As luck would have it, we discovered Allerton Garden on the last day of our tour of Kauai. It id a hidden gem that National Geographic Traveler considers one of the 50 Places of a Lifetime in America. Several movies have been filmed there, including Jurassic Park, South Pacific and Pirates of the Caribbean. The painter Georgia O’Keefe visited the garden in 1939 and Jackie Kennedy Onassis in 1966.
The idea of creating the garden originated with Robert Allerton, the heir to an industrial fortune, an architect, and a garden designer. He was considered the richest bachelor in Chicago when he acquired 80 acres of land from the Queen Emma plantation. Along with his adopted son he began building the garden in 1938. Father and son continued their labor of love for decades until both passed away.
We were part of a small guided tour. The guide was a young woman with a graduate degree in museum science from Washington, DC, who had recently moved to Hawaii to be near her parents.
The garden’s highlights included several rooms which were large areas bounded and covered with a cluster of trees. There was a living room, a dining room, a mermaid room, the goddess Diana’s room, and a bamboo room. There was also an area with Moreton Bay Fig trees which were featured in Jurassic Park. The dinosaur eggs were discovered among the roots of these gargantuan trees.
In the mermaid room there was a unique fountain which is supposed to change the beat of the bystander’s heart. The Bamboo Room featured music and a custom lighting display. A single pump situated at a higher elevation supplied the entire garden with water. There was an area where three pools were located next to each other with one being above the other. They were designed for reflection and contemplation about one’s self, about civilisation and about wild life.
Some of the plantations in the garden were imported from Polynesia while some were local. Roosters roamed the landscape at will.
The garden’s highlights included several rooms which were large areas bounded and covered with a cluster of trees. There was a living room, a dining room, a mermaid room, the goddess Diana’s room, and a bamboo room. There was also an area with Moreton Bay Fig trees which were featured in Jurassic Park
Eclectic statuary was scattered artfully throughout the garden, some Greek, some Roman, some neoclassical and some Asian. A miniature Japanese temple with a Chinese overlay sat in one part of the garden, the statue of the goddess Diana in another. Statues of deer and other animals looked at you as you entered the living room. The garden had multiple levels and the Lawai stream quietly ran through it.
This trip was intended to be a celebration of Valentine’s Day. It was our fourth trip to the garden isle. We had gone for six days intending to unwind on the lounge chairs on the beach, reading books, feeling the sea breeze and the sunlight, and walking barefooted on the sand. Unfortunately, it became chilly and started to rain the second day we were there. The weather forecast was gloomy for the rest of the week. The weather system had originated in Japan and was sweeping through the Pacific.
The beach, empty most of the time, looked surreal. One option was to rent a car and tour the island. The other option was stay indoors, watch movies in the room and eat in the hotel’s restaurants and gripe constantly. We went with the first option.
Kauai is the smallest and the most northern of the four major islands in the state of Hawaii. The south side is the warmer side and we had come here to celebrate Valentine’s Day. So on the evening of the February 14, we found a resort which was featuring a special event. It featured different three different types of food. Celebratory checks such as Sam Choy had personally prepared the dishes and were standing next to each stand. We savored the dishes and enjoyed the music being performed by three different bands and later talked to the chefs and the performers. The experience caused us to forget the bad weather that was in the forecast.
There was no way to escape the chill once we emerged from the ballroom. So we were off to Macys bright and early the next day to purchase some warm clothing. Now, appropriately attired, we headed off to the Waimea canyon lookout. It offered some amazing views.
Next on the list was the Lighthouse in the north of the island, near the Princeville resort where we had stayed the last two times. Just north of it was the picturesque Hanalei. But it had been hit hard by a storm last year in April. In 24 hours they had received 27 inches of rain. The road had been washed away. So we knew we would not be able to go all the way to Hanalei. The lighthouse would be the northern portion of the island that we would visit on the tour.
It was an hour away. The mileage is not that long but traffic in Hawaii moves slowly, like everything else. At some point it forces you to relax.
We stopped for pizza on the way in a traditional brick oven. The interior was very 1950s and you could spot automotive license plates all around the roof. We were told it was a tire repair shop once upon a time. The waitress was very talkative and I asked her if the lights stayed on during storms such as this one. She said yes, don’t worry, but electricity is very expensive. Of course it was rolled into the pizza prices. I asked her how they dealt with it. She said we put solar panels on our roof last year. Our bill dropped from $200 a month to $16.
The lighthouse was incredible as were the frigate birds around it. But we were peppered with intermittent rain. Then we went to see the waterfalls about ten miles away. They were pristine. A man was selling cracking coconuts from the back of a pick-up truck and selling fresh juice.
The island was resplendent with its flora and fauna. The Lotus flowers were without par. Modern solar panels on roofs existed side-by-side with old beat up cars. That was Kauai for you.
Of course, at some point I knew a certain question would come my way and it did. At a restaurant, the waiter said, “You probably know from my accent and my features that I am from the Philippines. If you don’t mind my asking, where are you from?”
I said I live in San Francisco but I am originally from Pakistan. “Oh, I thought you were from the Philippines.”
The next day we took the flight home, loaded with beautiful memories.
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