Five down, Three to go

Thats right, this island hopper got to count one more island off on my island hopping adventures. But first,  my birthday. So I started off my week with Earth Day events last weekend and unfortunately had my Monday birthday over shadowed by Mother Earth. I guess if I was going to be over shadowed by a holiday, Earth Day was acceptable. So because I worked last weekend and my birthday was on a Monday, I didn't really have time to do anything to celebrate. Plus one of my bosses is out of town, so taking a day off wasn't really an option. I think the only true birthday celebration that occurred on my actual bday, was getting 25% off on lululemon pants I've been wanting at my yoga studio. But such is life as a full time worker.

But back to Kauai. Wednesday morning involved a 4am wake up time, which I despise. And due to unknown circumstances, I managed to not fall asleep till midnight. As we flew in, the first thing I noticed was the way the mountains just jut straight up on the coastline. No gentle slopes or flat beaches for tourist to overrun. The topography was so vastly different from Oahu that I could finally understand how Kauai is just a bit calmer than Oahu. Next thing I noticed, the damn chickens. THEY ARE EVERYWHERE! Seriously, no one could go hungry on Kauai because if they needed protein, all they had to do was go outside and catch a chicken.

First up on the site visit schedule was the National Tropical Botanical Garden. It was an incredible property, filling up an entire valley and starting with a very nice LEED gold building. They went through their plans of how they would like to develop the site to be a sort of plant tourist attraction. They hope to have sections for their canoe trees, agroforestry, traditional plants, medicinal plants, pretty much a great botanical teaching garden. Our role in all this was to see if there was anyway their goals would align with one of our programs so that we could help them plants some trees. They could possibly qualify for the programs but after discussing the different things we could help with, it didn't necessarily seem like they matched what we could provide. Either way, I am excited to go back in the future and see how they achieved all that they planned.

The next two sites were also not the best fits, since one floods every year and would inevitably wash out the fence we are required to put in and the other being a wetland, which we can work on the outskirts but not actually in the wetland. I think a lot of discussion was about how most of the sites on Kauai aren't going to fit the programs as well as some of the other islands. But that is one of the things that makes working in Hawaii unique. That despite being in one state, the circumstances can be very broad. And finding different ways to help people means that we will always have to think outside of the box.

Once I got back, I attempted to celebrate my birthday in other activities. Art after Dark, an event put on at the Academy of the Arts was up first. I was super bummed that I didn't bother to look up the theme before going because it was Heroes and Villains and I totally would have loved to bust out my Violet from the Incredibles costume. I would have definitely won the costume contest. But either way, My friend Kristen and I had a great time making a superhero flip book and pictures while wandering around the museum. Its such a great monthly event bringing out all different types of people in Honolulu. And whats best, its free with my Academy of Art membership.

My last "birthday celebration" was really just Cinco de Mayo which I went on a great hike to Mariners Ridge in Hawaii Kai which I will definitely be going back to do some trail running, and then to Kailua to hang out with my friend Shealin and her Great Dane, Grateful. It was one of those overall nice day where I truly took advantage of living in Hawaii.