We arrived to the Lihu'e Airport around 6pm, and by 7:30 we finally had our rental car and were on our way about 20 miles north to our hotel - the Outrigger Waipouli Beach Resort in Kapa'a. After checking in and resting a bit, we decided to head back south a mile or two to Brickhouse Pizza for supper while we watched the Winter Olympics on their big screen TV. The pizza was good enough, but nothing spectacular. Afterwards, we drove back to the hotel and attempted to locate some ice for Mark's leg. Unfortunately, they didn't have any (argh!), so I went across the street to buy an ice pack for him, and a few odds and ends for breakfasts. Then, it was off to bed!
We spent much of our morning down by the pool, making some friends (farmers from down south) and thoroughly enjoyed just relaxing for a while. Around 11, we headed up to get ready for the day (since Mark's painkillers had finally kicked in), and then headed down the street to the Olympic Cafe, where I enjoyed some delicious fish tacos, and Mark enjoyed a burger.
After lunch, we went back to the hotel to rest for a bit, then a few miles south of the hotel to the Smith's Fern Grotto Wailua River Cruise. Verdict: The cruise isn't that fantastic, but Fern Grotto sure is! The cruise consists of a small little hawaiian "band" and a couple hawaiian dancers while cruising down an alright river (coming from Minnesota, I've seen better rivers), then docking a ways down for a short walk to see Fern Grotto. At Fern Grotto, the dancer does a little interpretive dance to the Hawaiian Wedding Song, and you hear some facts about the history of Fern Grotto. Unfortunately, Mark wasn't able to join me, as he wouldn't be able to walk that far, so he stayed back on the barge.
After the river cruise, we stuck to the car (considering walking was so strenuous for the poor hubs) :( We drove up the mountain into the hawaiian countryside and saw a few farms and small little towns all over. On our way back down the mountain, we stopped at the Opaeka'a Falls and the Wailua River lookout, which were both really neat!
We decided to try to make it up to the Kilauea Lighthouse before dark, but failed to make it in time and vowed to try again on our trek north. We stopped for supper at the Ligthhouse Bistro, though, and are SO GLAD we did! The food was incredible, and the atmosphere just wonderful :) We even had live music!
We had such a wonderful first day in Kaua'i and were looking forward to the days to come!
We started our day early, wanting to make sure we could find the Blue Hawaiian office for our helicopter tour that day. We got there plenty early, and watched the safety video a few times while waiting. Before we knew it, we were off!
Waimea Canyon
The Na'Pali Coast
Hanalei Bay
Unfortunately, Mark got motion sickness about 1/3 of the way into the ride, so it was a pretty uncomfortable ride for him, but the views were just breathtaking!
After we spent a couple hours back at the hotel (Mark cooling off and trying to get his stomach back in order), we drove down to Poipu and had lunch at Puka Dogs. Verdict: Overrated. A good hot dog, but not worth $6, and the fillings just weren't our style.
After lunch, we made reservations for supper at Roy's Poipu Bar and Grill, then headed on to the long, winding drive along the rim of Waimea Canyon. Again - breathtaking scenery, and lots of photos and memories :) It seemed like it went on forever, though, by the time we reached the end!
We'd been given a tip from a local the day before that when we reach the Waimea Park entrance, we needed to keep on going an extra 12 miles to the Kalala'u Trail Lookout, and boy are we glad we did! Granted, we thought we might end up with a flat tire or pieces of the car along the way (the road was attrocious), but the view - OH the view!
We made it back down the winding mountain road just in time for our reservations at Roy's and enjoyed a wonderful meal - I had their Salmon (best I've EVER had!), and Mark had meatloaf so good that the ketchup man didn't even need ketchup! (That's beyond amazing, people!) Roy's - recommended. DEFINITELY recommended :)
We decided it made more sense to continue our pool-time trend in the mornings, while Mark's painkillers kicked in, and headed back on down for an hour this morning as well, before heading up for a long day along the north shore!
After Mark's painkillers kicked in, we made our way up along the coast to the Kilauea Lighthouse, stopping along the way at a little farmer's market to pick up some fresh fruit and souvenirs.
One of the things I miss the most about Hawaii: PASSION FRUIT! It is INCREDIBLE - you cut it open, squeeze a little tangerine juice on it, and sip it down. SO GOOD!
After the farmer's market, we continued on our way to the lighthouse. We made it there around 11am and explored for a bit. Great views again (could you expect any less?), and the lighthouse (although you can't go up in there) was neat! They had a little video about the history of the lighthouse, and a little gift shop, but beyond that, the views were the most exciting thing there. You could check out binoculars in the little gift shop for free to see the views, which were really great! I can't recall how much it was to get in, but it wasn't much - maybe $5 or $10 each?
I think the one thing I was most amazed about but you never hear anyone mention is how incredible the scenery is while you're just driving along. The trees are unlike anything around here - the vines and flowers are so different and beautiful, and the winding roads just take you in (if they don't make you sick - haha!)
We stopped for lunch in Hanalei at Tropical Taco and it is the one stop we wish we could have taken back. It wasn't very good, although you get HUGE tacos. I just could have made better at home. Granted, if you are a big HOT salsa person, the salsa will burn your taste buds right off. But the actual tacos - not so great. I think maybe part of it for me was the fact that fish tacos aren't really supposed to taste like...well...tacos. They aren't supposed to have taco seasoning on them. And these, well...they did. And it just was weird.
After lunch, we made a few stops along the way to Kalalau Beach at a few other beaches and scenic points.
How dare I forget to mention: ROOSTERS EVERYWHERE! They must be the state bird or something, because they're EVERYWHERE. It's comical, really, but kinda gave us a bit of a taste of home :)
There were a bunch of these one-lane bridges in Kaua'i, which was interesting! You just wait your turn, and make sure the other side has stopped at their stop sign before proceeding. It's a good thing people weren't too greedy!
We finally made it to the beach and were lucky enough to see a (almost extinct!) monk seal sunbathing on the beach.
The beach wasn't as impressive as others we had been to previously in Oahu, but it was exhilaration knowing that just around the corner was the Na'Pali Coast! This was the entrance to the Kalalau Trail!!
I left Mark with our bags on the beach while I attempted a short little bit of the trail - fully prepared in my sundress and white water shoes. (It was rocky, hilly and muddy lol I looked like a total idiot!)
The Entrance
The first quarter-mile of the trail
I didn't make it too far, considering how minimally-prepared I was (no water, dress and water shoes), but even that first quarter mile was incredible! I wish I had made it at least the first 2 miles, but I didn't want to leave Mark waiting - especially with his painkillers so far away!Here is my proof that I did any of it at all lol
After I got back from the trail, Mark and I enjoyed some shaved ice, then started heading back home, making a pitstop at the wet and dry caves on our way.
Yes, there was an entire mountain above my head: No, this fact was not lost on us - TERRIFYING to stand underneath it! lol
We stopped for a short overlook of a beautiful valley filled with little farms near Hanalei
By the time we got back to our hotel, it was dark, late, and we were exhausted, hungry and ready for bed. We decided to order some Pizza Hut and stay in. Wonderful day: Exhausting day :)
Our final day on Kaua'i was nothing less than epic. To sum it up, we spent about 95% of our day waiting, and about 5% packing, eating and wandering around Walmart.
This final day started out with a text message at 4:30am from my friend, Mel, asking if we were alright - that she'd heard there was a tsunami coming our way! This prompted us to wake up, check the news, and make a beeline to the gas station. Even at 5am, the line for the gas station was a half hour long. It was insane! While I was getting fueled up, Mark was getting doped up on his meds, and trying to get his things together so we could beat traffic out of town.
Our plan was wonderful, and we made it out of town by 6:30am, on our way down to the other side of the Wailua river - with just a short detour to watch the sunrise over Wailua Falls.
After our short detour at Wailua Falls, we crossed over the river and decided to try to see if the Kauai Coffee Company happened to be open - one of the things we planned to do that day. Unfortunately, practically nothing was open, and traffic was horrible trying to get anywhere, so we parked ourselves at Walmart and shopped for a bit.
After loading up on some snacks for the long afternoon ahead, we found our way to one of the only "restaurants" still open - Subway - and had some lunch. We drove around for a while afterwards, and found ourselves parked at a school up on top of a hill, where if you walked down a hill a bit, you could see the ocean - and any impending tsunami.
We grew tired of waiting there after a while, and decided to move a little bit closer to the action, so we headed down near the airport, and got down as close to the tsunami evacuation area as we could, and found ourselves with a beautiful view of the shoreline, but still far from harm's way.
Even with the beautiful view, we realized after a while there was going to be no tsunami, but until there was an official "all clear", everything remained closed, and we parked at the nearby Borders under a shady tree and spent most of the rest of the day resting in the car.
When the "all-clear" finally sounded, we barely had enough time to do much of anything, so we decided to try to find our way to the airport to see if there was any possible way we could hop an earlier flight. And we DID! We figured that perhaps getting to the Big Island earlier, we might at least be able to salvage part of our day.
Goodbye, Kaua'i!
Accommodations:
We stayed at the Outrigger Waipouli Beach Resort and it was really great, but they don't have access to any ice, which was a big deal for us! And parking was FREE (which, after Oahu made us overly grateful!) The room was wonderful, view was fantastic, and the toiletries smelled SO GOOD! Our biggest gripe? You only get coffee the first day, and then there is no more :( It's not a typical hotel in that regard. But our view was so great - of the pool, and the facilities were beautiful! The hot tub (with a sand bottom - new to me!) was great too :)
Activities:
HIGHLY RECOMMEND: Blue Hawaiian Helicopter Tour
HIGHLY RECOMMEND: Waimea Canyon
HIGHLY RECOMMEND: Kalala'u Trail
RECOMMEND: Smith's Fern Grotto Wailua River Cruise (but only if you can walk to Fern Grotto, otherwise, skip it!)
WISH WE'D BEEN ABLE TO: Go Ziplining, hike more of the Kalala'u trail, and have more time!
Restaurants:
HIGHLY RECOMMEND:Roy's Poipu Bar and Grill
HIGHLY RECOMMEND: Lighthouse Bistro - Kilauea
RECOMMEND: Brickhouse Pizza
RECOMMEND: Olympic Cafe (fish tacos)
IFFY RECOMMENDATION: Puka Dog
DO NOT RECOMMEND: Tropical Taco - SO weird! I've never had a fish taco that tastes like a regular taco. It just wasn't right. And the salsa was so hot that my mouth burned for the next 45 minutes :(
Kaua'i is what you would typically think of when you think of Hawai'i - lush, tropical paradise, with lots to see and do, and enough breathtaking scenery to last a lifetime! I wish to badly we'd been able to take the catamaran cruise near the Na'Pali Coast - it was incredible via helicopter, but the pictures - as incredible as they are - don't even remotely do it justice! INCREDIBLE island - I'd go back in a heartbeat :) Next time, I'd make sure Mark didn't do anything even remotely dangerous for 5 months leading up to the trip so we could have walked around more lol
