The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads Wow.

Crunchy numbers

A Boeing 747-400 passenger jet can hold 416 passengers. This blog was viewed about 13,000 times in 2010. That’s about 31 full 747s.

In 2010, there were 32 new posts, growing the total archive of this blog to 80 posts. There were 294 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 241mb. That’s about 6 pictures per week.

The busiest day of the year was July 9th with 267 views. The most popular post that day was Birthday Indulgence.

Where did they come from?

The top referring sites in 2010 were facebook.com, honolulu.craigslist.org, en.wordpress.com, mail.yahoo.com, and wedding.ebonito.com.

Some visitors came searching, mostly for pretty feet, beautiful scenery, pedicure, avocado, and red dirt.

Attractions in 2010

These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.

Birthday Indulgence November 2009
1 comment

Just Another Day In Paradise November 2009

Fruit for Free in Kauai December 2009
3 comments

The good old fashioned swimming hole, in Kauai March 2010

Poipu Bay Golf Course, Where Champions Play November 2009

views at kukuiolono

If you are planning and extended stay in Kauai.  Then membership has it’s privileges at Kukuiolono Golf Course.  This course is always a bargain but if your staying here long enough to play golf more than 18 times.  Membership at $160.00 entitles you to unlimited golf for a year.  January 1st thru December 31st.

taking it all in after the sixth hole

We arrived in October, bought a membership, and we are already enjoying free golf.  Life is good.  Now Kukuiolono is a bargain even if you pay full price at $9.00 per day for unlimited walking golf but the membership makes it the ultimate bargain.  Practice makes perfect and we are honing our golf skills on a daily basis.  Chris is consistently playing in the 80′s and I am pleased to bogeying most rounds.

approach to the 8th hole par 3

To use a cart at Kukuiolono the  charge is $9.00 f0r 9 holes.  Right now the fairways are lush and greens flush and fast.  Frequent rains have made natural improvements here.

sparkling waters at kukuiolono

If you didn’t bring clubs, the course has mixed matched inexpensive rental clubs or you can buy inexpensive clubs of similar quality at garage sales, on Craigslist or at the local thrift store.  The course only requires that you have a putter and a golf bag.  Chris and I carried our clubs on the plane, then purchased golf bags and pull carts at the thrift stores at a very modest cost.  We love to play and when we do it for free, we play every day.

Taking on the scene on foot is always a frugal way travel and the best way to immerse yourself  into the location for the ultimate vacation experience.

central focus

Walk on Wawae Road in Kalaheo for a wild wonderland, free adventure.

double pink hibiscus

The incline is gradual, the views extreme.

edges

A surprise awaits at every bend.

empty pods

Even on hot and sunny days Wawae Road  provides shade and gentle trade winds for a comfortable and pleasurable  walk.

glare

Wawae is a treasure trove for the senses, a delight for the artist and photographer.

nature's lace

It is off the beaten path.

orange wawae lily

How lucky I am to live right on this road, the best kept secret in all of Kalaheo.

red ginger cone

This road is aptly named as “wawae” in Hawaiian translates to “walk”.

the serenity of wawae

wild guava

bark covered roots cling to red dirt cliffs along the road

sunlit wild yellow hibiscus

texture variety along wawae

light glows from within the yucca

true flower amid the magenta foliage of bougainvillea

twist and twine, bean and wire

wall at wawae

unusual flower from Wawae Road

October in Kauai

I arrived on the beautiful Garden Island on Wednesday, October 6th.  While still shaking off the jet lag I was off to the garage sales by Saturday.  A very small carry-on is a gift in 3 ways, light to carry, arrives with you to your destination and makes it a necessity to buy new clothes.  As a frugalista I find garage sale shopping for specific items like a sporting challenge.  To win in this event, the first step is the plan of action.  I scour Craigslist and The Garden Island News classified online the day before the event.  I make a list breaking down the sales by town.  Starting with Kekaha and moving onto Lihue.

The ocean view from our new digs in Kalaheo

Live in Kalaheo so I usually only shop the west, south and east.  The north shore excursions are a special occasion that I usually plan with another activity.   I usually end my “garage sailing ” excursion in Lihue, as a conservation measure.  I get my gas at Costco, do my Wal-Mart stop, and pick up some fresh produce at the Kauai Community College Farmers Market all in the same trip.

guava

I list the number and street address under each town category along with the time that the sale opens.  The earliest garage sales usually open here at 7am.  I scour the listing of items in the ads to see which early sales may have the items I need and plan to attack them first.  I also note next to the address if there are specific directions to the location in the ad. Then I peruse the list to see that I know the location of all the sales. If not, I google the addresses and make notes regarding their location.

petal soft

My daughter tells me I can just put them all into the GPS and  the GPS would map us the best route.  I believe for me that would be time prohibitive, as it take me forever to type things into it.  I like to just cut and paste.   Hey, is there an app for that?

contrasts for the senses

This was my first outing of the season so this time I opted not to head too far west, as there were only 2 sales in Kekaha and none in Waimea.   The initial approach was made in Hanapepe.

hot hot hot only one per pot

Hanapepe is a quaint artsy working class town that’ s just a little rough around the edges.  I find it a photographic treasure trove, but poor pickings for garage sales today.

just a taste of Hanapepe

The next stop was Eleele, residential working class community that loves their dogs.  Found the pot of gold in Eleele.

my new friend Kala

Two wonderful garage sales with like new clothing in just the right sizes for me and lots of wonderful maternity wear for my daughter.  I was able to purchase 4 complete island style professional outfits, comfy soft jammie pants, 2 tank tops for golf, a stylish and  cotton comfortable orange and white dress, 3 ball caps, 1 aloha shirt for Chris, a 50 ct of golf tees,  a few maternity frocks for my daughter, Erin, all for under $30.00.

woman's best friend

Next stop home to Kalaheo.   Two sales here and a quick check in home, then on the road again.  Kalaheo is rural to residential, upscale to working class, with houses carved into and perched on the hills to take advantage  of extraordinary views.  Breezy, green and beautiful Kalaheo is my favorite place to stay on all of the island.

slender trees arc in the wind near my Kalaheo home

Today we’ll skip Koloa, Poipu and Lawai, but make a quick stop at a moving sale in Omao.  I made a small purchase at a big sale 3 bars of dove soap, 7 candles, and a tiki salt shaker for $3.50.  I think there is mainly just one road in Omao with just a few offshoots.  This is hilly ranch land with mountain, valley and pacific ocean views.  The livestock seems to like it.

eggplant gleam in the sun

Last stop today for the sales is Puhi, working class and a comfortable commute to the big city of Lihue.  Puhi is also home to Kauai’s only college.  We found many nice baby items here.  Many people in this community are having keiki (pronounced “kay-key”) is the Hawaiian word for “baby” or “child”, literally meaning “the little one”.

complements

Here in Kauai, so many are growing keiki.

tropical mixer

Everyone loves keiki, their mothers and the mothers to be.  There seems to be no better place to grow and give birth to them.  I am so glad my own daughter gets to experience her pregnancy here in this wonderful island place bathed in love and the spirit of aloha.

blue skies in paradise

views from Seattle/Tacoma Airport

It was October 6th we arrived.   Aloha Kauai.  Mahalo Continental Airlines/United and Alaska Air for my safe arrival but not for the very tight, uncomfortable seating and the luggage loss.  The flights were basically  uneventful except that the seats were so tight and that made each leg of the trip seem so much longer.  We were lucky and the Newark to Seattle leg of the trip was an hour shorter than advertised.  We enjoyed our 2 hour layover in the Seattle airport.  The airport had the fastest free WiFi that I ever experienced, the best views and vistas I’ve ever seen in an airport and the  long walk from arrival terminal to departure terminal was so welcome to stretch my economy seat cramped legs.

Of course I flew economy.  I spent weeks hunting and searching for the best deal.  I’d like to thank Airfare Watchdog and Yahoo! Travel Best Fare Tracker, both made the watching airfare prices easy.  This time we booked one-way flights to make our return time more flexible.  Last year we took the red-eye out of Kauai and absolutely hated it.  That flight was with US Airways.  The price was good but I had a seat that butted up against the bathroom wall that didn’t recline at all, 6 complete hours of torture.  From Kauai to Phoenix, then off to Newark.  I vow never again.  On the way back to New York we are planning to book a flight from Kauai to some city to be determined, that we’ll explore for a few days and then take our final flight home feeling refreshed.

The balmy breezes of Kauai welcomed us as we entered the open air baggage claim area.  The carousel entertained the flight weary passengers with anticipation.  As the mouth of the monster ejected the last bag.  We found that our only bag checked, our golf clubs, did not arrive.  I try to travel with carry-on only and that being only one small bag, but sporting equipment always a dilemma .  Prepaid and pre-checked it cost us $23.00 to be a little worried we’d never see our clubs again.  Luckily they were delivered to us 2 days after our arrival.

Living in Kauai is living in paradise.  We have arrived.

Travelling light has its advantages.  A whole new Hawaiian wardrobe, but another story.