Palm Springs, CA

We have already been in Palm Springs for a week while I am doing this posting, so I will simply go over some of my favorite place to visit and things to do in the area. Palm Springs is about a 2 hour drive from Los Angeles. It is a step back into the 50's, when the area was a playground for the stars from Hollywood. A lot of 1950's architecture, which as been well preserved, including some really beautiful houses from that area. Lucille Ball, Liberace and other famous people had vacation homes here. A few of the great restaurants here are the Garden Terrace Cafe, which has 50% off entrees, during the week, and great food. A place called DINKS gets a good review, and although we never got to go there, we were told that the food was good. A really neat place for architecture is PRIMO, a new restaurant in the area. We went mid-week, and got right in, but on weekends, it looks very crowded with the locals and tourists alike. Inside, the atmosphere is elegant without being dressy, and you may feel that you have stepped back to the 50's from the mid-century modern design. Another evening we had a great dinner at a place called Blame it on Midnight, another restaurant, which gives a 50% discount mid-week, and features a cabaret act on certain nights of the week. We did a couple day excursions in our rented car. On one trip we went to the Joshua Park National Park, and watched the rock climbers. On another day trip, we went up to the mountains to Idlewyld, which takes you from the desert of Palm Springs, to the cold and wet mountains all in about 45 minutes. The drive gives spectacular views of the city below. We stopped at a restaurant called the Bread Basket, formerly the "Honey Bear" when it first opened in the 50's. Bread was freshly made, and the portions were quite big. I had a wonderful chef salad, that I had to take in a doggy bag since I had filled up on split pea soup. The town of Idlewyld is a little art town, but also hosts a lot of camping sites. Due to the rain, and off season, a lot of the stores were closed, but a trip here should be a part of any trip to Palm Springs. We enjoyed a drive around the star's homes, and one should never miss a trip up to the top of the mountain in Palm Springs on the worlds largest rotating tramway. There are a number of options for accommodations in Palm Springs, from guest houses, to small retro hotels, to such favorites as Holiday Inn, Motel 6, and Marriott. We stayed in a guest house, with a fireplace in the room, which we used, since temperatures can drop at night, even in the desert.

Last day in Hawaii, we took a tubing trip down the canals of the Lihue Plantation. This was about $110 per person, and the only tour on the whole trip that I thought was maybe not so worth the money. I have done something similar in North Florida, at Lake City in the Ichituknee Springs Park for about $6 and the ride lasts about 3 hours, as opposed to 45 minutes. This was fun but wouldn't have spent the money if I was not enjoying myself with friends.

Lihue Plantation, founded in 1849, was one of the oldest sugar plantations in Hawaii. The original investors were Henry Pierce, a Boston businessman, William Little Lee, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Hawaiian Kingdom, and Charles Reed Bishop, founder of Bishop Bank and husband to Bernice Pauahi, noblest of Hawaii's alii. Lihue Plantation was one of the best financed, most expensive and most modern sugar company's in Hawaii.
Sugar is a thirsty crop, It takes approximately 500 gallons of water to produce one pound of sugar. It also takes 1,000,000 gallons of water per day to irrigate 100 acres of sugar cane. Thus, Kaua'i with its abundance of natural resources; land, sun and most importantly, water, was ideal for growing cane. Mount Wai'ale'ale(rippling waters)and Mount Kawaikini(waters or multitude), some of the wettest spots on earth provided enough water to meet the high demand that cane had for water.
In order to tap into Kaua'i's natural water resources, Lihue Plantation had to develop methods of carrying the water from the mountains to the cane fields that stretched, in some cases, all the way to the ocean. Hence, in 1856, Hawaii‘s landmark ditch, the Rice Ditch, was pioneered on Lihue Plantation by William Harrison Rice. It was the first irrigation ditch project in Hawaii and although it was not the success it might have been, planters no longer had to look for perfect conditions, now they could create them.
In 1870, the Hanama‘ulu Ditch, the ditch system currently used for Kaua‘i Backcountry Adventures Tubing Expedition, was engineered and constructed. The makings of the 4 mile Hanama‘ulu Ditch was done by hand utilizing sledge hammers, spikes, picks and manual labor. Although, no records of the ditch building have been found as of yet, it was hard work which was done, most likely, by Chinese laborers. Each tunnel and waterway of the Hanama‘ulu Ditch was constructed a bit differently, some using hand cut rock, grouted and placed by hand and some cut out of existing mountain sides. It was hard, manual work and could be dangerous. It is said that it took up to 1,000 workers at one time to build each ditch and no ditch took more than 2 years to build.
Lihue Plantation's water collection system is extensive and is made up of 51 miles of ditches with 18 intakes. The Hanama'ulu Ditch System draws water as far away as the Hanalei Stream and merges with the North and South Fork of the Wailua River before it turns into the Hanama'ulu Ditch System. The four mile ditch system provides water to the Hanana'ulu basin. Today, the Hanama‘ulu Ditch System provides water for cattle ranchers, farmers and feeds projects such as the Lihue airport gateway project.
In the late 1900's, Hawaii‘s sugar plantations closed their doors, one by one. Lihue Plantation was no exception. In November, 2000, Lihue Plantation was one of the last sugar plantations in Hawaii to close its doors

Back country, in Kauai, on horseback

We drove up to the Princeville area to take a horseback ride to the back country. We used Princeville Stables for our tour and mounted our horses for a ride up the hills to the waterfalls in the back country. The scenery was beautiful and after about a 1 1/2 hour ride, we took lunch by the waterfalls. You can swim in the pools at the bottom, although the water is quite cold, it is fine once you get in. It is a steep hike down a lot of stairs to the falls, but getting back up to the horses is easy as you use rock climbing equipment to climb back up. With the equipment, it is easy even for a beginner to do. You cross over another river, the same one that feeds the falls by hooking on to a wire that you use to support yourself as you cross the water, and back to the horses for the ride back. The mountains in the back ground of the hills make a wonderful backdrop. The cost of the ride is about $120, well worth the cost to see the waterfalls. The ride is a slow walk for the horses and little or no experience is needed.

A beach day and a luau on Kauai

We took a drive over to the St Regis hotel on the North Shore of the island after a nice morning walk along the beach outside the condo. The beach behind the St. Regis hotel has a wonderful view of "Bali Hi", and is accessible from the main road since all beaches in Hawaii must be accessible to the public, even though they are behind hotel property. The water is a little less salty, probably from mountain river run off into the ocean and the waters are a little more rocky than other beaches in the area, since the beach is right off of a reef. Also the water is a little murky, but the view is lovely, with the mountains in the backdrop. Parking is at a premium as there are only about 15 public parking spots for the beach, so you may have to valet park at the St. Regis hotel, and then walk out of the property and down the steps to the beach behind the hotel. There is another set of steps, between the public parking lot and a condo, but these steps are falling apart, very slippery and very dangerous. After getting about 20 steps down, we decided that this was too dangerous to continue and eventually found the other set of stairs. The beach can be accessed from the hotel lobby, but they will not permit you to walk through the lobby with a swimsuit on, so you must be covered up to us this route. In the evening we continued on to the Smith Family Luau. http://www.smithskauai.com/luau.html At a cost of $80 per person, this luau covers a 15 minute tram ride trough the gardens, a dinner and show. The tram ride took us trough some beautiful gardens, and you are then given about 1 hour to take pictures and walk about the gardens while the dinner is being prepared. A ceremony to remove the pig from the ground follows, and then you are shown into the dinner hall, all open air, although covered, to have dinner, free drinks and live music. The dinner was surprisingly good, and done buffet style, gave you a chance to have as much as you want. The show that follows was done in a separate open air theatre. The show runs about 1 hour and represents dances from a number of Polynesian islands as well as representations from China, Japan, and the Philippines. This luau was probably the best of all the luaus that I have been to on the Hawaiian islands and I highly recommend it.

We went to a beautiful wedding on the North Shore of Kauai on the Anni Beach. In the back ground, on the hill is the house that Ben Stiller owns. The whole view could not have been more perfect for a wedding. The wedding planner, Linda, did a wonderful job. The simplicity of the location, and the wonderful views made this a truly memorable wedding. We continued on to the condo for a reception, done by a local chef. The next day we woke up early for a flight over to Oahu and a brunch at the Halekulani hotel on Waikiki. The brunch is presented on the beach side of the hotel with a wonderful view of Diamond Head in the background and the curves of Waikiki beach, surfers and wave runners. The buffet includes sushi, sashimi, eggs made to order, salads, a full carving station, and more for $55 per person. We did some shopping and driving around the island and out to the Dole Pineapple farm for a train ride around the plantation. This was a lot of fun and recommended. The train ride is about $7 per person. We went shopping at Halo Hatties with a coupon that the airlines, Hawaiian airlines, gave us on the airplane ride. Of course there is always the ABC store chain, which is on the island of Oahu about every block, not unlike Starbucks, in Seattle. A late flight back to Kauai, finished the day, with all of us worn out and full of good food.

AA Flight Attendant Travel Tips: Wiamea Canyon, Kauai

AA Flight Attendant Travel Tips: Wiamea Canyon, Kauai

Wiamea Canyon, Kauai

Went up to Wamea Canyon today. It is a long drive and a completely different area of the island than the North shore area. As you continue along, the air becomes drier and drier and takes on more of an arid feel. The drive up to the top takes about 1-1 1/2 hours, due to the slow speed limits on the island. The view might remind you of the Grand Canyon, only on a smaller scale. On the way home we stopped at the very lovely Waimea Plantation Cottages on the beach, which used to be a sugar plantation housing project, but now is the site of tourist cottages. http://www.waimea-plantation.com/. The area is lovely, full of trees, birds singing, and a wonderful restaurant, right on the porch of the main entrance. The cottages are on the beach, however, the beach area is not really suitable for swimming due to the rough waves and the muddy waters, from the nearby river that empties into the ocean nearby. There are 1/1 cottages, up to a 6/6 house, with a separate 1/1 cottage. This area is off the beaten path on the way to Waimea Canyon. A lack of "entertainment" in the area may be the only deterrent to staying here, but for a few days at the plantation, this is a perfect area to simply sit on the beautiful porch, and listen to the wind whistling through the trees and read a good book. The huge acreage makes it a perfect place to take kids also, since they can easily play away from the traffic.

We went to the beach on Hanalei, followed by lunch at a fabulous restaurant called Hanalei Dolphin Restaurant and Fish Market, a charming little restaurant off the side of the road by the river. Wonderful ceviche and chowder made with fresh fish, along with fantastic fish and chips. The sandwiches are made with molasses-rye bread, FANTASTIC!

Kauai, the Hawian Islands

We landed in Kauai, after a 5 hour flight from Los Angeles. Arriving at 10pm, is no conducive to seeing the beautiful island from the air. The airport is small, and we were greeted with a Lei, from http://www.leigreeting.com/. After our friends picked us up, we headed over to their time share in the Princeville area. The Princeville area is located on the North Shore of the island and is about 1/2 hour from the airport. In the morning we were awakened by the sound of roosters crowing, about 4:30 in the morning. A lot of the houses here have no air conditioning, since the trade winds that blow over the island keep the temperature at about 70 F. A good fan inside will keep you quite happy. This of course lets the noise of the roosters come right into the room, but I have to admit, it gives the island a certain charm. The roosters were a direct effect of the hurricane that blew through the islands back in the 90's and blew the chickens around the island. Now there is a plan to get rid of them, obviously not too successful. We got up in the morning for our first look at the island from our bedroom. The time share is right on a golf course and on a Cliff that hangs over the ocean, so the view is beautiful. The Kaeokai is the name of the time share, which left me quite impressed. We took a walk in the morning passing beautiful homes, and then loaded up the car for a drive along Kuhio Highway (hwy. 56, which becomes Hwy. 560) after Princeville to the end of the road. We took a look at the lighthouse at Kilauea, where there was a beautiful little island over the bluff, and then went back in the opposite direction along the highway. Our first stop was Hanalei Beach park, a beautiful beach. Swimming is excellent here all year. We made a stop at the Ching Young Village, and ate at Kalypsfo, horrible food, skip this restaurant. My suggestion is to stick to the travel books such as Fodor's or Frommer's for eating at any city you are visiting. We continued on, passing a lot of one lane bridges. The etiquette for the bridge is that you let about 5-6 cars go one direction, and then let 5-6 cars go the other direction. We continued on to other beautiful beaches, such as Lumahai Beach of the movie "South Pacific", as well as Tunnels Beach, and Haena Beach Park. Lumahai Beach, has a fantastic inlet that becomes a lagoon for swimming. We continued all the way down to the end of the road where there are some natural caves that you can explore from the outside, but not go into due to falling rocks and stagnant water. We traveled back to the apartment for a home made dinner. It is a good idea to bring food to the island with you, to the point that you can. Due to the fact that a lot of food items must be imported into Kauai, some products are above what you may be used to paying. Cereal for example sells for about $8 a box, and milk goes for about $5 a gallon.

Key West

I recently enjoyed a weekend in Key West which I go to as a weekend getaway. It is an easy 2-4 hour drive from Miami. This is considered one of the world's most beautiful drives. When leaving Miami, there are two choices: one is to go to Card Sound Road, which is considered a more old Miami route and will take you past some old fishing areas. The other is to go directly into Key Largo via US 1, which will save you a $1 toll. This road has been under construction for a few years, to assist with the evacuation routes out of Key West when there is a hurricane. This is not really an inconvenience since the work is almost done. There are many beautiful stops along the way and I usually bring a picnic lunch to eat at one of the roadside beaches, before getting to Key West. A word of caution, there are a lot of speed traps along the route so be careful not to speed and take care to check posted speed limits. Upon arrival there are a number of options for accommodations. Of course, most of the large hotel chains have accommodations on the island. To really get a feel for the island, it is better to stay in one of the guest houses on the island. These are located, for the most part, in the old town section of Key West. The nicest of these are in the old, renovated conch houses that were built around the turn of the century, or even before. Some of my favorites are The Mermaid and the Alligator, The Heron House, Alexander's Guest House and the Curry House. A good way to get a feel for the island is to just walk the island. The whole island is only about 3x5 miles and the old town section is very easy on the eye. A lot of people enjoy hopping on the Conch Train, which takes the visitor around the island on a 1-1 1/2 hour tour of the island and points out the most interesting points of the island. This is a great way to pick out points that you would like to go back and visit. One of my favorite places to visit is the Hemingway House, http://www.hemingwayhome.com/in which the author Ernest Hemingway lived for years. This is where you will find the 6 toed cats, that populate the house. Tours are about $10 and well worth the historical interest. There are a number of other interesting tours that can be done, such as the Audubon house, the Key West Aquarium, which has a hands on section. The Little White House http://www.trumanlittlewhitehouse.com/is a wonderful tour that takes you through the Little White House that was used by Presidents of the United States for vacation many years ago. My favorite overall, is the original site of the very first Pan Am flight, which was from Key West to Havana Cuba. The office is now a restaurant, www.kellyskeywest.com , and you can find some Pan Am memorabilia there also. You will find a fantastic assortment of dining options on the island. The best, in my opinion, is Blue Heaven. http://blueheavenkw.homestead.com/Blue_Heaven_Restaurant_Key_West.html. If you go early enough in the evening and sit outside, you will be able to enjoy a wonderful, freshly cooked meal, while the chickens run around your feet. The restaurant is in a lovely outdoor setting and in the evenings you will often find a singer or small band playing live music. I highly recommend the snapper, and the banana heaven, which are always on the menu. This is a do not miss restaurant. Another fine restaurant, but requiring reservations, is Seven Fish, http://www.7fish.com/, a very small but somewhat upscale (for the island), restaurant specializing in...fish. Evening entertainment on the island begins with a sunset at Mallory Square, where street performers put on a show, while the sun sets behind the islands in the background. An evening walk down Duvall Street will bring you to a lot of different bars and dance clubs for different tastes. If you in the mood for something a little different, take in the drag show at Bourbon Pub http://www.801bourbon.com/ on Duvall. Bring your dollar bills to tip the drag queens as they lip sinc some crazy songs with even crazier acts. If that is not your taste, there are pleanty of other bars and clubs along Duval Street to enjoy. A trip to Key West is also enhanced by a snorkle trip to view the many fish and coral around the island. Many different options are available from sailing ships to booze cruises. Ask your guest house for the best deals on the island. There are few beach choices on the island due to the rocky make up of the island itself, and shade is a premium on the few beaches that there are. It is important to find yourself good accomidations with a great pool area in case the beaches that are on the island are not quite up to your standards. A small airport serves the island and flights from Miami, Tampa and other nearby cities are available, however, the drive from Miami is something that should be taken in at least once in your life. Key West...One Human Family.

Staying Caracas, Venezuela

It has been a long time since I have written in this blog but have sworn to start again. Too much Facebook and not enough blogging. Since my last entry I have been on a transatlantic cruise, been to P-town in CT, spent a few days at the flower and garden show at EPCOT, been camping and traveled through Arizona and up to Las Vegas, among other trips. I need to sit down and write some more about each vacation, from memory, and have sworn to go in and do all this this month. I am on a layover in Caracas, Venezuela and have time to write. Apart from the transatlantic cruise from Rome to Fort Lauderdale, I have pulled back from travel to Europe. The low dollar and the high cost of everything in Europe kept me back from traveling over there too often. It seems that the dollar has become strong against the Euro again, and my layovers are getting easier to stomach, especially in London, where I was paying $2 for each pound sterling. Unfortunately, my layovers in Europe have all been in Madrid lately, and it is a city, which although lovely, I have seen way too many times, so I just stay in the hotel room and watch TV rather than getting out. I did manage to take a hop on hop off bus a few months ago to see the city, which I think is a fantastic way to see any foreign city that you may be traveling to. For about $20 US, you can see the sights. The buses supply a headset, which you plug in to a prerecorded narrative about the sights of the city that you are passing. You can hop off, see the area and hop back on, as the buses run about every 10-15 minutes, making this a terrific way to sightsee, on the cheap. You can find these buses in most major cities in the world, although the US seems slow to adopt? The only exception was when I was in Madera, off the coast of Africa, and the hop on hop off bus was a failure. Not enough buses running to handle the number of cruise ship passengers that had landed made this a bad idea, but more about that on the blog I will do about my transatlantic crossing. Now I will discuss a bit about Caracas, Venezuela, where I am laying over this month. Ever since the collapse of the bridge into the city about 9 years ago, we are no longer laying over in the downtown area. The back story is that the bridge that connected the airport to the city, collapsed during a rainstorm around 1999, and stranded our American Airlines crews in the city for 3 weeks. I think that some of them were finally taken out by helicopter however this happened right at Christmas time and caused a big mess for those who were stuck for 3 weeks with nothing to do. Since that time, Hugo Chavez has taken over the government at a rapid pace. Since we no longer stay in the city, I cannot comment on changes outside of the airport area, since we stay very close to the airport. The changes I have slowly seen taking place have been some new “government housing” going up near our hotel, and a larger and larger number of working people on the street wearing red (read-communist) shirts, that have the name of the government “social” program embroidered into them. The streets near the airport are cleaner as more and more people are employed by the “socialist” government to take care of the airport and surrounding areas. The airport has been greatly improved, with new clean facilities and the landscaping the the airport area, which was in the past shamefully full of trash, has been cleaned and brightened. A funny point is the fact that when you come out of the immigration area, there is a big sign over the luggage carousel area, that reads, in Spanish, “Now Venezuela belongs to all.” Hugo Chavez pictures are everywhere, and he is known for talking for hours on national television. This of course is all funded by the oil revenue that the country now controls, and little by little, the nationalization of industry is taking place. I cannot help think that I am witnessing the communist takeover of the country. This has been obvious in the demeanor of the passengers on our Caracas routes. They seem to be more subdued than in the years before Chavez took over. I think that it is a tale of things to come that are more foreboding. My partner, who is Cuban, says that this is the start of a communist society, and the façade created by jobs, clean streets and government housing will soon be replaced by food shortage, and a repressed lifestyle as the infrastructure begins to collapse under the communist system. I am sure he is right, but for now, I cannot help but think that I have seen positive changes in the area surrounding the airport. This cannot, however, cover up the fact that crime rates continue to surge in Caracas, thus we are no longer taken into the city, even though the bridge was fixed long ago. We are told not to venture outside the hotel for any reason, since robberies are commonplace, even just outside the hotel area.