Kauai - Part I

Kauai, the garden isle, was exactly what we needed at the end of summer.  We kicked off our summer with a trip to Bethany and we spent all the hot days looking forward to Hawaii in August.  In Kauai we rented a luxurious little beach house right on Poipu Beach.  We had views of the ocean and the beach was right before us. We saw the sun rise and set every night at the ocean and we walked to the beach every evening. C and I explored all the coffee shops, plate lunch dives and restaurants Poipu and Old Koloa Town had to offer.  That’s how we spent the first 8 days of our vacation.

We landed in the afternoon, picked up our luggage and rental car and headed to Costco!  There is a Costco just a few minutes from Lihue Airport.  We picked up a few items and then headed to the beach house.  The jet lag was kicking in but it was a beautiful Friday night and I had heard that there is an art walk Friday nights in Hanapepe Town so off we went.  We checked out the bookstore (the western-most bookstore in the U.S.!) and ate around at all the food stalls.  The boys had shave ice, of course, and I browsed all the cute boutiques. At that point, we had stayed up as long as we could and everyone just wanted to relax back at the house and go to sleep.

The next day we got an early start thanks to jetlag and set off for Waimea Canyon.  The photos cannot capture the vastness and beauty of the Canyon and the Kalalau Valley, part of the famed Na Pali Coast of Kauai.  We were lucky that the weather was perfect and the views were crystal clear.  It's not easy to go all the way up and get a clear view of the Valley.  We learned this after hiking around and coming back to see that the view we had just enjoyed moments ago was blocked completelyl by clouds after just 10 minutes.  A note for those with kids - there are no guardrails so keep your little ones close.  

After we had our fill of hiking and sights, we drove back home to rest a bit before heading out to Poipu Beach to play and watch the sunset into the ocean.