KAUAI, HAWAII

DISCLAIMER: LONG POST AHEAD!

Jason and I were fortunate enough to be able to go back the Hawaiin islands over the holidays! We visited Oahu and Maui for our honeymoon nearly 7 years ago. We have always talked about going back and so we decided now was a good time for us to go. We have always heard that Kauai is more picturesque and what you think of when you think of Hawaii...and it's true! Kauai is beautiful and not so touristy. It is by far our favorite of the 3 Hawaiin islands we've visited.

While we were there, I kept a little journal of what we did and what we saw. Here is our week:

Day 1 (12/28/08):

We got up at 4:30am and headed to Charlotte. Got to Charlotte around 6:30am. Our flight was scheduled to depart at 7:40. We cut it close getting checked in and through security. Finally, we made it to our gate with about 10 mins to spare…or so we thought. Our plane was having mechanical trouble…and they were trying to get it fixed. However, after about 30 mins past our departure time, they sent us to a different gate to board a different plane. I was glad after the fact that we didn’t get on the plane that was having mechanical difficulties.

We finally made it to PHX at about 10:50am PHX time. Our next flight was scheduled to leave at 11:30am and was at the complete opposite end of the PHX airport. So, we hoofed it through the airport and felt like Home Alone.

Finally, we made it to the gate and boarded just in time. There was a Burger King right there beside the gate and we were able to grab a hamburger before boarding.

These were not the greatest seats...let’s see…we had the bathroom right behind us, literally…and we had a family of four (one 4 year old and one 9 month old) to our left. We had a young couple right in front of us that made out almost the entire flight…and the guy to Jason’s right had a couple of drinks, took a ton of pain meds, and snored most of the trip. Could it have been worse?

6.5 long hours later, we landed in Kauai!

Then it was off to the Alamo car rental to get our rental car. Only to find out, after waiting in line and checking in, that they had NO cars left. Bummer!

Jason on the phone with Orbitz expressing his frustration that we did not have our "guaranteed" rental car

Alamo started shuttling people to their respective accommodations. At the last minute, another car was returned and they let us have it. Although they had originally promised us a Jeep, we were so tired from traveling and irritated about not getting our “guaranteed” car that we took it.

One thing we noticed right away is that there are chickens EVERYWHERE! They used to have tons of chicken farms. Then, a huge hurricane came through in 1992 and blew the chickens all over the island and they haven't been able to control them since there are no predators for chickens on the island.




Finally, we made it to the Coconut Cottage around 6:30PM.

The flowers that were waiting for us in our room

The coconut Jason found outside our place

View from our room!

We were starving…so after unloading our stuff, we headed back out to eat and ate at this place called Keoki’s. It was delicious!

Then, we went to the grocery store and bought breakfast, lunch, and snack stuff. Then, it was back to the cottage to hit the sack. It was like 2AM to our bodies!

Day 2 (12/29/08):

I woke up around 5am…but drifted back to sleep and got up for good at 7AM. We cooked bacon, eggs, and grits for breakfast. We then headed to Poipu Beach, voted one of the best beaches in the world. We hung out on the beach, saw some seals, snorkeled and just relaxed.

We then headed up the East coast.

We stopped at Wailua falls.

BEAUTIFUL! They say local men would jump off the falls to show their manhood…and it was often a fatal act. I can so see how…it’s like 170 feet!!!

After that, we headed on up North and stopped at the Kileau lighthouse…the northern most place of the Hawaiin islands.

It was a beautiful lookout. You could even watch for whales there (which we did twice).

Then, it was on to Queen’s bath...a pool made out of lava rocks.

It was a muddy hike down and we had to cross a ton of rock to get to Queen’s bath…but it was worth it. We even came across this waterfall on our hike:

There were some locals who were jumping into the pool from rock ledges. Of course, Jason had to try it!

Then, we hiked back up the muddy trail and washed off our feet a little with our last bottle of water. Then, Jason put the backpack into the trunk and shut it. The bad part…the keys to our rental car were in the backpack…inside the trunk…and the doors were locked. We had met a family from Montreal…who tried to help us by calling the Alamo rental place on their cell phone for roadside assistance. Our cell phones were in the locked trunk. However, he was on hold for like 20 mins. So, Jason went to a couple of the local houses nearby to ask for a hanger. Only to find out that everybody has plastic hangers these days. Finally, one of the houses he went to, had metal hangers. They also let us borrow a set of plyers. Jason was then able to pry the door open enough to use the hanger and unlock the doors. Just a minor 30 minute detour.

We then headed to a local place called the Noodle House and ate dinner. It was very good as well. After that, we headed back to the cottage to take showers and get the remaining mud off!

Day 3 (12/30/08):

Today our day started early. We booked a boat tour with the Na Pali Riders to go whale watching and tour the Na Pail coastline...and they were leaving at 7AM out of Wimea…which was about 30 mins from Poipu where we were staying. We got up a 6AM and headed out around 6:15. We got behind 2 slow cars and pulled into the parking lot right at 7…just in time. There was a lot of traffic on the road for 6:30AM.

We boarded the boat and headed out towards the Na Pali coast. We saw dolphins and whales!

One whale was extremely frisky and kept smacking his tail on the water. Too cool! I was flippin out (no pun intended)! I was lovin it!

We also saw lots of the Na Pali coastline which was absolutely beautiful and where lots of movies have been filmed. We saw some sea caves and lots of beautiful beaches. I can’t even put into words how beautiful and breath taking the terrain was…it was gorgeous.

Our boat tour half way point was Tunnels beach, where all the surfers go.

We had a snack and then headed back.

We had to stop a couple of times for bathroom breaks. We simply climbed down into the water…in the middle of the ocean, did our business and came back up. One little boy went right off the back of the boat because the ocean was a little bit too rough and there were big swells at the time he had to go! Interesting experience. Hey…when you gotta go, you gotta go!

I don’t normally get nervous on boats, however, I have to admit…I was a bit nervous during a couple of parts of the tour. The ocean got a bit rough and there were some very big swells…where our boat literally felt like we were straight up in the water and then we would come crashing down. I kept thinking…ok if this boat capsizes, we are screwed because we were nowhere near a section of land that anyone could access other than by boat.

The guys that led our tour have it made. They made about $2100 on our tour alone X 5 days a week = $10,500 a week X 50 weeks a year = $550,000. Not too shabby! Besides, they are done by noon and...oh yeah…they live in paradise!

Finally, we headed back to the small boat harbor around noon.

After that, Jason and I headed up the 18 mile Wimea canyon drive. We stopped at several lookouts along the way. Again, absolutely beautiful! The highlight of the Wimea canyon experience, was hiking 2 miles to a waterfall. It was quite a trek and took us about 2 hours round trip. At one point, we were literally on the side of the cliff. It was incredible. One very cool thing was half way through our trek, literally in the middle of the jungle, Jason’s cell phone starts ringing. We had checked just a few mins earlier and found neither one of us had cell phone signals. Yet somehow at at that specific location, we did. On the phone was Sherri saying that Ian was wanting to talk to us. It literally made my day to be able to hear Ian’s voice. We missed him terribly.

After our hike/drive, we headed to a local grocery store and bought chicken, broccoli and corn and decided to grill out at our cottage. It was very nice and relaxing.

After supper, we headed down to a shop in Poipu and had some ice cream. Nice touch to end our day!

We had a fantastic day, but our legs and feet were beat!

Day 4(12/31/08):

We headed down to the beach just to hang out and relax.

At 1:30PM, we had surf lessons. The lessons lasted 2 hours. The first 30 minutes or so, Alvin (our instructor), gave us a few tips on land. Then, we headed out into the water. He was out there with us for about 30 minutes. He stood in the water and would help us catch the waves. He would give us a push and tell us to stand up like he showed us on the beach. I busted the first 2 times. Jason got up right away. After about 30 minutes or so with Alvin, he left and let us surf by ourselves for about an hour. You had to use your arms quite a bit to swim out to catch the waves and then you had to paddle with the wave just to catch it. It was exhausting…but a lot of fun! (video coming soon!!)

After the surfing, we hung out on the beach awhile longer.




While on the beach, we got to talk to Ian and my mom for about 30 minutes.

Then, we headed back to the hotel to shower up and watch the ball drop as the east coast brought in the New Year. Then, we headed out to dinner at Pomodora’s.

When we got back, we watched the fireworks display that they put on at the Sheraton. It was really good!






We actually didn’t stay up to see the New Year come in out here in Hawaii…we were way too beat and tired from our day to stay up. Oh well, we at least celebrated with the east coast!

Day 5(1/1/09):

Today, we got up and ate breakfast…eggs, bacon, and grits again! Yum! We also made sweet tea!! I would go into withdrawals if I went without it for a week.

Then, we decided we were going to drive up the east coast again to the farthest point North we could go…Ke’e beach. However, we decided to stop first at Tunnels beach. This is where all the surfers go. Here we relaxed on the beach, did some snorkeling, ate lunch, and watched the surfers. Man, there were some BIG waves. It was interesting to watch.

Our backdrop for the afternoon was beautiful. We had a huge mountain with a waterfall we had to look at as we laid out on the beach. I know…rough life!

After we left Tunnels, we headed on up to Ke’e beach and bought a shaved ice, a Hawaiin delicacy.

Then, we headed back south and ate at Poipu Beach Broiler. Alvin had given us 2 coupons for a free appetizer and free dessert. Well worth it! It was my favorite place of all the places we ate. Very good!

Day 6(1/2/09):

We hung out ALL day at Poipu beach. I read a ton from the book, Breaking Dawn.

We ate a hotdog and hamburger on the beach.

Then, we headed back to the condo to shower and pack our bags.

We left the condo about 6:30PM and headed toward Lihue, which is where the airport is located. However, our flight wasn't scheduled to leave until 11:30PM. So, we looked around some shops at a shopping center and then ate supper at this restaurant called Duke's. YUM! The food was incredible and for dessert we had this thing called a Hula Pie. OH MY! I was like...wow. It is macadamia nut ice cream on top of a chocolate cookie crust. Then this decadence is topped with chocolate fudge sauce, whipped cream and more macadamia nuts. Mmmm!

Then, we caught our flight back to the mainland.

The flight back from Kauai to PHX was rough...lots of turbulence...but we made it safely to PHX.

Then, we had the dreaded 5 hour layover in PHX. We slept 2 of those hours since we didn't sleep much on the plane.

FINALLY, landed in Charlotte at 7PM, and was home hugging and loving on Ian by 9:00PM.

We had a wonderful time and so very much appreciate our parents taking care of Ian while we were gone!

Now we just have to visit the BIG ISLAND :).