June 4, 2006 After a very short but scenic run down to the Princeville Hotel and cliffed coastline, Kelli and I went to Amazing Grace Baptist Church, which meets in the Hanalei elementary school.
What a refreshing experience. We're used to worshipping with thousands every Sunday. This day, however, we worshipped with tens. But it was worship. It was nice not to be so structured. Pastor Roy strummed his guitar while leading us through hymns. Then came communion, which was meaningful -- however, as we took the bread, dogs seemed to be suffering in the distance -- still have no clue why they were barking so. Next was a time of testimony, where attendees volunteered to share either a verse or encouragment or an anecdote of God's work. Pastor Roy taught out of Isaiah 64:7 and Philippians 4:8, encouraging us to think positively, knowing all the Lord's done.
We made chili dogs for lunch and headed to Kapa'a...
Are my drawers still on?
After getting some Kaua`i slippers, we settled at Kealia Beach. Immediately we got into the wavy water. This clearly is a popular surf spot...big, fast waves. We didn't have our boards, otherwise we'd have shredded the waves with the rest of the locals. Instead Kelli came up with a game in which the player jumps as the wave meets the player; the wave then carries the player closer to the beach. Fun game. I made some revisions, though. I ended up playing Wave Submission, where the player surrenders all control to oncoming waves. The player may not attempt to gain control by placing his/her feet on the ocean floor or by paddling to equilibrium. Players must truly submit to the waves' wishes.
In my most exciting round of Wave Submission, three consecutive waves tossed and turned me, against my will, before leaving me upside down and 30 yards from where I started. I only had the where-with-all to ask, "Are my drawers till on?" They were, and a few minutes later, the dizziness was gone.
At 3 p.m., we rushed to wash off the sand -- which later we found embedded in our skin -- in time to make our 3:45 check-in at Heli USA, where we were to tour the heart of Kaua`i, lush canyons and abundant waterfalls viewed only by air.
I didn't pay attention during the safety debriefing for the heli-tour, so I mistakenly opened the life jacket and embarrassed myself before taking off. The crew then held my hand through remaining pre-flight procedures. Since we shared the flight only with one honeymooning couple from Arizona -- no doubt depressed by the day before's end of the Suns season -- Go Mavs! Anyway, with only 4 passengers, we all got a window view. Incredible views! My favorite were the Na Pali Coastline and Waimea Canyon. We also saw several sights featured in such movies as Six Days, Seven Nights and Jurassic Park (a glary shot of Jurassic Falls is above).
We landed safely and headed south to the Kaua`i Fair, where a vendor's cousin put serious pressure on us to buy a necklace. The necklace was pretty and matched the necklace I bought in Maui. The lady said something about how Hawaiian "lovebirds" are supposed to express their commitment through matching necklaces and that this necklace was the only that would match the one I was wearing...then something about birds being more free than humans...and we were sold. It is a nice necklace.
Dinner at Hukilau Linai was good. Our waitress was interested and thorough...at times we felt awkward. She was highly disappointed when Kel ordered a caesar salad for dinner, which Kel planned so she could get the Old Hawaiian Chocolate Cake with ice cream.
We rented First Daughter from Foodland. It was corny but entertaining.
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