Kaua'i, the Garden State of Hawaii....

I had a moment yesterday before we left Kaua'i when I felt a visceral disgust for the Yanks' paucity of culture. As I sat there, my middle-aged waitress dishing up platitudes in lumpy thighs and styleless black shorts, and I gazed at a menu bereft of tantalising-sounding dishes, I wanted to levitate immediately from our shore-lined restaurant/bar and find myself, once again, somewhere with discernment and taste.

What have the Americans given us in the past 100 years, really?  A thirst for armament? The Tea Party? Drone strikes?  McDonalds? Hugh Hefner?  The Kardashians????

   You're getting my drift by now, I'm sure. On the second island of Hawaii we visited - Kaua'i, 'the Garden State' - we struggled to find anywhere decent to "hang".  We hadn't booked into a ritzy resort this time; instead we booked into a B&B tastefully "decorated" a la Elvis in his Blue Hawaii period. Oh my lordy, I have taken an iMovie of our suite - such decor you have never seen!?! You needed sunglasses simply to feel reposed.  But ... we did choose it - the best of a bad bunch - and that's probably because Kaua'i is Hawaii's version of Nimbin.
   This northernmost island of Hawaii has a population of around 58,000 and most of these citizens look feral. Sorry folks, but I am gonna 'call a spade a spade' here. Individually, each also seems parched for conversation because anyone with whom you cross paths talks and talks and talks... until you run away.

One of many exquisite views from the top of Waimea Canyon

    Luckily for the four of us, we are of completely like minds, so we reassure one another that we are not going loopy, and that a less-than-salubrious moment is excellent to 'compare and contrast' the Hawaii island experience.
   Yes, we got to see the Waimea Canyon - 'the Grand Canyon of the Southern Hemisphere' -  and we did that by helicopter as well - but for the rest of it, you could honestly give it a miss.
   Aloha Kaua'i, we won't be visiting your shores again any time soon. And, oh yes, a toast of sparkling champagne to my travellin' compatriots who kept us laughing and chugging along nevertheless!