Rainbows and Waterfalls

There is no washer or dryer at our place, so I load everything up in the car, remembering that it has been DECADES since I had to do laundry away from home.  (This is a blessing I shouldn't forget to thank God for - or my husband!)  The laundromat is open-air like a lot of things in Kauai including post offices and airport check-ins and hotel lobbies.  Passing morning showers aren't unusual, and as I come away from the washing machines to wait, I see the biggest, most beautiful rainbow just hangin' over the parking lot. 

Aren't iPhones fun?
Kauai is known as the Garden Island because everything is always in bloom.  They have Rainbow Shower trees with blooms hanging in bunches like wisteria, every tree a different color of flower, and grow poinsettias in their flower beds six feet tall along with every blooming bush you can imagine - and some you can't.  The Bird of Paradise that we pay so much for in Texas to include in a florist's arrangement grow like iris in yards along with papaya trees and avacado trees and, well, I could be here all day listing them!  (They can't seem to grow tomatoes successfully because of the abudance of fruit flies, so we at least have that one up on Kauaiians!)  Lots of yards have coconut trees and banana trees.  There is a truly amazing type of eucalyptus tree that grows in the rainy mountainside areas called a rainbow eucalyptus tree; the BARK is smooth and rainbow colored.  It is really stunning!  (Pictures don't do them justice.)

We decide to tour some of the waterfalls, too.  If you remember the show "Fantasy Island," you've seen one of the biggest and easiest waterfalls to get to. 

You know winter has come to the islands when it rains a whole lot of the time - temperature doesn't change, but the frequency of rain does.  Obviously waterfalls are prettiest then.  Some of them are not accessible in any way.  Climbing the mountains of the islands is a very dangerous prospect because the cliffs are so crumbly.  Some waterfalls you can get to by helicopter - but, "I don't fly and I don't float..."  Telephoto lenses are good as are video cams with good zoom capability. 

One waterfall is up this road - and up - and up.  Oops, it's getting really narrow, and there's flood debris in the road - but no place to turn around so we keep going, and going.  FINALLY, it dead-ends at this overlook that is "crowded" with a dozen or so people.  Now that's a neat waterfall, closer to the overlook than the Fantasy Island one and, because we are so far up the mountain, it's got more volume.

As with the trees, I could go on and on about rainbows and waterfalls, but you get the idea.  The island is a magical place.  Remember that song, "Puff, the Magic Dragon?"  I'll tell you about it later.