Before we got here we had heard that this place was often referred to as a “Sleepy Island”. We found out why almost immediatly…

After giving up our seats on an over booked flight in Atlanta in exchange for Delta future flight vouchers, we were feeling pretty good about how things were playing out. We arrived at the Lihue Airport around 8:00pm. The flight from LAX was not bad. In fact, it was better than any flight from Atlanta straight into Honalulu- that would have been terribly long.
I had my hopes set high that there would be a way that we could sweet talk the Hertz rental car lady into upgrading our reservation to a Jeep Wrangler. It took a little bit of extra money but we did roll out around 8:30pm in a sweet brand new white Jeep Wrangler with a rag top. Tip: Sign up for Hertz Gold Rewards – their no cost loyalty program and use you AAA membership for extra discounts. With my AAA card I prepaid gas for the week saving roughly and extra $0.53 per gallon. I later found out this is waaaay cheaper than any other fuel on the island.

Sarah showing off our sweet ride for the week.

Next we headed to check into Pono Kai Resort, our home for the next 6 nights. It is located in Kapaa on the east coast. The sun sets on this side of the island around 7:30pm this time of year, so our drive from the airport was dark and it was hard to get a grasp on our surroundings. It seemed that there was a few little towns with some shops and restaurants along the way.
The staff at Pono Kai graciously checked us in and we headed straight to our room to put our stuff away and hopefully grab a quick bite to eat before hitting the hay.

The room is very spacious. Bedroom, kitchen, dining area, living room area, full bath, and a balcony…again hard to tell what our surroundings are though because it was very dark.

So now it is like 9:30 roughly. We were tired, both a getting a little irritable and just needed something quick to eat. Haha good luck!! Sleepy Island has almost nothing for late night eats…or drinks for that matter, no night life at all actually. We learned everything closes at 9pm if not earlier. After searching for a little while we found a Chinese food joint that was about to close but we squeezed an order of Kung Pao Chicken before they shut the doors. I had read about the convienent ABC stores prior to coming here and I was happy to see that there was one located right near our resort. We popped in and grabbed a few Maui brewing 6 packs to enjoy with our Chinese food. 

I can’t say it was the best Chinese we have ever had, but it was food. Hawaiian’s like to throw a scoop of Mac Salad in along with the white rice…random but coming from Rochester, NY where we are used to the Garbage Plate – mac salad and home fries under a heap of burgers and meat sauce, I found myself feeling an odd appreciation for this weird addition in my Chinese takeout container.

And sleep. Finally. 

I woke up early around 6am. I am going to let Sarah write about Day 1. But I will leave you with this picture:

This is the view that I woke up to from our balcony.