Hi from Kauai...

Above - well he needs no introduction.  (Below left) Spider in the sky on the Waimea Canyon Trail and (right) surfer dogs at Hanalei Bay.

Above -Waimea Canyon, the "Grand Canyon of the Pacific", as Mark Twain called it.

Learning how to play tennis here in the Hawaiian Islands. Well one one in particular: Kauai.

Our instructor is an amazing lady named Hattie who is well in to her seventies and still plays every day...and some days she's out there for hours teaching and playing against much younger people. She runs around the court like a shore bird (that plays tennis), making all these amazingly deft volleys and serves. She won an USTA Championship playing on gras with her daughter some time ago and there is a profile on her family in the April edition of US Tennis magazine, her husband tells us. Hattie grew up on Maui; when she was young there were only two cars on the island.

There are lots of great hiking trails through the mountains here. Around Waimea on the west coast and along the Na Pali Coast on the northwest are just amazing.

Some of the trails are very rocky and steep. Definitely not beginner trails. Coming down the tourist trail from a Waimea Canyon lookout last week I stubbed my left toe. I am now going to lose the nail on that toe. It hurt for about a day but now I barely notice it. Word of advice: don't hike in your beach sandals. Duh. Check out photo of toenail trouble to immediate right

Monica and I went to a fundraiser concert for Haiti the other night at an old plantation that has been turned into a sort of community centre and tourist atttraction. There is a huge covered stage. The concert ambiance reminded me of Dawson City

Music Festival...except with better weather - and more reggae.

There are lots of music shops here and they all have ukeleles. Even Elvis playwed a ukelele when he came here to shoot the end of Blue Hawaii. The place where he stayed is called the Coconut Palms. It's this cool old place that is now closed down and just  kind of rotting along the oceanfront strip near Kapaa. We stopped by there. It's kind of sad to see. But if you had a million $ U.S. you could buy it and turn it into boutique hotel with an Elvis Blue Hawaii Suite and a really cool live rock and reggae bar. That would rock.

Final note: the ocean water is sooo WARM here. If you want to surf or swim, this is the place to do it.