Alaska Winter Escape to Kaua'i

Thank goodness this is not how our vacation on Kauai started but we were there for this bit of drama. 

I hadn't even had a cup of coffee yet when our cell phones started squawking this message. My husband was walking on the beach and I was in our rental house wondering just what I should do. I read the message several times. 

"This is not a drill. This is not a drill. This is not a drill."

All four sides of the exterior walls of our rental house were huge glass picture windows. Not even close to being a place to seek shelter. I thought it was odd that the sirens installed all over the island for tsunamis were not going off...and it was so quiet and peaceful at our rental house I just couldn't believe a nuclear weapon was inbound. So the next thing I did was google it! And I found a couple of twitter messages from folks who had called the civil defense authorities who said it was a false alarm. That satisfied me. I went back to making my coffee and waited for my husband to return. 

It was a different scene at ground zero on Oahu. How terribly frightening for so many people. It was ridiculous how long it took for an all-clear message to be released. I even checked all the local television stations and they were scrolling the missile alert  message for at least 15 minutes.

National emergency over...time to get back to living the good life!

We rented a home through VRBO on the north shore of Kauai, in an almost non existent town called Haena. Not beach front but a very short walk to the sandy shore. 

We had a mountain view. Perfect for a couple that is used to living on a mountainside.

The back edge of the property backs up to an agricultural tract. 

We had a few cows to watch for just a few minutes now and then as they rambled past our lanai.

When we weren't at the beach, I spent all of my daylight hours on our completely secluded lanai, stitching and listening to audible books. 

It took me about 10 days to get a little tired of that routine and anxious to get back home.

We were on Kauai for 14 days and the last three were pretty wet. 

I got a lot of projects done and was a bit worried I might run out of projects to keep me busy. 

Here is what I got done.

A giraffe ornament.

An elephant ornament.

A lion ornament. 

So nice to have some pretty green leaves for my photos.

I really made great progress on my set of 2017 Pirate Santas.

Barbados Santa

Trinidad Santa

And I also finished four redwork mini Christmas squares.

I also took a laptop computer so I could start learning the new EQ 8 program but I should have just left that at home. I read my emails in the morning and that was about all I did with that silly computer. As it should be when on a vacation.

Our first night home, sleeping in our own beds, we were welcomed back to Alaska with the biggest earthquake in the state since we moved here. At our home, the quake was just a constant, gentle shaking that is only memorable because it lasted for so long. 

The map below indicates the "shake zone." 

We were on the outer ring. 

On the edge of another disaster.