Kauai Revisited

In 2001 Neal and I bought a timeshare in Hawaii - two weeks every year at Banyan Harbor on Kauai.  The first few years we took family and friends over with us, but in 2005 we went by ourselves.  It was a wonderful experience - no schedule, no need to coordinate with others, almost like a second honeymoon.  We slept late, ate when and where we wanted and just enjoyed the time together.
We had no idea it would be our last trip together.
Three short months later Neal suffered a ruptured aorta and was paralyzed below T-10.  The logistics of flying to Hawaii, trying to swap our unit with all the stairs for something on one level and then trying to figure out what to do without involving the beach/sand or the pool or the other activities we enjoyed - it was just no longer an option.  Plus Neal's health wasn't good enough for him to tolerate a long plane ride to Hawaii so we didn't go.
Neal passed away a little over 4 months ago and I decided that this year I would go to Kauai alone.  I figured I'll miss him wherever I am, so why not miss him in a location with sunshine, nice weather and great memories?  I flew to Lihue on a direct flight, picked up my rental car and checked in.  All of those were new experiences because going to Lihue used to require a change of planes in Honolulu, Neal always drove on Kauai, and checking in alone was poignant.   But it was okay.
I stood on the lanai as the sun went down and thought of all great times we had there in the past. I watched the sun rise, I went shopping, I saw places we'd seen together, watched the cruise ships arrive at the harbor (across the street), recalled the sweet memories we shared and I was grateful.  Did I cry?  Absolutely.  But was it an awful experience?  Not at all.

Several days later my friend Janet flew in.  Now she had the airline adventure! A voluntary bump led to rebooking through Kona, learning that she hadn't been booked beyond there, finally catching a flight into Honolulu and eventually arriving in Lihue.  Her luggage made the original plane but that airline desk had closed for the evening by the time she got in, so we didn't find her bags until the next day.
Janet and I had a great time - officially taking it easy, doing whatever sounded like a good idea at the time, and thoroughly relaxing.  We discovered coconut syrup for our French toast, we had shave ice, we saw both ends of the island, and just  played educators on vacation.  Note: Grandmothers on vacation go shopping for their grandchildren...it's a rule.
On Sunday we went to church in Lihue where the locals sang to us as they gave us leis and made us feel welcome.  Sunday School class and Relief Society both had lessons that were well-prepared and gave us ideas to discuss. 
Janet brought rash guard shirts and I appreciated the protection from the sun.  That plus high SPF lotion kept us from resembling lobsters.
We just missed the last two first class seats for the return flight but luckily the middle seat was empty so we had plenty of room to stretch our legs.
I'm glad I had a chance to experience the island without Neal, but I'm also glad Janet joined me for part of the trip. 
One sweet experience....Neal's daughter sent me a text that she thought if I saw a turtle it would mean that Neal was nearby. Neal loved the turtles so that made sense.  And I did see turtles!  The round object tucked near the rocks in that little cove is a large turtle that we watched for quite awhile. 

One last image from our trip: This is the Spouting Horn near Poipu: