Entries Tagged as 'waimea'

Dallas’s House

July 29th, 2009 · No Comments

A few random photos. These first are pretty crappy and only meant to illustrate one thing: location. The house where Dallas grew up looks out to Waimea Canyon behind it (left) and the ocean in the front (right).

dallas_yard

We were driving down the driveway and all these birds, surprisingly not chickens or roosters, would not move! We just stepped on it and chased them down.

waimea_birds_driveway

I don’t know how people keep clean in Waimea. This photo was actually taken in Poipu, but there’s never any hiding the fact that I’ve been in Waimea. Red dirt in every cranny.

red_dirt_foot

[Read more →]

Tags:······

Dinner at the Matsudas

July 28th, 2009 · 2 Comments

primo
Primo :: Waimea, Kauai

Dallas’s family’s best friends on Kauai are the Matsudas. They live just down the road from where Dallas and his family lived and we try to see them every time we go back to Kauai. This year Aunty Nancy and Uncle Bob invited us over for dinner. When we arrived they were the only ones home and were watching their grandson, Swede, who was just born this year. Isn’t he adorable!?

swede
Dallas, Swede :: Waimea, Kauai

We sat outside at picnic tables and drank some beer while eating edamame. Aunty Nancy was feeding Swede his dinner, poi with milk. No wonder he’s so big! Well, that and the fact that his dad is something like 6’5″.

dallas_george_mr_hee_bob
Dallas, Uncle George, Mr. Hee, Uncle Bob :: Waimea, Kauai

Not much later, Uncle George (Uncle Bob’s brother) and Aunty Linda arrived. And then Mr. Hee came by.

For dinner we had Portuguese Meat. Maybe there is a more descriptive name for this dish, but Portuguese meat is what we call it. It’s kind of like pot roast, but way more vinegar-y. Aunty Nancy is Portuguese and knows that Dallas loves this dish so she makes it every time he visits. We had some other dinner, too, but the parts I remember are the desserts. This was the first time I ever had haupia cake, manju or homemade guri guri (I’d only ever had guri guri for the first time two days before).

rachelle_linda_swede_nancy
Rachelle, Aunty Linda, Swede, Aunty Nancy :: Waimea, Kauai

And then finally, later on, Marissa and Eric, Swede’s parents, arrived with Swede’s sister, Safina. By that time it was dark and everyone was off in different directions. I wanted to take a photo of Safina because she has grown so much since the last time we saw her, but she was off on her scooter and taking a bath and had her own agenda going on. It was nice to be able to visit with everyone. On of these days we need to visit Tandy, Uncle Bob & Aunty Nancy’s other daughter, who now lives in the DC area. She and her husband Chris just had their first baby a few weeks ago. His name is Kai. We haven’t seen Tandy and Chris since their wedding, which seems like forever ago.

[Read more →]

Tags:·····················

Waimea Bay Beach

June 23rd, 2009 · No Comments

waimea_bay_beach_1

After lunch Dallas and I headed over to the beach at Waimea Bay. This is a beach we went to last time we visited Hawaii. Like last time, there was no parking in the parking lot. This time we parked at Pupukea Beach and then just walked for about 10 minutes down the road to Waimea Bay. There was a well worn path all the way, I think a ton of people do this.

dallas_walking_to_waimea_bay_beach

Dallas selected a place for us to claim as our own. We hung out at the opposite end of the beach as we did the last time we visited.

waimea_bay_beach_dallas

Looks good to me.

waimea_bay_beach_2

waimea_bay_beach_3

During the winter months there are crazy waves here, up to 30 feet tall. When we visited, the water at Waimea Bay was so aquamarine and still. You could see clear down to your feed no matter how deep you went it. Great for playing around in the waves like Dallas here-

waimea_bay_beach_dallas_float

The Waimea River flows into the ocean at Waimea Bay. Here you can see the cars going over the river. If you follow the river up it goes into Waimea Valley. More on that later.

waimea_bay_beach_4

After playing around on the beach for a while Dallas and I went back to Haleiwa and got some shave ice at Matsumoto’s. I thought it was just as good as last time. Dallas, a far more seasoned shave ice eater, thought they were packing the ice too tight. One of these days I’ll try the azuki beans in my shave ice.

[Read more →]

Tags:···········

Polihale Beach

March 24th, 2007 · 1 Comment

2007_03_polihale_beach.jpg

2007_03_polihale_tent.jpg

2007_03_polihale_beach_sand.jpg

2007_03_polihale_sand.jpg

2007_03_polihale_feet.jpg

2007_03_polihale_water.jpg

The last time we were in Kaua’i we tried to go to Polihale beach, but it was closed, so when we saw Jordan and he said that he and Caroline and Caroline’s friends were going there later in the day, I was psyched to go. Yay! A beach I’d never been to!

Polihale is the last beach when you drive down Hwy 50 west from Waimea, past the Pacific Missle Range Facility.* Actually, you go all the way to the end of the highway then you get on a dirt/gravel road and drive for about 20 more minutes. That was the most bumpy road I’ve ever been on. Huge holes… er.. pukas? :) You really have to wear your seatbelt or you’re going to get some bruises. Good thing we had an SUV. It wasn’t a fun drive, but the beach at the end was totally worth it.

Polihale Beach is Kauai’s westernmost point and it’s Hawaii’s longest beach with 17 miles of white sand. At the north end of the beach, where we were, are the cliffs of the Na Pali coast. I heard that the dunes here can get up to 100 feet tall and that because the entire beach is unprotected from the ocean, the surf and currents can get really fierce.

*The Pacific Missile Rang Facility (PMRF) is the world’s largest instrumented, multi-dimensional testing and training range. It’s also he only range in the world where submarines, surface ships, aircraft and space vehicles can operate and be tracked simultaneously.

When we left Polihale, we went to Waimea Brewing Co. in Waimea. I had two beers – the Leilani Light, a crisp light golden ale brewed with just a touch of crystal malt and malted wheat that delivers a pleasantly mellow hopped character along with a smooth finish, and the Lilikoi Light, a light golden ale with a passion fruit flavor sure to tantalize your taste buds. The Lilikoi Light was a little too fruity, but I liked the Leilani Light a lot.

On the way home we called Brick Oven Pizza and picked it up in Kalaheo before going back to the condos. The pizza at Brick Oven is excellent and we often get while in Kaua’i, but $80+ for 3 pizzas is kind of ridiculous! Don’t remember it being that much the last times. Then again, I think Dallas’ parents paid last time.

[Read more →]

Tags:·············

Waimea Barbecue

March 22nd, 2007 · 5 Comments

2007_03_bbq_dallas.jpg
Dallas, Waimea, Kaua’i

2007_03_bbq_jordan.jpg
Punk Ass Jordan, Waimea, Kaua’i

2007_03_bbq_susan_john.jpg
Susan & John, Waimea, Kaua’i

2007_bbq_allison_tammy.jpg
Allison & Tammy, Waimea, Kaua’i

2007_03_bbq_dee.jpg
Uncle Dee, Waimea, Kaua’i

2007_03_bbq_food.jpg
Pupus, Waimea, Kaua’i

2007_03_bbq_koa_caroline_carrie.jpg
Koa & Caroline & Carrie, Waimea, Kaua’i

2007_03_bbq_safina.jpg
Såfina Grinds!, Waimea, Kaua’i

2007_03_bbq_dallas_safina.jpg
Såfina & Dallas, Waimea, Kaua’i

For dinner we went over to where Dallas’ Uncle Dee and Auntie Kathy live, the house where Dallas grew up in Waimea. It’s always fun for me to go back and see the house and imagine when Dallas’ family lived there. This time his sister and brother, Caroline and Jordan, were with us so we heard a few stories about things that happened there. Going over for dinner is a tradition I always look forward to when visiting Kaua’i.

I was also excited because the last time we saw Marissa was at her sister Tandy’s wedding and she and her husband were expecting their first child. And now it’s been so long since the baby was born. She has a little girl named Såfina who is more than a year old. So cute!

Uncle Dee and Auntie Kathy were great hosts and great cooks. They made dinner for all of us who were visiting and all we had to do was show up with beer. We got Guinness for Uncle Dee and Hinano, a Tahitian beer, for ourselves. These are all the things we had:

  • Barbecue chicken
  • Fried Saimin
  • Sushi with canned tuna (local specialty)
  • Kimchi
  • Poke
  • Lomi lomi salmon
  • Seared Ahi
  • Poi
  • Grilled chicken
  • Grilled steak
  • Lettuce salad
  • Macaroni salad
  • Fruit salad
  • Asparagus
  • Rice

[Read more →]

Tags:···············