Good-bye to Kauai, Hello Again Waikiki

Today was transition day; time to shift attention and focus to other places.  We left Kauai today, but first we drove slowly from our little bungalow along the skinny winding and scenic road east to Hanalei Bay to feast our eyes one more time.

Waves were steaming into the bay from its outer reaches, long plume-bedecked rollers that kept on and on without collapsing or playing out.  The heavy rain from the day before had washed lots of silt into the bay and turned it brown.  Mist hung on the surrounding hills like lace, sun glittered on wet places and the ever-present rainbows arched left and right.

It's deceptive to see photographs of Hanalei and the north shore because most of them look brooding and overcast, but the air at this time of year is about 75 degrees.  Bikinis, shorts, t-shirts and water sports are worn all four seasons.  Actually, in Hawaii, like other tropical places, there is a wet season and there is a dry one.

I never know whether to just get up and go away from a place or person I love, quickly leaving to avoid prolonged good-byes or to linger and savor every last moment together.  As we walked out onto the Hanalei pier to watch the surfers and paddle boarders, it became obvious we were just going to have to say good-bye once and for all and get it over with.  We savored the views, trying to memorize every aspect and finally got into the car and drove away.  Fittingly, a downpour started and seemed to erase the scene just behind us for a while.

The flight to Oahu is brief; no time for in-flight service.  You zoom up and away into the face of the tradewind and then you land again.  In Waikiki, our last treat was to rent a room at the Park Shore Hotel to get a view of one more beautiful Hawaiian sunset before traveling to the mainland tomorrow.   We're here overnight to say hello and good-bye to our two loved ones once again.  They called us before the dramatic sunset quite hit its highest note.  Their community was going to be having a Christmas parade; did we want to see it?  Of course yes.  Christmas in Kaimuki would be just the right bookend to a holiday vacation.

The whole community, which lies about three miles southeast of Waikiki, was in the parade, or half of it was.  The other half watched, and so did we, while Santas in shorts, t-shirts and whimsical headgear paraded by.  A Santa waved to the parading kids and posed for me.  Cub scouts, Brownies, football teams and beauty princesses waved and yelled to friends.  Eventually, another Santa on a truck decorated in lights and holiday garlands rolled slowly by, followed by The Grinch who guarded a volcano fuming green smoke.

There go my countrymen, I thought, all these people who live in America, Hawaiian style.  They're parading happily down this street with their beautiful and precious little children, yelling Merry Christmas the same way every kid in America does, no matter their State or ethnicity.  Santa hats, reindeer noses, candy canes and Christmas carols - no matter the way the weather feels - it's the way we do it, we nutty Americans.

Then, it started raining again, so we ducked inside for Thai food - still another flavor of life in Hawaii.  The whole day felt like some sort of parade of images, gradually turning from one to another before my eyes.  Rainbows in Hanalei turned to our own flight's arc from Kauai to Oahu and then the descent of the winter sun down to the horizon.  Finally the bright smiles of cheering kids and waving Santas, all a patchwork of tropical colors and din of city noises.  What is it about life that we don't live it like a vacation all the time?