We woke up at 3:00am to get ready to fly out of PDX. Riley was confused to say the least, being that it was so early and that we were taking a bunch of stuff out of the house. It was still pitch black outside and I was kicking myself for not getting to bed earlier. After picking up my mom (so she could drive my car to her house to save parking $) and driving with few cars on the freeway, we made it to the airport in record time. Since we were running on very little sleep, we picked up Coffee People; an old favorite of mine, before boarding the plane to San Francisco.
We were blessed to have a decent flight with nice passengers (except one slightly gassy man behind Stephen) and a smooth landing. The weather in San Francisco was gorgeous; sunny and calm. We had an hour and a half of time to kill before our next flight and hadn't yet eaten breakfast. We found a place that wouldn't cost us an arm and a leg (still $30) and then waited to board our plane for the [semi-long] flight to Hawaii.
Our trip to Lihuie wasn't as bad as we were thinking it would be. It seemed shorter than it really was. I listened to music and read an issue of my Shop Smart magazine, while Stephen played his PlayStationPortable. After a few hours we played Scrabble on his PSP until we got the announcement that we were about to start our decent. Our neighboring passengers were great – it kind of made me nervous for our flights back to Portland.
If you've ever been to Kauai, you will know what I'm talking about when I say, "Holy random chickens!"
Because of the 3-hour time difference, we still had most of the day to adventure about. We picked up our rental car and headed out to lunch. We chose a place called Kalapaki Joe's and it was delicious! I had the Kalapaki burger, which had mozzarella, cheddar, BBQ sauce, sautéed onions and smoked bacon. This is the first actual burger I've had in a long while – I could eat the bun this time! It's making my mouth water just thinking about it. Stephen's pulled pork sandwich and Longboard beer was also tasty; he also ate both piles of our french fries. After lunch, we headed out to walk along the coastline – the views were breathtaking and the sun felt amazing on our skin.
We found our hotel pretty easily (Kauai Beach Resort). The road leading to our hotel was lined with trees; it was so pretty! We were absolutely exhausted, couldn't focus and were walking around drunk-like because of our lack of sleep so we decided we could both use some rest. Our power nap seemed extremely short (it was about 30 min. but didn't seem like it). I researched some possibilities for dinner and found a 4+ star rated place for appetizers (pupus) called Trees Lounge. We made it in time for happy hour, ordered martinis, a salad for me and a Shrimp Po'Boy sandwich for Stephen. The deep fryer was broken so we couldn't order the dessert we wanted and had read about on Yelp, called Beignets - New Orleans style doughnuts served with French Roast Crème Anglaise. We decided to come back so we could try them another time.
Next was bedtime. We were hardly able to make it to our hotel room before we showered and crashed for the night.
Day 2: 09.29.2010
We woke up to a gorgeous sunrise, straight through our patio doors; so vivid and full of deep colors. Our room overlooked the pool area and in the very near distance, you could also see the ocean. I slept a little bit longer before getting ready and putting on some clothes to head out to a local family-owned restaurant in Kapaa for breakfast, called Ono Family Restaurant. The coffee was wonderful and the omelet I had with cheese, bacon and avocado was a good way to start the day. The town of Kapaa was small and quaint. Both sides of the street were lined with various shops, restaurants and other businesses. We definitely wanted to return to Kapaa during our stay on Kauai.
After photographing the sunrise in the morning, we realized that the memory card in our nicer camera was too small. At a higher resolution, it would only hold about 5 photos, which was not going to work well for us. After breakfast, we went to K-Mart, Walmart, Sears, Costco, Radio Shack and finally Longs Drugs for an XD memory card for camera. Apparently the XD cards are rare so we had a fun time [ha!] spending our first full day running all over the Eastside of the island. We also bought alcohol (Jack and Sweet Tea Vodka) to make our own mixed drinks. Tasty drinks are not cheap in the restaurants, yet alcohol is cheaper in Kauai... Weird.
For lunch we headed to a place called Mark's Place. It's a Hawaiian plate-lunch style restaurant/bakery in the middle of an industrial park. I didn't get my own food since I was still full from breakfast, but snacked on some of Stephen's plate; the food was so good! We had read Yelp reviews and they were right! We highly recommend this place - it's very well-known to the locals.
We got back to our hotel and changed into swimming suits to hang out by the pool for awhile. We were still exhausted and after running a ton of errands, decided we could use some R & R. The pool area wasn't crowded at all and we arrived just in time for free Mai Tais! About an hour later, it started to get cloudy and sprinkle a little. Around this time we were also starting to get a little hungry and wanted to go back to Trees Lounge for Happy Hour (Bushwackers) and the doughnut dessert we'd heard and read so much about. (see previous entry and photo below) We showered and hung out in our room for a little while and watched the rain come down in buckets. Yes, I typed rain. It absolutely poured but was still about 80 degrees outside. We also didn't mind it - it was actually quite refreshing.
Update: The Beignets were definitely a must-have! Soooo delicious - especially paired with a Bushwacker martini!
Day 3: 09.30.2010
Today was our last day in Lihuie. We got up early to watch the sunrise on the beach, which was within walking distance of our hotel room. It was beautiful and we got some great photos as you can probably imagine. We showered and headed out to Kapaa for breakfast at Java Kai. I had the most delicious Thai Iced Coffee - so tasty that I can't even begin to describe it without drooling. We took a long walk along the boardwalk; saw a ton of chickens, joggers, dog walkers and bike riders. It was such a beautiful site!
On the way back to our hotel, we stopped at a bakery I had read about that made only gluten-free baked goods, called Sweet Marie's. We chose a banana chocolate chip muffin and a mango macadamia nut muffin to take with us; both were delicious, of course!
Since our check-in time in Poipu was not until 4:00pm, we headed up North just a little to see Wailua Falls. My handy Lonely Planet book said it was a quick tour - I just didn't realize how quick it would be! We then headed West and visited, toured and sampled various coffees at the Kauai Coffee Company plantation. The coffee was so tasty, we had to purchase some to take home with us! Our most favorite was the Coconut Caramel Crunch! YUM does not even begin to describe it’s goodness.
We drove through Highway to Heaven; also known as the Tree Tunnel on Maluhia Road. It's a road made up of Eucalyptus trees planted nearly 150 years ago. It's like driving through a fairytale - it's gorgeous!
Once we arrived to our condo in Poipu, it was still a little early to check in. We sat by the pool for a little while then took a stroll along the beach. We came to a covered swing and swung for probably an hour - just gazing out into the endless ocean. Concierge finally called us to let us know our room was ready. We showered and headed out to get groceries for our week stay. I have to mention a couple of the most ridiculously priced items we saw at Big Save:
1. A single bag of ramen noodles $1.25
2. A box of cereal $6.75
3. A gallon of milk $9.00
Thankfully we made it out of there with some good buys. It's a good thing I'm a savvy shopper! For dinner we made delicious teriyaki burgers with sweet onions and fresh cut pineapple along with some Hawaiian onion chips. YUM! We ended our evening with a game of Scrabble on Stephen's PSP. I love evenings with the man I love!
Day 4: 10.01.2010
This morning we woke up early to watch our first sunrise in Poipu. It was a little bit cloudy but the sun and sky still gave us some picturesque views.
Stephen made us bacon, eggs and hashbrowns for breakfast. It was nice to eat home cooked meal on our deck and watch the clouds roll by. Since we were staying in a timeshare condo, we agreed to go through a hour sales pitch (which ended up being over 2 hours) to receive $100 in vouchers to use at local businesses. I knew they would push us hard to purchase a timeshare but thanks to our finances and us sticking to our guns we were able to get out of there empty handed; except for our well-deserved vouchers. I do have to say that the woman we met with, Rachael, was a very funny and sweet salesperson. She let us in on some secrets and was very real with us. She was new to her job and she didn't push us or make us feel bad for not purchasing a week. It was her boss and his boss that made us feel inadequate. Those two guys can eat it.
We spent most of our day at Shipwreck Beach, watching the surfers and body boarders and listening to the sound of waves crashing against one another. Little did we know, poor Stephen was burning. He couldn't feel it, but the next day is when we could really see the scorched lobster skin of his shoulders and upper back. Luckily, I just tanned and a ton of freckles started popping out.
It is hard to describe how incredible the views are here. We're both having trouble truly relaxing, but just being away from home and spending time on this beautiful island has taken a small [temporary] weight off of our shoulders.
For dinner, we went to Duke's Barefoot Bar. We arrived just in time for Happy Hour! We have impeccable timing, especially since we got a great table next to the koi fish pond and waterfall, as well as a center seat for the live band. I ordered a chicken stir fry, which was mouth-watering, and a pina colada. Stephen ordered a mango pulled pork sandwich and a tasty beer. Since Duke's is right next to the Kauai Marriott, which is a beachfront hotel, we walked along the beach and watched the sunset, paddle surfers and surfers.
After a long and relaxing evening, we came back to our condo to play another rousing game of PSP Scrabble and a couple of homemade beverages. This is becoming a nightly ritual but we're okay with it. We're such Scrabble whores. Hey - it could be worse.
Day 5: 10.02.2010
This morning we woke up early again to watch the sunrise. It is so much easier to get up here; we have so much more of our day to enjoy anything we want to do. We also took the opportunity to take a morning walk and a hike to Shipwreck Beach Cliff. The sun was already shining and 78 degrees at 7am. Watching the waves crash from the cliff was so peaceful. I could have stayed there all day long.
We got back to our condo and decided to make it a pool day. I lathered in sunscreen and headed down with my book. Since Stephen had gotten sunburned, I spent the day poolside mostly alone. Lucky for Stephen he caught a couple of football games on TV before joining me towards the end of the day for some less brutal rays.
After showering we trekked out onto the rocks right outside our condo to watch the sunset. We took some amazing photos of all the different colors. There happened to be a sailboat sailing in as the sun was going down, which helped our photos look more artsy. [ha ha] For dinner we made pork chops, baked potatoes and green beans, which turned out fabulous! Our cheap dinner would have cost us about $50 or more at a restaurant for the same exact thing!
We went out for dessert to a place called Papalani Gelato at Poipu Shopping Center. I had Lychee & P.O.G. Gelato (passion fruit, orange and guava) - Stephen had Stracciatella, which is Sweet Cream with Dark Chocolate flakes and Celebration Cake which had pound cake in it. Oh and we also splurged on waffle cones. It was definitely a delicious [$15] dessert!
Day 6: 10.03.2010
Last night we decided we would try sleeping in for a change, especially since we were making it a travel day. 'Sleeping in' meant waking up at 6:15am instead of well before the sun came up. We made breakfast and ate outside on the patio again, followed by some much-needed sun rays and pool time. Starting out mornings like this make life so incredibly wonderful.
We headed West to Waimea for lunch at Da Booze Shop. I had read that it was not only a cheap[er] plate lunch but also tasty. I has also heard about a shop called Auntie Lilikoi Passion Fruit Company. It just so happened to be two doors down from where we stopped for lunch. We walked inside and were immediately overwhelmed by how amazing it smelled inside. It was like walking into a bowl of fresh cut fruit. We were able to sample almost anything we wanted to and ended up purchasing some mouth-watering passion fruit mango butter, passion fruit coconut syrup and passion pineapple jelly. Lucky for us, we can purchase more goodies online via their website! We can't wait!
The long and winding trip up to Waimea Canyon was nearly unbearable. For some reason my body decided to start getting carsick once we arrived on Kauai. I'd never been known to get carsick before so I couldn't figure out why my body had to start now. Anyway, the views were stunning as well as breathtaking. We arrived [literally] just before a white-out and downpour. We were able to take a few photos of the canyon before we couldn't see anything but white in front of us. Before we headed back down to the lower elevation, we purchased cinnamon sweet potato chips, strawberry guava and banana chips with cinnamon and salt from a vendor at the canyon.
We met a cute dilute calico kitty on our way back down the hill and took a ton of photos of the desert-like views. We had a few stops to make before heading back to our condo. Stop number one was at a chip factory called Taro Ko Factory, which we almost couldn't find. It was literally a hole-in-the wall shack with DELICIOUS chips and sweet men working inside. They offered plenty of samples before we decided to purchase a few bags for our plane trip home. One of the bags we bought was sweet, salty and heavy on the garlic. The second bag was flavored with what tasted like teriyaki and plum. Soooo good! We were thrilled we were able to find the factory and try some of their creations. Before we left for our second stop; the Kauai Chocolate Company, we snacked on our strawberry guava, which ... I cannot even begin to describe how unbelievably savory this fruit was. Seriously. I won't try. Unfortunately the chocolate place was closed, even though our book said it should have been open. We were starting to get tired anyway, so we headed back to our condo to relax for awhile.
We watched another gorgeous sunset and headed to Keoki's for dinner. As we were being seated I felt a drop on my hand. I assumed it was a drop of water until I looked down and realized it was a tiny gecko that had apparently jumped onto my hand. Luckily it didn't scare me so I didn't scream in front of dozens of people dining. I gently placed him on the wall next to our table and watched him crawl away. Dinner was pretty good; not our best but we didn't actually pay for it - plus we got to take home a dessert for later!
After dinner, we came back to the condo to play Scrabble [big surprise, right?] and eat our dessert: Hula Pie! Macadamia Nut ice cream with chocolate cookie crust and hot fudge drizzled over it. Deeeeeeeeelicious!
Another amazing day in Kauai... I'm not sure I ever want to leave.
Day 7: 10.04.2010
Today is the day we truly slept in. We awoke at 7:30 am, showered and stopped by the post office to mail some postcards. Today was another travel day; our last true travel day on the island. We headed to Lihue for breakfast: donuts from Kauai Bakery & Cinnamon and my favorite drink at Starbucks, a soy latte.
On our way up North, we decided to start the farthest north that we wanted to travel – or that allowed us to travel to. The first stop was Hanalei. This part of the island was very different from everywhere else. It felt more rain forest-like; it was beautiful! We ran into one-way bridges, which were interesting but very cool. We stopped at a few different spots to take photos and to breathe in the scenery. It was a cloudy afternoon and on the verge of rain, but still gorgeous. There were a couple of cute and quaint shops at Hanalei Town. Looking back, I wish I would have purchased a few things that I’d seen. I suppose we’ll just have to go back someday!
Our next stop was Princeville. It was pretty, but honestly I wasn’t taken aback. We stopped at the Princeville Shopping Center and I have to say I was disappointed. There weren’t any special shops and the people were snooty. We didn’t stay long and headed towards Kilauea to a pizza place and bakery that I had heard about.
The shoreline in Kilauea was beautiful! The town was small and we easily found the Kilauea Bakery and Pau Hana Pizza. We weren’t quite hungry yet so we ordered our pizza to go. The entire way back to Poipu was dreadful - - - only because the aroma coming from the back of our car was torturous! We could not wait to dig into the pizza when we got back to our condo. The pizza; where do I begin talking about it’s graciousness?! The Island Stylin’ was topped with smoked ham, fresh Hawaiian pineapple, chipotle peppers, garlic and mozzarella cheese. This was BY FAR the most delicious pizza I had ever tasted. Stephen and I polished it off in no time and wanted more. Just thinking about it makes my mouth water. I only wish they could deliver back home!
The remaining hours of our day was spent resting and relaxing. I went to read by the pool for a couple of hours and then went on a fairly long walk. Stephen met up with me to watch the sunset in our favorite spot. The rest of the evening is history…
Day 8: 10.05.2010
Day 9: 10.06.2010
Day 10: 10.07.2010
No comments:
Post a Comment