September 27

Day 14

Dog Day Afternoon...

When I planned this trip I had put in three open days with nothing on the schedule. We had hoped that on the middle of the three we would take a dog out for the day from the Humane Society. Turns out that our second open day fell on a Sunday and the Humane Society is closed on Sunday so we had to push our dog day to our last day on the island.

We have our pancake breakfast on the lanai while watching the turtles. I have one package of premixed pancake batter left and we have one morning left so that worked out!

Since the dog pick-up has an 11:00am start time we decide to head to Mahaulepu beach. It's a pretty beach and I want Cori to see it so we drive out to Gillians beach and walk the rest of the way. We know dogs are permitted here but I wanted to take the dog to places were we would encounter more people in the hope that someone will notice the dog and possibly give them a home. At this hour there is not a soul at Gillians and while we see a pickup truck near Mahualepu beach we don't see another human.

It's a nice morning and we decide to drive to the Opaeka'a falls overlook. In our two weeks here each time we have driven through the tunnel of trees there has been some kind of giant white vehicle in front of us but on this morning karma is on our side and it is clear ahead.

 This one is my favorite. It's so funny that it took two weeks for this opportunity to present itself and we even have sunshine. perhaps a good omen for the rest of the day.

When we arrive at the falls overlook the sun is going in and out but we get some good pictures.

Cori finds that there is a Geocache near here so we go about searching. After a brief time going in circles we find it, sign the log and then walk over to the Wailua river overlook and the Heiau.

We spend a little time laughing about our kayak trip up this river a few days ago and then hop in the car to head to the Humane Society.

We both love animals. Cori has an entire barnyard of creatures great and small. I have two cats and have had cats for most of my adult life. I had dogs growing up but since I sometimes travel for work cats fit my lifestyle better. My definition of a dog is that it has to weigh more than a cat, it can't be something I can drop kick 40 yards, and you can't cover them with a shoe box. If the animal fails these tests it's a Dogent. If you have a dogent that's fine but they are not for me.  Dogs to me are Labs, German Shepperd's and the like. We don't yet know what we'll find at the Humane Society but we will learn soon enough.

The Kauai Humane Society is the nicest facility of it's kind I have ever seen. It's bright, clean, modern. We are directed to the dog pens and we walk down the isle as the dogs all look at us with that patented "Pick me" stare.  It's heartbreaking seeing all these dogs waiting for someone to love. We finally pick two potential candidates and head back to the reception area.

The person tells us we have chosen dogs that are polar opposites in personality and that the older more docile dog was adopted and then returned for reasons unknown.  In the hope that this older dog will be adopted once again we decide to take the higher energy dog "Agent"

.Agent is a handsome boy. He is lean and super strong. He pulls like a locomotive but he seems very sweet. We load him in the car and head for Kalapaki beach. Agent is pretty excited about going out with us.Our plan is to have lunch in the park across from the beach, take him for a walk then to head up for a walk on the Kapaa beach path in order to get him the most people exposure and hope somebody wants to own this cute guy.
I take him for a little run before we walk along the Kalapaki beach path. He was very good on the first walk. We took a water break and he did show some fear of the golf carts that the Marriott employees were driving in but he recovers quickly.
Cori remembers that there was a great looking burger option on the Dukes menu so she goes off to order us some food while I find a shady picnic table with Agent.
While we await Cori and our lunch a shirtless tattooed guy walks up and asks me if Agent is my dog. I explain that he is a Humane Society Dog and I am taking him for the day to try and help get him a home. He tells me that the Humane Society is stealing dogs. Says the Hawaiians don't treat dogs like pets but they are hunting dogs and as such not house pets. They live in the woods, know where their owners start their hunts so they show up, do the hunting job and get a reward but they live in the woods. He says Agent is/was someones hunting dog. I explain that I am just trying to do a good thing. He continues to explain further about how his island is being contaminated by all these outsiders that "know" better and now that he is back after 28 years in prison he is upset with the condition of Kauai. He tells me he doesn't mind me visiting he just wants me to go home!
I find myself hoping that this person, who I now know is most likely a violent criminal, excuses himself before Cori comes back with our lunch. During his manifesto he is also paying attention to Agent so there is something nice happening as well.
He doesn't leave before Cori gets back with our lunch but he does finally move along shortly after she gets back. We let out a collective sigh of relief and dig into our Mango BBQ Bacon Burgers.
I have no idea if what he said was valid but his description of the Hawaiian attitude towards animals does match up with information we got from our hiking guide so maybe he did have a point. Either way I am hoping Agent finds a home because he is a good dog.
We move to the Kapaa walking path and Agent is pulling pretty hard but he also has times where he just decides to flop down and do frog-dog

We stop every so often to get him a drink and give him some snacks. He's being a very good boy and doesn't seem concerned with other dogs, or chickens!

I had promised Cori that I would show her Rainbow Eucalyptus trees and I recall there were quite a few at the Keahua Arboretum so after we finish our walk in Kapaa we move to the Arboretum. The stream across the road is flowing a little too fast for me to feel comfortable driving the rental car over it so we get our feet wet walking across. Agent doesn't mind at all.
There are rainbow eucalyptus trees here and we would have gotten much better photos with sunlight but there are a lot of clouds today. Cori does manage to get a few pictures when the sun peaks through the clouds.

Agent meets some new people while we wait for Cori to admire the trees and snap pictures. We are walking around without a care in the world when I suddenly notice the time is 4:45pm. We need to get Agent home by 5:30pm!

We dash across the stream. Towel off his paws and are on the road. Now Agent seems to want to ride in the front and Cori has to play goal keeper to ensure Agent remains just a passenger. Soon they come to an understanding and we get back to the Humane Society at 5:28pm!

It is nice to see that Agent is happy to be "home" so that indicates he is being well taken care of.

We bring him inside and say our goodbyes. One of the volunteers calls Agent by name and I watch as he takes him around the corner. The last glimpse I have of Agent he is smiling ands his tail is wagging. He is a great dog, so full of energy and good natured I hope he finds a home. I have not been able to check on him since our trip as I couldn't bear to hear any bad news.

I'm happy we chose to spend our last day with Agent.

We visit with the turtles when we get home.

We head back to the Beachouse lawn for sunset.

Hard to imagine that this is our last sunset in Hawaii on this trip. It's sad but we decide that we are putting off any packing or talk of leaving tomorrow until it's actually tomorrow.

We decide to try Tortilla Republic for dinner. The Kukui'ula shopping plaza looks great in the evenings.Tonight there are several musicians playing in front of different shops and restaurants. Each seems to have a slightly different musical style.

We get a table and are looking over the menu when Cori overhears the server informing another table that they do not have any guacamole. Great Horny Toads! No Guacamole. This is a deal breaker for us and we decide that if true we will abandon this dinner plan. The legends turned out to be true. A tex-mex style restaurant that has run out of guacamole. The Menehune can build a fish pond in one night but there are no avocados to be found. Kind of like a pizza place running out of cheese but what can you do.

What did we do?

We walked about 15 paces and got a table at Merriman's. They had a nice Jimmy Buffet type guitar player outside and we shared a Pork pizza, some truffle fries, and a beet salad. I did give the tinniest bit of pork to a kitty that was passing by but other than that it was all for us. The food, entertainment, and company were all good and on the walk home we ducked into the photo galleries again. We talked to a couple from Maine while we were watching the sunset and they told us that one photographer told them it took him almost 9 months to get a shot of the sunset inside a wave curl. Can you imagine the patience and dedication this takes? Speaking of patience where do they get the gasoline pumps on Kauai? These have got to be the slowest pumps on the planet.
Anyhow we walk as slowly as possible back to the house as we know this will be the last time we do this.
We relax in the hot tub, talk about our adventure with Agent and admire the night sky one last time before turning in.