. At first, it's a major road, leading to more million-dollar ocean-overlooking houses, but then it turns into a one-lane little country road. It could be a hiking trail if not for the possibility of cars. (I met one while walking.) It was generally a nice hike, and closer to my definition. Oh, there are farms and houses along the way, but they were far between, and it generally felt rural and quiet.
Sometimes, Hawaii is a contradiction, and Puu Road showed that. Every other house had signs saying things like "Private Road", "Private Property", "No Trespassing", and "Keep Out". There's a fiercely private spirit among some of the people in Hawaii, especially if you get just a few feet out from the more suburban streets of houses side-by-side. But I also ran across three or four fruit booths, where you take fruit and put some money in a box. Most didn't even list prices. The only one that came close said, "Leave less than you would at the grocery story."
Oh, and at one point I was startled by a horse. I was standing there taking pictures, and suddenly I sensed a large animal behind me. This got my heart going, but I turned around, and it was just a horse, with his coat dyed red like most of the horses on the island. He was really seeking attention too. He kept sticking his head sideways through the fence to get pets. I petted him and I wished I had food for him, and then after I left him behind I saw another one of those almost grafittied signs found throughout the area, but this one said, "DO NOT FEED THE HORSES." Ah well.
Puu Road is below the golf course, but still pretty high up, so there were once more nice views down to the ocean (though often blocked by trees, fences, and houses), and then as I continued to circle the course, I got nice views of the inland mountains. I'll walk Puu Road again: it was about 1.5 hours round trip, but that included a trip down to Kauai Kookie at the end to pick up some pie for Kimberly and me, and they're right at the highway, so that was 10 or 15 minutes out of my way.
And I do intend to do some "real" hiking in the near future, maybe this weekend, maybe next. There's unfortunately none right where we are, but there's some casual hiking over in Poipu, and then there's some hiking out in beautiful wilderness if you go out to Waimea or Kapaa. Mary has lent me her book of hikes, and hopefully we'll start doing some soon. (I'll just have to keep up with her.)
As for the rest: I do have plans.
For biking, I need to get my bike fixed: it arrived on Kauai missing a pedal. That's because the bike had been partially disassembled before shipping: the tires were off and deflated and the pedals were off and stored in the wheels. Well, one was. I presume the other was at some point, but that it fell off somewhere between the Port of Oakland and the container in front of our house. It shouldn't be a big deal: I just need to order some more pedals, install them, and then figure out how they messed up my back brakes too. After which I can deal with the fact that street biking largely isn't safe on Kauai. But I always knew I'd be biking less out here.
But, I can't really state how big of a deal it is that I'm not biking. I mean, biking was how I got around for ... my whole life. I was thinking that my New World Order, where I largely have to hop into Julie the Benz to go somewhere, is similar to when I was growing up, living in the suburbs of San Jose. And that's true ... but I still biked to school and to my friends' houses and to the comic store and ... Really, it's like how my dad and mom lived when I was growing up in the San Jose suburbs, because if they were going somewhere they'd hop into their vehicle.
(And I'm still figuring out how to get around a bit without the horsepowers. Even though biking is largely out as transportation, I can walk, and more on that momentarily.)
For gaming, there's a game store that opened in Lihue last year called 8 Moves Ahead, and they have Thursday night reserved for board games, so I'm hoping that can be my new eurogaming venue. But, I don't know yet how much (if any) community they have. I haven't gone there yet because it's in Lihue and it's at night, and I'm still getting my driving feet under me. I made a first unchaperoned trip to Lihue last Saturday, and that went fine, but my dad had suggested I should drive with him at night some time before heading out on my own, and I've been listening to my dad for driving related things like this. I'd thought about going tomorrow, but we haven't done our night driving yet, and that's probably fine because my evenings have remained very busy. So, we've committed to some night driving in the next several days, and I'll see if I'm up to going next Thursday.
For hiking, well, I've been walking. The Kukuiolono golf course is right across the street from our house, and it's county-owned, so it's also a park. There's an entryway to a loop trail just across the major(ish) street that's on one side of our house, and so I often walk the loop trail, and then out to the other side of the course, where there's a pavilion and some nice views of the ocean. I guess that's sort of hiking-adjacent. And it'll certainly be something I continue doing.
And on Monday, after work, I did a much larger "hike", on Puu Road, which goes around about three-quarters of the golf course. At first, it's a major road, leading to more million-dollar ocean-overlooking houses, but then it turns into a one-lane little country road. It could be a hiking trail if not for the possibility of cars. (I met one while walking.) It was generally a nice hike, and closer to my definition. Oh, there are farms and houses along the way, but they were far between, and it generally felt rural and quiet.
Sometimes, Hawaii is a contradiction, and Puu Road showed that. Every other house had signs saying things like "Private Road", "Private Property", "No Trespassing", and "Keep Out". There's a fiercely private spirit among some of the people in Hawaii, especially if you get just a few feet out from the more suburban streets of houses side-by-side. But I also ran across three or four fruit booths, where you take fruit and put some money in a box. Most didn't even list prices. The only one that came close said, "Leave less than you would at the grocery story."
Oh, and at one point I was startled by a horse. I was standing there taking pictures, and suddenly I sensed a large animal behind me. This got my heart going, but I turned around, and it was just a horse, with his coat dyed red like most of the horses on the island. He was really seeking attention too. He kept sticking his head sideways through the fence to get pets. I petted him and I wished I had food for him, and then after I left him behind I saw another one of those almost grafittied signs found throughout the area, but this one said, "DO NOT FEED THE HORSES." Ah well.
Puu Road is below the golf course, but still pretty high up, so there were once more nice views down to the ocean (though often blocked by trees, fences, and houses), and then as I continued to circle the course, I got nice views of the inland mountains. I'll walk Puu Road again: it was about 1.5 hours round trip, but that included a trip down to Kauai Kookie at the end to pick up some pie for Kimberly and me, and they're right at the highway, so that was 10 or 15 minutes out of my way.
And I do intend to do some "real" hiking in the near future, maybe this weekend, maybe next. There's unfortunately none right where we are, but there's some casual hiking over in Poipu, and then there's some hiking out in beautiful wilderness if you go out to Waimea or Kapaa. Mary has lent me her book of hikes, and hopefully we'll start doing some soon. (I'll just have to keep up with her.)