Princeville, Kauai: The six of us took a taxi to the airport and flew to Kauai - an island the kids visit often. Three days of Waikiki madness was enough. So many people, it was difficult to even walk down the sidewalk and a street performer (I should call him a musician, but all he did was beat the same rhythm over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over on a drum… until I thought my head would explode) banged away all day and half of the night. We were on the 10th floor of the Moana Surfrider, but sitting on our beautiful balcony was impossible due to the racket.
The Surfrider itself is an excellent property. It opened in 1901 and rooms were $1.50 per night. Can you imagine? There was no commercial air service to the islands until 1959! Obviously everything around Waikiki has been built-up like mad in the past 125 years, but with all the crowds it is difficult to get a restaurant reservation, and there is not enough infrastructure of all the visitors. And more hotels are being built!
All the noise and traffic was worth being able to see our friends and to finally visit the Arizona Memorial, but I can’t imagine ever staying on Waikiki again. It’s like Las Vegas with a beach. We never did get a reservation at Duke’s Waikiki, or even find a spot at the open-seating bar. I missed my chance, and it’s okay with me. Honestly, why did Jimmy find Duke’s so appealing? Maybe Jimmy Buffett didn’t need to stand in line for two hours?
After arriving on Kauai, I immediately went to fetch the rental car while everyone waited for their luggage. The last one on the rental car shuttle bus, I was the first one off, so the first one in line to get a car, and I was back to get the family within a few minutes. We have a brand-new Toyota mini-van, large enough to seat us all very comfortably and with plenty of room for six suitcases. 45 minutes later, we pulled into the driveway of our rental house. Dang, if it isn’t cute. Lisa arranged for the rental and she has a knack of finding the best places. Three bedrooms and two baths upstairs; kitchen, dining, living and a half-bath down. Washer-dryer. Bikes in the garage. Very well equipped kitchen. Some photos:
The only way I can describe Princeville is to compare it to Sunriver Resort in Bend, Oregon. Hotels, homes, condos, restaurants, shops, bars, grocery stores, bike paths, golf, and much more I have not yet seen.
So… sometimes I have a guest columnist, though it has previously only been DT (or occasionally our old hound). The grandkids had a little fun with AI yesterday asking about this website and apparently Lucile did not like the results, so she wanted to ask My Readers to help her out. Apparently she thinks My Readers are elderly and may need help leaving a comment… so here is her request.
Lucy’s Says
Hello. Today was a wonderful day in Hawaii. We had so much fun. But something interesting happened. It started when me and my brother asked Chat GPT about RV Goddess. If you don’t know about Chat GPT, it’s an app on the phone where you get to ask AI questions. The first question we asked was do you know what RV Goddess is. It replied yes and told us all about it. The next thing we asked Chat GPT was can you rank all the characters in RV Goddess. The rankings is what shocked me. Leo was first, then my Bubbe, then my dad Lenny, then me. My Bubbe said Chat GPT likes Leo more because he has been on the blog 3 years longer than me. I agreed till I saw that next to my name it said “Lucy is a funny and cheerful character but is overshadowed by Leo”. So this comes to the reason why I am writing this. I think my Bubbe should write more about me in this blog, so I am as big of a character as Leo. If you agree please comment “Lucy”. I do know that the target audience is older people, so to comment scroll down to the bottom the put in your first name (please no last names) then type your message then hit enter.
Thank you,
Lucy
We stocked-up at the local grocer for breakfast things, but went to dinner in Princeville to B’s - an Italian place. Great food. Fun times. Lisa has a full day planned for us tomorrow.
Until my next update, I remain, your indulgent correspondent.