Blog 20: Kauai Part I

Imagine, the anticipation of your first time traveling to Hawaii. Allow all of the images of paradise you can serve up, kidnap your imagination. The trade winds call you. The fragrance of plumeria is in the air. Crystal clear blue ocean waters beckon you. With wind blowing through your sun soaked locks, and silk-screened hibiscus all over your moo-moo, your flip-flops take 

flight. Pack your bags and get ready to “hang loose.” Aloha.

I didn’t have the pleasure of going to the islands as a young child. My dad was funny about such vacations. Our vacations usually took us back to our roots in Ohio, but mom and dad did like Las Vegas, and Lake Tahoe.

I understood my dad’s perspective about tropical vacations, sort of. When you live in Del Mar, what’s the big deal about the beach he would say? But that was where my logic stopped agreeing with his, on this topic anyway. After all, I saw Gidget Goes Hawaiian in my teen years, and it looked like a cool place to me. Still, it would be many years later before I had the opportunity to see Hawaii for myself.

I think mom eventually had almost coaxed my dad into the idea of a vacation in Hawaii, but it wasn’t to be. When my dad was just 58 years old, in 1974, he was diagnosed with lung cancer. I was traveling at the time with a friend to Toronto, Canada, to visit with her uncle, when I got the news. Mom felt I should continue with my trip, and if there was any reason for me to hurry home she would let me know. That trip was filled with the unexpected too, but before I get too far off course…

 

Although mom never got dad to Hawaii, she was determined to get there, and she did. I don’t recall all of the times she traveled to Waikiki, before she sprung a surprise vacation trip on family members in 1982. My boyfriend at the time couldn’t get away, so I traveled to Hawaii a la carte. 

What brought me closer to writing this blog, was seeing incredible images friends had recently posted on their trips to Kauai. Those images brought back many memories, of my first trip, the good parts anyway.   To me the Waimea Canyon is as breathtaking as the soaring red cliffs of Sedona or the cavernous depths of the Grand Canyon. Each tourist destination contains a plethora of inspiration for an artist. For a first time vacationer, Hawaii holds all the magical anticipation of Columbus as he was discovering a new world.

The five of us, mom, her friend, my brother, his wife and I were off. We traveled during Thanksgiving week, 1982. A friend of my brothers was getting married on the Wailua River in Kauai that week, an inlet on the east side of the island. To accommodate that event, we decided to split our time between Oahu and Kauai. We booked a hotel in Waikiki for a couple of nights, before we headed to Kauai for another couple of nights. We made reservations to stay the infamous Coco Palms Resort in Kauai, that was showcased in the movie Blue Hawaii starring Elvis Presley. 

 

We prepared for our trip and after an uneventful flight, we arrived in Honolulu. After being adorned with leis we were off to the hotel. We settled into our rooms in Waikiki, but the excitement of getting there had worn us out. I don’t remember too much about the meal that night, but there was Hawaiian music in the background. The rest of our crowd left shortly after dinner and I stayed at the bar with my sister-in-law for a while to listen to music and have one of their famous Mai Tais. Melting into our stools, we decided to call it a night. I had a room to myself. It was modest by most standards, but being on the 10th floor of the hotel, there were spectacular views of the water. I felt like the child on a school night, not wanting to close the curtain on the day.

We arrived in Kauai, on November 21 and settled into the Coco Palms Resort, after a brief stay in Waikiki to prepare for the wedding the next day November 22. The day was magical. We boarded a river boat for the wedding that took place on the Wailua River at the Fern Grotto, pictured here.   After a  brief reception, we then traveled back by boat down the river, where we hailed a  cab back to the hotel.  

The typical blue skies and trade winds became more subdued as the day progressed. We had observed some intermittent gray clouds forming and a cooling in the weather. After we arrived back at the hotel, we walked to the bar area to wait to be seated for dinner.  The shuttered and screenless windows in the bar, framed the well manicured grounds, dotted with palms.   Dinner would be a couple of hours later. It was delightful. We heard rumblings of a potential tropical storm approaching. No one seemed to be alarmed and neither were we. When darkness fell we looked forward to seeing the festive events that would follow on the grounds.

Rumor has it that the torch lighting ceremony and sounding of the conch shell tradition began with one of the owners of the hotel, Grace Buscher.  The sounding of the conch shell and beating of the drum would be answered by one man, running across the vast grounds of the Coco Palms Resort. The torches would continue to be lit until the entire lagoon visible in its light. We very much enjoyed that evening, and needed moment to relax and take it all in. 

 

We retired to our cabana, knowing the next day would be filled with more activities. For the greater part of 24 hours we had been told to expect a tropical storm.  The storm  was headed toward Lihue where we were,  on the east side of Kauai. While having a late breakfast in the restaurant, we noticed what we interpreted to be a little odd. The staff was boarding up the open windows in the bar. Well, we thought, they are just being cautious. After all rain can be damaging and we were on an island.   The staff seemed to grow a bit more frantic in the next hour. 

 

Shortly thereafter we were advised to go back to our rooms, and told that more information would be forthcoming. The Coco Palms sat at sea level, near where the storm was expected to land.  Within the hour we were told to gather a few things and meet the buses in front of the hotel. We would be traveling to higher ground. To be continued.....

 

 

 

*Thank you to those that have provided these images to tell my story.