After our hike, we drove down from the mountains to Hanapepe. On Friday nights there, the shops and studios and galleries stay open late.
The first order of business was finding something to eat, and we chose the first place we found: Bobbie’s BBQ. As it happened, we chose quite well.
There were people sitting at tables set up in the street. There was a line at the counter. The Friday dinner special was BBQ chicken or ribs. Trudy got the chicken. I got the ribs. And we sat at the last free table and devoured our food, at which point we felt moderately human again.
This part of Hanapepe almost felt like a set from a classic western movie. Well … except for the rain forest climbing up the slopes of the mountains just outside town … and except for the drizzle that was falling … and except for the Hawaiian BBQ we’d just eaten … and except for the strings of lights illuminating the sidewalks … and except for the fact that almost every business along the street was an art gallery or studio … and except for the musicians playing in the streets and in the stores. Except for all that, it kinda felt like a little town out of a classic western movie.
There were boardwalks that ran along the street. There were benches and places to sit along the sidewalk. There were photographers selling their pictures under tarps to protect them from the rain. There was someone selling spices. There was a cheerful woman selling pies who gladly sold Trudy a slice of lemon creme. And there was the western-most bookstore in the United States.
We walked up and down the street, going into almost every place. We were exhausted from our hike, and Trudy was falling asleep. Our muscles got stiff as soon whenever we stopped moving. So there was no question that Hanapepe was our last stop of the day. When we satisfied ourselves that we were done, we slowly walked back to the car.
Back in Kapa‘a, we limped from the car to our room, climbing the stairs one agonizing step at a time, amazed at how much our legs hurt from our hike earlier in the day.
We both took hot showers and collapsed into bed.