beach day: kikaua

welp, the guidebook wasn't kidding about this beach not being crowded -- happy president's day to me!

it was a beautiful day in hilo town, but i just had to take a little road trip. you just don't get this kind of beach on the hilo side of the island. it was utterly lovely, the pictures don't do it justice. it is heavily manicured, for sure. but that's exactly what i wanted today. you have to get a parking pass b/c this beach fronts the Four Seasons resort, but all beaches in Hawai'i are public property, so anybody can crash the rich ppl's party. i think i'll crash the mauna lani resort people's next time.

i kind of wanted to go to Mauna Kea and touch the snow on the "way" home, but towards the mountain it got really cloudy, plus that's a trip in itself, so maybe this weekend i'll finally hit it. there is SO MUCH snow up there since that last rainstorm. i'm going up to hakalau this week, but that's only halfway up. maybe stargazing this weekend. we'll see. i might have beach fever now, today really hit the spot. i am once again "lucky live hawai'i".

i also got to eat a vietnamese noodle bowl, something i haven't done since nawlins, and got a vietnamese po-boy to take home with me. spicy lemongrass tofu. damn tasty.

here's a pretty little waterfall i found along the way. above it was this magnificent vista:

i make monkey noises when i catch glimpses of the snowy mountain. all that snow just activates the Snow Day response, or something, it just makes me happy. Glimpses of a particular shade of turquoise ocean also elicit monkey noises, as well as other random sights.

and here's some cryptic graffiti:

someone should write a short story about that.

Coming home through waimea it got really cloudy and creepy, and then i saw this huge thing. in the mist and grey it really looked like it could have been from the film-within-a-film in The Ring. spooky fo sho.

that's it for me kids, i'm pooped. hope everyone had a lovely president's day. i would like to note that i will (probably) be happier Next president's day. There were a bunch of Obama supporters in one town I went through having a rally. Our caucus is tomorrow. We call it a caucus instead of a primary for some reason. the cuteoverload lady posted about a telephone message she got from stevie wonder telling her he just called to say he loves her, and to vote for obama. she titled that post "holy target audience, batman" or similar. stevie wonder has not called me. hmph.

this just in: boy will be moving back to New Orleans! Not only that, but belle is flying up to oregon to meet him and be his travel companion on the way back. i cannot WAIT to see the posts that ensue. i get a hangover just thinking about it. cheers daahlings.

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you: Jabba The Doodle, aka Walrus Basking In Sunshine

I was just telling boy this morning that Doodle has gone supernova, so i thought i'd better back that up with some visuals. He is *so* not at his bikini weight. Apparently our lovable doodle is entering his Orson Welles phase. Not only is his belly enormous, but his attitude is a LOT snarkier than it used to be. he's obviously acting out and has an eating disorder. i have yet to find the right rehab program for him, though. he misses his neighbors in NOLA that used to snorgle him without mercy and spoil him rotten.

(okay, 90% of the time he's still the same old snuggly Doodle. but he hasn't let me sleep a night through since we came here almost a year ago. i guess his circadian clock never re-set.)

anyway, we had sunshine today for a change! thanks god. and i may start a new blog called "weird yard flowers". Today's came off a tree. any botanists in the crowd?

well i guess that's all the news for today, except that my car is possessed by demons. i went to the grocery store and it locked me out. that's right. i could not get into my car. then finally the passenger side door opened, so i got to crawl into the drivers seat that way. i thought maybe it was the powerlock fuse, which might have fried because of all the stupid rain, but guess what?? you can only get to the fusebox if the driver's door is open! so i messed with that for an hour or so and then it just sort of fixed itself. very strange.

so shenaynay, that's what held me up from calling you this afternoon like i'd planned. sorry honey! this week? i'll do my durndest. we been playing phone tag for months.