I’ve been back from Kauai for almost two weeks now and I have a few thoughts to share. Also, I heard that if I talk about the trip on my blog, call it research for future postings, I can write off the trip. I haven’t checked with my accountant but I was constantly making notes and thinking about content for future writings. I’ll face the tax issue next year at tax time.

I spent seven days on the island of Kauai, arriving mid afternoon on Saturday and leaving mid morning the following Saturday. Friends have shared their opinions about the Hawaiian islands and which is the “best”. I have learned that such a determination is purely subjective. I have only visited Oahu and Kauai so I’m no expert. One friend stated that she likes Maui more than Kauai. When I asked why she stated that Maui has more night life, Kauai was to quiet. I’ve heard others express the same sentiment. Those who truly know, in my opinion, have told me you visit the different islands for different things. I like the relative quiet of Kauai.

The literature tells me that the majority of Kauai is nature preserve and uninhabited with large areas mostly unaccessible. It also says that Kauai is home to some of the wettest places on the planet receiving rainfall, at least three hundred days a year in some spots. It is green and beautiful with white sand beaches and volcanic mountains criss-crossing the island.

I'm told that tourism is the primary industry on Kauai, and it has been embraced by many. I like to participate in some of the more interesting activities. This year I was able to ride an ATV through the old sugar cane fields and ride ziplines above the valleys of a working cattle ranch. The ATV ride is on dirt trails and gave me the opportunity to “Do Something Dirty”, as the company’s website and literature encourages. As we rode around the dirt trails we would find dips and potholes in the trail filled with rainwater. Being a big kid I took the opportunity to speed through these “puddles” sending mud and water high into the air and getting quite a bit of it on myself. It was fun.

The ziplines are a very dry sport, unless you’re one of the unlucky participants who wets themselves due to the anxiety of riding a wire strung between two hilltops. I had the distinction of being both the oldest, and biggest, member of our group. The age thing wasn’t an issue but size, they made everybody stand on a scale before we went out to the ranch. The company’s website had warned me of this and I was below the weigh limit when I arrived on Kauai, but that was three days before I went on the zipline, I was concerned, who hasn’t gained weight on vacation. I made the weight limit. It was an awesome experience to be zipping along above the treetops.

I will return to Kauai in the future and I will ride ATVs and ziplines again.

When I think about it I think everybody who was in the group would ride ATVs again. I can’t say the same thing about the ziplines. One woman in the group was there with her college student daughter. According to this woman, I’ll call her “Ann”, she didn’t realize this was a zipline tour. When I heard that I asked her if her daughter had booked the tour without telling her what it was. Ann’s response was no, she had booked the tour herself but had not understood it was ziplines, she thought she had signed up for one of the hiking tours run by the same company.

Our zipline tour consisted of nine ziplines and lunch at a small swimming hole with a water fall. From the first zipline to the last our entire group knew how many ziplines were left in the tour. As soon as we finished one zipline Ann would announce, that was number one, eight more to go, and so on for each zipline through the end at number nine. I never heard Ann say she wasn’t going to, or couldn’t ride the zipline, I got the impression she was going to do it because she had signed up for it. But, it was clear that she was not enjoying the tour as much as the rest of us.