Happy New Year and Hawaii (fwd)

[Noelle <http://dummy.us.eu.org/noelleg>]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Mon, 2 Jan 2012 16:55:37 -0800
From: Lizzie <http://www.sbcglobal.net/~l>
To: http://dummy.us.eu.org/noelleg
Subject: Happy New Year and Hawaii

Hi Noelle,

Happy New Year to you too!  I got your postcard, thank you.  I haven't seen 
The Descendants but I want to.

We were in Kauai.  We've been there twice before, one time in Hanalei, another
in Princeville and this time in Annini.  They're right next to each other on
the northern (wetter) side of the island.  We've lucked out with two rentals
so far.  The condo in Princeville was run-of-the-mill.  We stayed in a
carriage house in Hanalei and a cottage in Annini.  Hanalei is great if you
want to walk to get coffee, shop, etc.  Annini is really peaceful which is
what we needed this time.  I think we rented both through a real estate
company in Hanalei.

Roger surfed almost every day, we hung out at the beach, went for walks on the
beach, read, ate out, cooked, actually ran into some friends!  My friend
Emily's family has lived in Hawaii since the late 19th century.  Lydgate Park
on Kauai is named after her grandfather who was a civic leader and unitarian
minister.  He helped save some sacred sites.  His father surveyed much of
Hawaii apparently.  Emily and her brother own an organic cacao and vanilla
farm.  They're trying to make it into a money making venture with tours, a
rental house (go to Steelgrass Farms on the internet), eventually chocolate
and they have a recording/voice over studio!  Her brother is a musician.
Emily doesn't live there year-round, she's getting her Ph.D. in international
law in England.  That was certainly a highlight of my trip, that and seeing a
baby humpback whale jump in and out of the water for about 10 minutes at
Kilauea.

As far as accommodations I would check with the local real estate companies
that also offer vacation properties.  Kauai can be pretty steep, in fact
Hawaii is expensive in general.

In Hanalei there is an organic grocery which probably has vegan products though
I didn't scope that out.  I think an internet search would probably help you
in that regard.  It seems that there is more of a sensibility for organic on
Kauai.  In fact I think Kauai is generally more progressive.  It's the only
island that has banned jet skis.

Mendocino sounds great.  I definitely have the travel bug and want to get away
as much as possible.  We'll see, work is going to get crazy again!

Great to hear from you and let me know if/when you decide to go!

- Lizzie

On Dec 2, 2011, at 4:35 PM, Noelle wrote:

> nice
> I wish I had walked the Brooklyn Bridge
> maybe someday