Hawaii, like Disney, has a lot of personal history. When I was 10 or so, my father began bringing the family to Kauai for the Christmas Holidays. He knew a friend who owned a home on Hanalei Bay, which is at the end of the road on Kauai’s northwest shore. Kauai is so remote that there is no road that goes fully around the island. And Hanalei was especially remote in those bygone years. Nothing there but one combo general store / bar, a hotel on the bluffs, and a 20 mile crescent-shaped beach with maybe 20 people on it. It was like living in a rain forest… There were constant mosquito coils sending off incense smoke… The spiders were bright orange and yellow to blend into the camouflage of the gardens… The big deal driving at night was to avoid running over the buffos, a Hawaiian toad that would become paralyzed in the brightness of the headlights. To sum up, it was perfect!!!
In the years that followed, I had the fortune of playing in the Hula Bowl a tough week practicing and playing against the best. And later my father retired and moved to the Big Island. Our elder daughter, and Blog editor, is Malia.
Then we moved to the east coast and Hawaii gave way to Bermuda. It was so far away… 12 hours by plane We finally returned, and pacing on the plane two hours from arrival, I swore to myself that I would NEVER do this again!!! But this IS Hawaii, and the next day I knew I’d keep coming back.
So here we are…Later blog posts will deal with less reminiscing and more from today
Here is a photo of our view this morning, looking out at Lanai
The Adventures of Barry Brink 