Aloha Kauai

The most important part of a trip is capturing the moments and trying to blog the experience so I can remember it all for years to come. As you may have already noticed, I take tons of pictures. Here goes attempting to recount it all..

Day 1

Niner and I met the Berries at LAX where our journey began..

The very first thing we did after we got our rental car (a Pontiac G6) was find a local place to eat. Yelp lead us to Smiley's Local Grinds. Although they did not have the Lau Lau avaialble, the Kalbi and rice (as requested by Mr. Berry) hit the spot.

The first half of our trip was spent in Kauai where we stayed at the Best Western Plantation Hale Suites. The hotel was in the center of Kapa'a which was the perfect location for us. We were 20 minutes away from the airport in Lihue and groceries stores, bars, restaurants and the Coconut Marketplace were walking distance from the hotel. First thing after we unpacked.. the jacuzzi!

Day 2

Kauai, and pretty much the entire trip, was about relaxation and food! We started the next day with breakfast at Eggberts then we took a stroll down the grassy path just across our hotel to the beach.

There were roosters, cats, and all sorts of other animals running wild and all over the island.

Our first shave ice experience on the island was @Hawaiian Blizzard Shave Ice Co. which was basically a man and his cart full of goodies outside a grocery store. I have to say right now that this was the best of the eight places we visited on the entire trip. 

We managed to keep up with the Lakers at Kalapaki Joe's.

Day 3

We took a trip to the north shore of Kauai to Princeville for our zip and dip adventure. This was the Berries' first time ziplining which made it even more exciting.

We had to cross a suspension bridge, which for me since I was paying more attention to my camera than the narrow planks of wood, was probably the scariest part of the day.

Action shots:

The dip part of the adventure was at a little lagoon we stopped at for lunch.

Our group shot before the last and largest zip of the day.. King Kong which was 1200 feet long.

Shave Ice #2 @ Ono Ono Shave Ice. The flavor selections there were amazing.

Day 4

We took advantage of our kitchenette. We made a trip to the Safeway, Niner cooked most of breakfast for a couple days and the rest of us cleaned up. Team work. :)

On our fourth day on the island, we headed back north. Our first stop was the Kilauea Lighthouse.

Then we spent a couple of hours finally lounging at the beach in Hanalei.

And what a beautiful day it was!

Then of course late lunch at CJ's Steak and Seafood.

And dessert @ Zack's Famous Yogurt for shave ice #3!

 

Dinner that night was fancy.

A five-course meal by the beach.

Day 5

I was determined to see the sunrise in Kauai. It was convenient that I didn't have to go far. I woke up way too early, afraid I would miss it, but seeing the sunrise was worth it!

Once the rest of the crew was up, we headed over to McDonald's for the island local breakfast: rice, eggs, spam, and Polish sausages.

Niner and I headed over to the local flee market while the Berries got some studying done.

I got myself a coconut treat.

Ryan completed a huge amount of his assignment just in time squeeze in more beach time. This time we went south to Poipu Beach. There was a monk seal and sea turtle just hanging out on the sand.

Apparently this was also a great spot to watch the sunset.

We ended the day at Trees Lounge just down the street from the hotel. We endured a couple songs from a local rock band, Battery Alley, and called it a night.

Day 6

Our last full day in Kauai, we took the Smith's Fern Grotto tour on the Wailua River.

We learned a bit about hula dancing on the boat ride.

Then more shave ice.. that's #4. This place was at the flee market and the ice was pretty soft.

Day 7

We had to say goodbye to our cozy Plantation Hale suite. We made sure we looked everywhere, even under the bed, before we left. I thought it was funny to find this card down there. I love that people make the time to do cute, silly things.

We made a stop for some ramen @Hamura Saimin Stand before heading back to the airport. The ramen was satisfying enough, but the Lilikoi (passion fruit) Chiffon cake was amazing!

This was our tiny, ~30 passenger plane to Oahu. We had one flight attendant, a Japanese woman, who's accent was so thick the only thing we were able to understand the entire flight was that our luggage would be in baggage claim "Aaaa twooo" (thank gawd we were able to decipher that!).

Aloha, Kauai! What a beautiful island! <3