Kauai, Hawaii.

Ah, the memories. A year ago at this moment, I was there on my honeymoon. For amusement, I want to make a list of things I can remember, just because I am nostalgic like that.

[disclaimer: similar to my “Anniversary” post, this might only be interesting to people who have actually been to Kauai, who are planning to go, or who simply enjoy reading about travel. Possibly it could be interesting to someone with nothing much to do at the moment, but that depends on how easily entertained you are.]

Papayas. I was really into papayas while we were there. In fact, I drove Jeremy crazy because I kept wanting to take a picture of us eating a papaya, and he liked them okay but they are filled with slimy seeds and he was just as happy with a banana. I finally got a photo on the very last day---in the rental car, on our way to the airport to fly home, at night, going 45 miles an hour. It’s not a very good picture because the car made the camera shake and all I had was black and white film left (you kind of need color to capture the essence of a papaya) and Jeremy was driving so he couldn’t really pretend he was eating it. And all I had was a plastic spoon to cut it open.

Chickens. They were everywhere. Just below our balcony on the grass. Mulling around the pool at Mai-Tai hour. Crossing the street near the arts and crafts fair as we drove to Glass Beach. I think this is perhaps where the riddle, “Why did the chicken cross the road?” came from. Where else do you see chickens crossing the road?

Glass Beach. Jeremy was less impressed than I. Instead of sand, this beach was full of tiny, smooth pebbles of multi-colored glass. All shades of blue, green, brown, and white…an entire beach completely made of glass. It was sort of near an industrial plant and I'm pretty sure that's where the glass came from, which kind of ruined the vibe I guess. But I still thought it was neat.

Umbrellas. We took a day trip to Oahu to see Pearl Harbor and to visit Waikiki beach. It was such a contrast from the remote feel of Kauai. On Kauai, there were usually 10 other people on the beaches with us, all spread out. At Waikiki, you had to hopscotch between hundreds of mothers and children and towels and radios underneath a flurry of red and white umbrellas to find a tiny swatch of sand to sit on. The ocean was more like a wave pool and that was really fun. We also saw a one-legged pigeon hopping up and down some steps while we were waiting for a taxi. We laughed at him, and I kind of feel bad about that looking back.

Roy's. Best meal of the week. If you go, order the chocolate souffle’

Eels. On our last day there, we found our best snorkeling on a great reef by the side of the road that some locals had told us about. We saw every fish that was in Finding Nemo, even the puffer one, plus a lot of eels. Jeremy went down and swam with them. I skimmed the surface and kept my distance.

[I am going to stop myself at six memories for now. For more on Kauai, I recommend Kauai Revealed: The Ultimate Kauai Guidebook. But it’s actually more fun if you leave the guidebooks at home and just figure it out as you go.]