Everywhere we go in Kaua’i we get asked where we are visiting from and how long we are staying, however, we are not here to vacation (I do hope this little excursion helps us to relax just a little bit though.) We came to Kaua’i to work. Richard is a general contractor and architectural designer (check out his awesomeness here) and the biggest reason for our move is that he was offered the opportunity to update/renovate/gut/rebuild a property with two units on the southwest side of the island in a little town called Ele’ele. Did I mention that we are also living in this property that needs a total redo? Well we are. It’s definitely an adventure in and of itself.  Thankfully the main living area was spruced up by a good friend of ours before our arrival and it is actually very quaint and quite cute (depending on my mood it can also be a frustrating little box, but most of the time it is cute and provides us all the shelter we need) to boot.

I’m also here to work. I have a master’s degree to finish with just a thesis project due in December remaining (check out my program here, I highly recommend it if you are interested in furthering any communication/design/technology/journalism education you have) and by some miracle I got to keep my fab job in Boulder and I am working remotely as a marketing and design wizard goddess. (Wizard goddess is a wayyyy better title than what I actually have – basically I make/create/design e- marketing things for the greatest school on the planet.)

What can I tell you about Ele’ele? Not a whole lot. It is tiny, especially coming from Boulder a town of 100,000+ and more restaurant and shops than you can believe. According to the last census data there are about 2,000 full time residents in Ele’ele and there is also a grocery store, a McDonalds, a few small restaurants, a bank, post office, Ace Hardware and a church. When you think about it, I guess that is all you really need. Ele’ele is situated between Port Allen and Hanapepe (funky little artist community that reminds me of a microBoulder).

Even though Ele’ele is a short drive to exotic beaches and stunning mega resorts, at the same time it could not be further away. The residents of this community that we have met are the nicest, most caring people we’ve run into in a long time and that’s saying a lot considering  we’re from Colorado which is also known to house a big bunch of nice people. Our neighbors here are hard workers, generally in trade type businesses like Richard and some are life-long residents of Hawai’i. We’ve already traded stories and fruit (everyone in this neighborhood has some kind of amazing fruit tree. We happen to have avocados, two types of mangoes, papayas and mandarin oranges) and it seems like Richard will have a great pool of helping hands for the big job he is about to take on. Our next door neighbor is 92 years young and has been a lifelong resident of Ele’ele. She’s lived in the house next door for more than 60 years!

So that’s a little bit about where on this big blue planet we are currently residing. Come back next week for the fascinating history of this house (or at least what we know about it) and some pictures of what we’re about to take on!

P.S. Did you know? Kauai Coffee Company is located just 2 miles from our house in Ele’ele? It is the largest coffee plantation in the United States and produces more than half of the Hawaiian Coffee you love? Come visit and we’ll take you on a tour of the estate and maybe throw in a delightful coconut iced coffee from their cafe.

-R+T