Titling this entry was an easy one as you’re sure to see.  Given the fact we have driven lots over the past few days, today we decided to stay a little closer to the North Shore.  We had no real plans, we decided to just let the day happen.  As we were eating breakfast we thought that visiting the stone dam near us sounded neat.  So that is where our day will begin.

We made the short drive to Kilauea and checked in at the Anaina Hou Commuinty Park.  While Margeaux called her office I went inside and rented two mountain bikes for us to ride the almost 5 mile Wai Koa Loop Trail.  Those of you who have read this blog on previous adventures, might recall the day I rented bikes in San Francisco.  While that technically wasn’t a complete fiasco, we didn’t exactly win with that adventure.  Today, though, this activity actually quite pleasant.  We rode bikes through some mud, through a mahogany forest, past some mango trees, saw a few horses, and went to the stone dam.  The dam itself was dedicated in 1881 and was used to aid in the sugar production nearby.  Also, there was a rope swing.  I obliged whoever put it there and had about 5 good turns.  The water was freezing but it was completely worth it.  Margeaux wanted to walk a little closer to the river and found herself being sucked to the center of the earth by some form of mud creature.  At one point she came out of her shoes and then had to rinse the mud from her shoes and socks.  After doing laundry in the creek, we pedaled back to the shop, had an ono pop and a soft drink, and planned our next move.

We had worked hard on our pedal adventure and now we wanted lunch.  Margeaux found a great looking sushi place near the end of the road called Sushi Girl.  It meant driving through Hanalei and into Wainiha.  To say “into” might be a bit of a stretch for the “town” consists of a store (the size of my living room), the Sushi Girl (size of my kitchen), and a clothing shop (size of my bonus room).  But the food.  Oh man the food.  As the girl at window said (I assume she was Sushi Girl) it is easy to make rad food with rad ingredients.  I had a sushi burrito (several kids of fish with rice, corn, beans, and lettuce in a rice paper wrap), Margeaux had a spicy tuna roll, and we split a poke’ bowl.  We took our food to the nearest beach at Wainiha Beach sat on a blanket and enjoyed one of our best on island meals.  It was awesome and the view was pretty spectacular as well.

By now, it was shortly after one and I had read that Kayak Hanalei had discounted paddle board and kayak rentals after one.  To complete the paddle portion of the day, we headed back to Hanalei where we rented our gear and paddled up the Hanalei River.  It was a relaxing 3 mile or so paddle up the river to the pass under the single lane bridge into town, travel a little further into the wildlife refuge, and then paddle back down the river again.  Cool water and stunning views made this another unique experience.  So far to this point we had had a fairly full day.  Margeaux said she had places hurting on her that hadn’t hurt in a while.  As a reward for all of our hard work, we went to Kalypso’s for pau hana.  After a couple of rounds we decided to head home and get cleaned up.  One of the guys a the kayak place invited us to hear his band play from 6-9. Told ya-pedal, paddle, poke’, and pau hana.  Clear as can be.

We cleaned up, with Margeaux finally succeeding in getting all of the mud and sand she accumulated throughout the day off her, and shock of all shocks, left our place after 6!  We made the short drive to the Happy Talk Lounge to hear some music.  The place was booked solid and no one at the bar appeared to be leaving.  I did notice a solitary two-top table that looked so lonely. We asked the hostess and she said it was reserved for someone at 7:30.  7:30 we said, ha!  We’ll be long gone by then.  She sat us, we listened to a fairly decent group that consisted of our guy on acoustic guitar, a guy on bongos, and a guy on ukulele.  All in all with the drink, the band, the scenery, and even the company, it was a great way to bring an end to a day that had no plans at the beginning.  Today was about the little surprises that show up over the course of a day.  A smart guy once said “life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.”  Today life happened to us and we squeezed all we could out of it.