After a hearty breakfast of eggs and bacon, we went to the Kauai museum today. It is near the county municipal buildings. Outside was the usual flock of chickens.

Inside we learned how Kauai was the last island conquered by King Kamehameha. Eventually the King of Kauai was forced to pay tribute to Kamehameha to remain as a figurehead king on the Island.

We also learned how brothers and sister intermarried to increase “Mana” which could be seen as power or karma or a little of both. Children of this incestuous relationship were considered Godlike and whatever object their shadow was cast on was destroyed.

There were also special sections for surfers and World War II. World War II did mention the Japanese internment camp during the war and how martial law was declared in Kauai. In short travel was restricted and newspapers were censored. Also some folks with foreign nationalities were restricted changing of jobs without the approval of the government.

Next we stopped by Hilo Hattie’s. It has some great (but expensive) clothing of Hawaiian material. Sharon found a dress she liked, but figured she wouldn’t wear it enough to justify the price, so she passed. Meanwhile I did find a vintage travel poster printed on wood, which I might go back to get it.

It was getting to be about 11AM so we figured we needed to start traveling to the canyon. We had planned on stopping to get a picnic lunch from Subway and eat at the canyon. However after an hour of traveling we decided to get Subway and eat at a park. Sharon found a nice beachside park, where we could sit and relax.

Sharon pointed out that the people at the park were all white, while the natives were obviously not there. I figured they were at work, but maybe it shows the descrepancy of the class system in Hawaii. Native Hawaiians are poor while rich white vacationers spend the money visiting attractions that only natives could dream of visiting. Of course this beach park was free, so it kinda discredits my theory.

Next was on to the canyon. As we drove up it started misting rain. I had seen clouds at the top of the mountains and this should have been a sign of things to come. Sure enough when we got to the most spectacular lookout, it was covered in clouds. I was disappointed, but I had seen the canyon before on a previous trip. Sharon on the other hand had not seen the canyon. I felt bad for her, having come all this way to be disappointed by a cloud.

We continued driving to other lookouts. We were able to see a waterfall ever so slightly obscured in the fog. At the last lookout the fog finally cleared showing us the Pacific Ocean and, as a bonus, a rainbow. My mom having described Hawaii before said rainbows were all over the place, almost in an annoyed manner. I figured Sharon was just getting a glimpse of how beautiful Hawaii must be.

As we drove back the clouds cleared. We did stop at the waterfall we had viewed before, but this time with a much clearer view.

We were driving away from the park and the clouds cleared even more. We thought that there might be a chance that the main lookout might have cleared too. So we drove the 15 minutes back only to find it still obscured by clouds.

We drove down the mountain and it was getting to be near sunset time. Sharon found a beach with a pier that we stayed out until sunset. Seeing the sun go down at Oceanside is spectacular. Hopefully we can do it every night.

On the way back we stopped by Walmart hoping for a deli, but found none. So we got chicken from KFC (Sharon had been craving chicken all day from seeing those chickens).

Tomorrow we head to an Airbnb in Princeville. I’ve never stayed at an AirBnb before and I’m not sure of the protocol so I guess I’ll find out tomorrow.