Okay! I am pretty behind! I am actually making a photo book on Shutterfly and I am going to be brilliant here and copy and paste my sections about Hawaii into this blog! Let me just preface this by saying our trip to Kauai was the BEST TRIP EVER!!! It seriously was amazing. I have been home for four days now and I am still in a depression over not being there anymore. It is so cloudy and cold here I want to move to Hawaii so bad. Seriously every day was SO FUN. I loved it.
Okay, so while we were gone my mom flew out and watched the kids from Monday until Saturday and then they were with Josh's parents until we got home on Tuesday. They had a lot of fun and here are a few pictures of them while we were gone - but enough about them. LOL Onto our trip….
Our Kauai adventure began on Monday, February 27th, 2017 as we said good-bye to our kids and left them in the care of Grandma Sue. We met Charm and Devin Dial at the Idaho Falls airport to begin our adventure at about 11:00 am. We were all so excited! We had been planning this trip for over a year and it was finally beginning!
The flight out of Idaho Falls was delayed, thus getting us to Salt Lake City a little bit late. Then the flight out of Salt Lake was delayed taking off due to having to "de-ice" the plane, therefore putting us in Los Angeles about 5 minutes before our flight to Hawaii was taking off! Luckily there were about fifteen people on the plane trying to make that connection, and they held the plane for us! We ran from one gate to the next ("Home Alone" style) and boarded our flight to Lihue, Hawaii on the island of Kauai. Then we watched movies and tried to sleep here and there as we flew for about five hours from Los Angeles to Hawaii.
We arrived at about 9pm (Kauai time), which felt more like about midnight our time. We were able to easily find the Hertz rental company where we soon met our famous "Red Rooster" - a Jeep Patriot that would take us on many adventures over the next seven days. At the end of the trip, that poor thing was so muddy on the outside and sandy on the inside! But we will get to that! Hopefully they had a super strong vacuum and power sprayer!
After getting our Jeep, we drove to the Hilton Garden Inn in Kapaa (only a 15 minute drive) and checked in for our one night stay. We quickly went to sleep! We definitely developed a grandma sleep schedule while we were there. Early to bed and early to rise!
The next morning, we woke up in Kauai to an overcast sky and rain in the forecast for the next 24 hours. But we were excited to be there nonetheless and explored the beach by the hotel (rocky, but pretty!) and ate an awesome breakfast buffet which included some banana macadamia nut pancakes and coconut syrup. I am still regretting not buying some of those pancake mix packets and syrup from Walmart before we left!
After we checked out of the Hilton, we decided to do some exploring. We didn't have any big plans for that first day, we just wanted to drive around and see what we could find. Our first stop was the "Sheraton Beach" (official name? Probably not.) I hadn't wore my swimsuit under my clothes and quickly regretted it as there was no place to change and I ended up changing in the car. I vowed not to make that mistake again. I lived the rest of the trip in my swimsuit!
After a little time there, we moved on up the road to "Blow Hole Beach" (still probably not the official name), where we found some cute little tent shops. Avery had requested a "purple clam shell" and we found this perfect necklace made out of tons of purple clam shells for only $6! Score!
After that, we made our way into the town of Poipu and found this cute outdoor shopping mall area that had a place we had heard was great to eat at - Puka Dog! I had the hot dog with pineapple relish, but regretted not getting the coconut. When we finished eating, and as the rain began, we tried to drive up Highway 550 to see Waimea Canyon. But the higher we got, the rainier it got, and we eventually couldn't even see and turned back. Attempt 1 to see Waimea Canyon = FAIL. (Don't worry.... we didn't give up!)
We then headed back to Kapaa where we checked into the Worldmark Kapaa Shores, showered for dinner, and went out to eat at Kauai Pasta in Lihue. That pasta was sooooo good. But I got soooo sick about 30 minutes after I ate it. No more pasta for Tiff on the trip!
Wednesday morning we woke up to pouring rain. It had rained from about 1pm Tuesday and all night long and was STILL raining. We had a ziplining day booked in Poipu, but when we got there we were told that it was cancelled. So we decided to follow the sun where it was peeking through the clouds and head west!
I had read about this "Glass Beach" where supposedly pieces of glass from a factory washed up on shore and looked like tiny crystal pebbles. Well that was lie. There was nothing like that. But we did find this really interesting Asian looking cemetery on a cliff overlooking the beach! Very unexpected, but very cool!
After that we continued west into the city of Waimea. Devin had heard about a beach that was on the west side (basically past where the road ends) so we continued on our adventure. We came to this muddy, half-flooded road where cars were stopping and looking at it, then deciding to turn around. Well not us! Crazy Devin forged ahead! It was the bumpiest, muddiest, wettest ride ever! But boy were we glad we went. It led to the best beach I have ever seen in my life. It was like we had died and gone to heaven. Polihale = Paradise.
The road to paradise (courtesy of google… not us.. lol But this was an accurate depiction.)
By about 3pm it started to get really windy at Polihale Beach, so we headed back toward Waimea and Poipu. We made a SECOND attempt at driving up Highway 550 to see the Waimea Canyon. This time it was clear until about halfway up and we stopped to take a couple pictures (see top left.) But once we got to the very top... we were inside of a cloud. We could not see a darn thing. (see top right) Attempt 2 at seeing Waimea Canyon = FAIL.
Then we headed over to another nice Poipu shopping area called Kukui'ula Village for ice cream at Lappert's and shaved ice at Uncle's. (Devin and I had shaved ice, while Charm and Josh opted for the ice cream.) I have to say, even though it was good, I still like Kari Anne's in Rexburg better!
Then we decided to check out the famous Poipu Beach. It's funny because I had been told by a friend who has been to Kauai twice that Poipu is the best beach. I think she may be crazy. Either that or she has never been to all of the beaches in Kauai that we went to. Poipu Beach was crowded, not very scenic, and it was cold and windy there. We never went back.
That night after we went home and showered we ate dinner at a local place in Kapaa called Bubba's. It had good burgers and stuff like that but it wasn't as good as some of the other places we ate later in the week.
Thursday is what will be known forever in my mind as "BEST. DAY. EVER." Not that we had any bad days in Kauai. But this was my favorite day. We woke up to sunshine in the sky and I right away said, "It's gonna be a fantastic day." We decided to head North for the first time in our trip. (Devin even said, "This is the first time we've turned right!" out of our condo. Haha) Looking back, I am actually glad that we did the Poipu area first because had we gone North first I think the South would've seemed like a let down. The North Shore is BEAUTIFUL! We started at Tunnels Beach, which is almost to the most northern part of the island. The boys had bought boogie boards at Walmart and they had a blast playing in the waves. After a couple hours there, we next headed a bit further south down the coast to Hanalei Bay and played there for a while. There is a huge pier at Hanalei that we didn't quite make it down to, but we did see it in the distance!
For lunch we headed to a place called Chicken in a Barrell. It turned out to be so good that we went there an additional two times during the trip! The chicken tacos and hoagies were AMAZING!
Then we set out to find "Secret Beach." It did turn out to be somewhat hidden actually. The GPS on our phones led us down the wrong road, but luckily my handy guidebook saved the day! It directed us to this dead end road where we parked the car and found a walking path that went down through the trees. After about a 1/4 mile hike through the forest, we discovered the second best beach of the trip!
After spending a while at Secret Beach, we had just enough time to check out the Kilauea Lighthouse before we had to head back to get ready for our Luau. For me, this lighthouse makes me think of the movie "Lilo and Stitch" because it is one of the things they ride up to on their tricycle in the beginning when Stitch is looking for a big city to destroy. (Haha) It was a cool spot to see, (even though we had to be $5 a person to see it) but after about 20 minutes were were done there. You can't even go up into the lighthouse. Boo for that. But there were some fantastic views of the north shore!
After our day of exploring the North Shore beaches, we were excited to head to our luau. This ended up being the only thing that we booked in advance that we actually did (since our zipline tour got cancelled due to the rain.) It was nice that the luau was actually very close to where our condo was in Kapaa. It was literally about five minutes down the road at the Courtyard Marriott.
The luau itself was what I would call good, but not spectacular. The main reason we had booked it was because it boasted online that it was the only luau on the beach. Well, that was true, but the tents were still set up a good walking distance from the beach, so it wasn't like we were right there by the water. I was also hoping for more of the roasting pig, lit tiki torches, and fire-throwing show. To be fair, the food was very good. It was all prepared ahead of time though so there was no watching a pig-roasting. The show itself had about five hula dancer girls and one guy who DID twirl batons that were lit on fire, but like I said, there was only one of him. The whole thing lasted from about 6:00 to 8:30pm.
If I would ever go to Kauai again (which I definitely plan to do!) I would do the Luau Kalamaku at the Kilohana Plantation. We ended up driving over there to eat dinner Saturday night at a restaurant called Gaylord's and then Monday we went back and rode the train and snooped around. When Charm and I saw the place where they have the luau we were like, "Ohhh... we should've done this one."
But live and learn! It was still a nice luau and the food was great. Everyone has to experience a luau on a trip to Hawaii!
Friday is what will forever be known as "Hike Day" - or, "The day Tiff almost died". No, not really. But there were definitely points during the Napali Coast hike that I was literally dripping with sweat. (See my "happy" face on the top left corner) This hike was no joke. Definitely not for the faint of heart. Officially called the Kalalau Trail, this hike is always on the lists of the world's best hikes. It is famous because it really is sooo beautiful! But try to imagine going up and down a stairmaster made out of slippery, muddy rocks and huge tree roots poking out all over the ground. Also picture walking along some sections that are along a very steep cliff where one wrong move would send you falling down to rocks and ocean below. Then add to that sections where you had to literally cross a river by stepping across on slippery rocks. That was basically the hike. But still, it was awesome and beautiful and I'm glad we did it. We hiked to the Kalalau Beach, which is basically a beach with lots of rocks that isn't safe to swim in. We ate some trail mix, drank some water, and then headed back. We debated continuing on to the Hanakapiai Falls, but it would've taken us about another five hours and I was definitely ready to be done hiking. Just the hike we did to the beach took us from about 8am to 11:30am and I was getting hungry.
Before we left the hike area, we saw this cool looking place on the side of the road called the Maniniholo dry cave. There are Hawaiian folklore legends about mythical fishermen that dug it out to hide fish, but the real reason it is there is because the sea level used to be about 12 feet higher 3,000 years ago and thus carved it out with the waves.
For lunch we went to Chicken in a Barrel again! (We had LOVED it the first day and wanted it again!) Then we went to look for a place called Queen's Bath. This was another thing I had read about in my guidebook but it was kind of hidden away. We had to drive basically through this nice neighborhood (that I wouldn't mind living in) and park in this tiny little parking lot that only held about 6 cars. (There was literally a sign that said, "No parking anywhere but this lot. If the lot is full, come back a different day!") Lucky for us, we were able to find a spot. We then followed this little path into the trees and hiked down to the side of the bluff where there was a big area of igneous rock formation (thank you fifth grade science teacher!) that you could walk across. Queen's Bath is basically a little pool where the ocean water has filled in, but is (mostly) protected from the waves. (However, note the picture I took of the sign about drownings.) A few people were swimming (and Charm jumped in for a minute!) but the rest of us just watched and took pictures. We even saw two sea turtles swimming in this other section called "King's Bath."
After Queen's Bath, we went back over to Secret Beach again. We loved that place! Then for dinner we found this place called the Kalapaki Beach hut, which was amazing and we went back a second time on Monday for lunch. They had fish and chips and really good burgers.
Saturday morning, Charm and Devin had booked a helicopter ride bright and early. It was something that Charm had on her bucket list and really wanted to do. Me and Josh had decided we would rather do some sort of other activity that involved ziplining, so I had called and booked this excursion at Princeville Ranch that included ATVing, ziplining, swimming at a waterfall, and hiking.
So we dropped Devin and Charm off at the helicopter place at about 7:30 (where they were informed that Channing Tatum and his wife had been there the week earlier!!!) and then Josh and I just went into Princeville for about an hour. On the way, we had to stop and take a picture next to the Kauai police truck (Josh's future work place.)
At about 9:00am, we picked up Devin and Charm and had a few hours to kill, so we went to the nearby Anini Beach. Even though it was cloudy and then even started to rain, we put on our snorkel gear and ventured out into the water. The real treat was when we saw a sea turtle just hanging out, eating some moss off the coral reef! He just let us sit there and watch him, our faces in the water, within arm's reach the whole time!
At about 11:30 we ate lunch at Chicken in a Barrel (again!) and then it was time for Josh and I to head to our adventure at Princeville Ranch. We had some fun tour guides and had a great time exploring the beautiful, privately owned ranch. The sun even came out for us the whole time!
The tour guides pointed out that scenes from movies such as Jurassic Park, The Descendants, and Pirates of the Caribbean were filmed on the Princeville Ranch. Josh's favorite part was driving in the ATV though the field with horses in it. My favorite part was the ziplining! I wish there would have been more than two lines! It was so fun! it was just enough to give me a taste of ziplining, which was something I had really wanted to try in Kauai for the first time. Next time we will have to do the longer course.
That night for dinner, we made a reservation to go eat at Gaylord's at the Kilohana Plantation. The restaurant is inside the restored sugar plantation estate home of Gaylord and Ethyl Wilcox which was built in 1936. It was a 16,000 square foot tudor-style mansion which has now been converted into the restaurant, shops, and the Luau Kalamaku I mentioned earlier. It is just beautiful! We ended up going back on Monday to explore it some more and take a train ride around the still operating plantation.
On Sunday, we decided to take the word literally and have a SUN DAY! :) We made the long drive back to that heavenly Polihale Beach. But first we stopped in Poipu and Old Kaloa Town. The sinners with me bought some hats and tshirts. (I, however, did not buy anything... well except a drink from Starbucks...) Then in Old Kaloa town we found this cool restaurant that had this "Aloha" sign up and a little stage. It wasn't even open yet, but the owner was so nice to come out and take our pictures that we had to go back there later for dinner! (It was called the Garden Island Grille, just for my future reference.) They had pictures up of all the celebrities that had been there, including Elvis, Johnny Depp, and more. Later when we went back for dinner, they even had this cute little Hawaiian man playing the ukulele and singing. But before that, we spent another perfect day at Polihale Beach. Then as we drove back toward Poipu, you're not going to believe this, but the THIRD time's the charm! We made that long, winding drive up Highway 550 to Waimea Canyon again and guess what... we actually saw it this time! No rain or clouds got in the way!
Once the train ride was over and we had walked around for a bit and seen the shops, it was time to go back to the condo and pack. We also had one final sit in the hot tub (something we had done daily on the trip.) For our last supper, we tried a new place called the Lemongrass grill that was just down the road from the condo. Soon it was 8:30pm and time to head to the airport. Our Hawaiian trip had officially come to an end. We can't wait to go back there again someday, or maybe even possibly live there for a couple months every Winter! That would be a dream come true! Kauai, I'll miss you!
