Cloudy days, rainy nights and roosters crowing in the morning…Our Panama Canal expedition, 26 months ago…

We always feel fortunate to have the opportunity to embrace these special scenes.

The roosters start crowing around 4:00 am and continue throughout the day. Whoever said roosters just crow in the mornings didn’t know what they were talking about. 

It isn’t that they crow more in the mornings. It’s just that they, like us, sleep a few hours during the night and happen to be early risers, and then the fun begins. They no longer awaken either of us. During the day, we hear them and more often, giggle to ourselves at how prevalent it is here in Kauai.

The clouds often gather close to the mountains.

It’s a wonderful place, rain or shine. We’ve met travelers renting the unit next door (the same owner as our unit) coming and going these past few weeks and it rained the entire time they were here. Many have managed to have a great time, hiking, and exploring even in the wet weather.

And yet, here we are with plenty of time to wait it out to again see the sun in this magical place with exquisite greenery, outstanding views, and friendly people, of course with chickens clucking and roosters crowing in the background.

This Cattle Egret stopped by for a peek.  “Got any worms?”  Sorry, none today.

Then, there are the other birds, endless birds, many of whom come to call, sitting atop the railing on our lanai checking us out wondering what morsels we might toss their way. The chickens, roosters, and birds on this island are used to people leaving crumbs for them. On occasion, we leave a few bits of raw walnuts for the same visiting cardinals that visit each day.

Life is simple here in many ways. We’ve already seen so much of the island and we’ll see more when my dear sister Julie comes to visit us soon. The last time I saw her was in January 2013 when we boarded the Celebrity Century in San Diego, California for a 15-day cruise that would eventually traverse the Panama Canal.

A shoreline view from the cliffs above.

Julie and son Richard had come to see us off. What a day it was!  Here’s the link to our post on the day we left and also the link and the photos from the day we traversed the Panama Canal.

The Panama Canal was Tom’s dream. When planning our travels during Tom’s last 10 months of work before retirement, we booked the cruise through the canal right out of the chute. Why not start with his dream when mine was yet to come many months later when we’d arrive in Africa?

Neither of us ever dreamed about traveling the world. Nor did we ever mention it to one another in all of our years together. Never, did either of us say, “Oh, I’d like to travel the world someday.”

The colors of the ocean never cease to amaze us.

On a few rare occasions, I may have mentioned how much I’ve wanted to visit Africa since I was a child, longing to see the wildlife. When Tom was in grade school with history and geography as his favorite topics, he longed to see the Panama Canal. 

In early 2012, during our early planning stages, we decided to take the Panama Canal cruise when Tom was excited about the building of the new larger locks being built in order to accommodate larger ships. He wanted to traverse the old locks before the new locks were completed. Someday, we’ll return for the opportunity to traverse the new locks.

These peculiar above-ground tree roots are found in many areas on the Hawaiian Islands.

It was surprising to both of us how much I also loved seeing the Panama Canal. At that point, 26 months ago, it was the most extraordinary thing I’d ever seen, soon to outdone by other extraordinary places that came along the way. 

But, each event has been unique in its own way and who’s to say that Petra was more amazing than the Panama Canal. Here are the links to see our journey to Petra, Jordan, Part 1, and Part 2, a day emblazoned in our hearts and minds forever.

Cloudy days continue.

Ah, the memories we’ve built along the way and above all, having the ability to look back at our posts to see what we’ve done, where we’ve been and the unexpected adventures along the way. Wow!

If in fact we didn’t have several hundred thousand worldwide readers, only having this site for our own reference and as a legacy for our grandchildren and their children in generations to come, it all would have been worthwhile. 

There’s a forest-like area behind the Foodland grocery store in Princeville. a habitat for hundreds of chickens and roosters. Notice, how the female’s colors blend into the background. I suppose its nature’s way of protecting her young. Of course, whenever we see a female, there’s a rooster lurking nearby.

Adding the absolutely exquisite knowledge that readers from all over the world are traveling along with us, means so much. With our reader’s daily perusal and comments on our posts, we’ll never feel alone. 

Thank you, dear readers, for your loyalty, for your acceptance of our mundane days, for our boring recipes, and discussions of food (for the non-foodie types). You stay with us day after day, as we always stay with you…

                                               Photo from one year ago today, March 4, 2014:

The riad, (a house with a central courtyard open to the sky), located in the Medina in Marrakech, steps out the door to the souks was a beautiful well-built property with a full staff of four (included in the rent) a cook, Madame Zahra and her assistant, Ouimama, Adil and Samir, both housemen attending to our needs.  For details and more photos of the riad, please click here.