Waking up for the last day of your vacation, bitter sweet it is.  It usually feels like a wasted day b/c of traveling. We both were feeling a little anxious about the day yet excited to get home to our babies.  We definately were not looking forward to the flight.  Once we realized that we had the entire day and possibly still diner on the island, we made the most of it.  We rose fairly early again-7:00am ish. We wanted to go back to the restaurant we liked a few days ago; we both enjoyed it to want to revisit..Kalaheo cafe’ and Coffee Co. #kalaheocafe  I chose the same meal and Teagan tried their eggs and pork Benny- she gobbled down every last bite. We were having fun people watching cause this place seems like a regular local hang out.  We saw all walks in the restaurant-from singles meeting up with others, couples gathering for breakfast, solo parents bringing their kid, a few tourists, and lots of tatted up folks.  Teagan and I were gawking at some of the tattoos we saw this week- were close to getting our own☠💘🈵 haha- no skulls or hearts or tribal .. 😜

We then made our way back to the Sheraton- We got the latest checkout possible-12:00. This was going to be rather difficult with a 9:00pm flight. The Sheraton was prepared for this and allowed us to use all the facilities(minus our room) and hold our luggage. Then when we’re ready, you call and ask for a “hospitality room” to use to freshen up before our flight! This was clutch! This eased our minds and made it possible to still enjoy the day without worry.. We got in more pool and beach time- Teagan even went to pool services and rented us 2 body boards to play with! It was fun- some advice- it’s not a surfboard..we kept wanting to go out deep and catch a killer wave only to be repeatedly be disappointed when the waves would just pass through us;(. So it was pretty fun if you stayed more shallow and caught the little waves up the shore! That kept us busy for the next hour. I noticed how red/sunburned Teagan was getting and I freaked out. How awful the plane ride would be if scorched..so I requested we make some moves.  Lunchtime it was and back off in the jeep we went- Teagan found a hot spot named da’ crack 

No sit down, just take out with a good moto and great reviews! We enjoyed our burritos! 

Back to the Sheraton! We were a little sunned out, so we found another cool spot in large cozy chairs in the shade overlooking more of the hotel grounds gardens while eating our burritos. 

We did venture back out towards the ocean, again we were people watching and tat scoping..only to find these two guys on the beach- the one guy was a huge dude with born and raised in Hawaii tats who seemed to be just hanging with this other dude that had the 2 most beautiful children on the beach at the time.  The father was beautiful- like a cross between the hot, mysterious Johnny Depp and a serious stoic-faced native Hawaiian. He attracted us b/c of his looks but also because he stood leaning in on a skim board propped in the sand while gazing at the waves in front of him.  We had our GoPro in hand just in case.. Before we knew he was going to do anything phenomenal he busts into a sprint dropping his skim board so perfectly on the sand where the water has retracted and jets into the water catching a wave and riding it like a surfer! We were dumbfounded!  This kept our attention here for at least another 45 mins waiting for his next move. ​See below, this was pretty sick as well!!

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So we then made our way to the hospitality room(did I mention this was clutch)! We got organized again and cleaned up for our long flight home.. Mahalo everyone! 

Sadly our time on this beautiful island is coming to an end. We woke up today and got ready to head for the south coast and our next hotel in Poipu, Hawaii.

We packed up the jeep a got down to the south shore to the Sheraton Kau’ai Resort. We were pleasantly surprised to pull up to this amazing property. We were greeted by the valet who gave us each a necklace of shells. Check in wasn’t technically until 3:00 so we dropped our stuff off in the holding room and headed to breakfast for the time being.

We ate at the Olympic cafe in the shopping village near Poipu. It was just ok. It was raining on and off and very hot and we were slightly grumpy. After breakfast we walked around the shops and grabbed an ice coffee along with a few gifts for our dog sitters back home.

We got back to the hotel around 11:00 and we decided to check and see if they happened to have any rooms available. They did indeed have a room ready early for us, yay! 

This hotel is perfect. The bellman brought our bags up to the room and there is complimentary valet for your first night. Our room over looked the garden and one of the 2 pools.

We cracked a beer and relaxed on the balcony for a while before heading down to the Oceanside pool. This pool is beautiful. There are 2 sections, one spilling over rocks into the other. It overlooks the ocean and has beach and poolside cabanas available for rent. Poolside service is available also, but there is a big bar located right next to the pool. We found some chairs near the pool and sat back and cracked another beer. It was great to relax poolside for the first time this week.

So far we have had a very active vacation exploring, hiking, and bopping around the beaches. Now this felt like the vacation at the end of our vacation:)

Next we hopped over to the garden pool near our room. It was much less busy, in fact there was only 2 or 3 other people there. Sarah sat and read her book for a while but the sun had disappeared and we were getting hungry. 

We went back upstairs a slowly got ready to head to dinner. Sarah found a local Thai and Sushi place called Bangkok Happy Bowl so we decided to head there to eat. It is located back in the same shopping plaza we were earlier. There was a duo playing acoustic covers with a Hawaiin spin. One guy playing a Uke and a lady playing a nylon string and singing. It was pleasant.

I ordered a Thai stir fry w/ chicken and pineapple and Sarah went for the classic pad Thai. Both dishes were good and the service was prompt and polite.

We strolled through a few more shops again and headed back to retire for the evening. Tomorrow our flight doesn’t leave until 9pm so we have the whole day to fill up with Hawaiin goodness before we leave:)

We were told to do this hike, the Napoli Coast Trail, by numerous people and reviews. Sure glad we did!  The gentleman Steve we met at the Kauai Brewery said to get out and going early cause parking gets bad near the trailhead. I think we made it there by 8:30am.  We managed to stop at a local market, grabbed some quick eats ( which we are not proud to say, included spam, Bacon, and pepperoni like sausage with egg and white rice..and grabbed water bottles and cliff bars..before that we pulled off at ” The smallest coffee shop” and a great stop at that!  Teagan got her Hawaiian version of bulletproof coffee and I opted for an iced Carmel coffee;) we are addicted to almost all coffee here- it just tastes so good here!

To the trail head! 

We found a great parking spot which gave us indication we were there early enough;) We packed light and got our boots/keens strapped on! I forgot my Keens which turns out to be a little unfortunate- we are advid believers in using good gear. It makes a difference whether your braving cold, wind, wetness and/or tough terrain..on this hike, my adidas gortex hiking boots were great but there are a few river crossings that I wished I remembered my Newport Keens!

The hike started out on a nice incline- out of breath and in our heads..we had been pretty lazy the few months prior and I couldn’t help think-“sub ref” hahah.. We got over that quick and kept trenching onward. This hike was neat cause number one, it’s on the north shore, it goes along the coast and couldn’t have been more scenic and beautiful- Secondly, it went from dry to wet, rocky to yucky mudd, to river and sandy beach! Every quarter mile there was something new to experience.

Look!! Little scavenger kitties greeted us off the trail at the rocky beach!  So random but loved them!

One major disappointment was when we reached the river crossing, we came upon locals that informed us/warned us, of a huge storm that would hit in about 2 hours. This sign above was a warning of numerous deaths due to people being unaware of tides, strength of river when crossing, etc..He said if you weren’t back and across this river we would be stuck here. These guys even turned back- we had got to the point where you either keep trecking up another 2 hours one way to the big waterfall and another 2 hours back-putting us well into the storm.. We already hiked 1-1/2 hours one way.  So we opted not to make the trip further-we were bummed. 

So before reaching the river and the beach, the  terrain became super muddy and pretty tough. This is where I liked my hiking boots- they have the ankle support I need and pretty much felt invincible. Nothing you can do about the slip in this mud, but was glad to have them. When reaching the river however, I really needed those keens. Teagan was able to get through this pretty easily. I had to remove my boots/socks, and let my feet de-sand and dry out before putting them back on- kinda a pain in the arse! 

We made our venture back and seemed as though we had a good pace, we kept passing  people and they would say things like- ” wow, you girls are Movin'” I like feeling like we’re getting a workout of some sorts so that made me feel good. 

So we made it back, cleaned off, and got back onto the next venture! It was only about 11:00am! The weather was overcast with sporadic mist cooling us off. 

So pieces of advice for those hiking the Napoli Coast Trail-

•Get to trail head early!

•Wear Keens!

•bring a light towel, water, light snack, and dry bag

•walking stick and/or trekking poles would have helped greatly!

It was a great day to hike because we got out before the major rains hit and it was overcast keeping it cool.  I also didn’t feel like I was missing any of the beach time either!

Teagan will continue blogging about our next adventur to QueensBath!

If my mom were here and saw what we just swam in she would not have thought it was not a good idea…and I would have to agree that it was dangerous…but you only live once right?

After the Napoli Coast Trail we bopped around Hanalei for a while. It was very overcast and on and off rain so we were in and out of the shops. 

Then we headed back to the jeep towards Princeville. A few days ago Sarah showed me an Instagram post of a guy jumping off a rock into a nasty ocean breakwater pool. The area was called Queens Bath. Ever since seeing it I couldn’t get it off my brain. Sarah typed it into the GPS and we found it, tucked back in what looks like a private community is Priceville and the trailhead is in the middle of a residential neighborhood. We parked and got out to find an very very muddy trail. We had already removed our hiking shoes and washed most of the mud off from the Napoli Coast Trail and we didn’t feel like putting those shoes on again. Against our better judgement we descended into the muddy trail with flip flops on.

This was not the best idea and I would not recommend anyone who reads this to repeat this mistake. Go barefoot, it is much more safe. It was about a 10min hike. We came across a couple other people who said it was totally worth it and encouraged us to go forward disputed our footwear struggles. There was a beautiful stream alongside us that fell from a waterfall eventually into the ocean and the start of the aggressive coast of Queen’s Bath. 

The folks we came across on the path had warned that the storm was bringing in big waves and they were nervous about swimming in the baths at the present moment. We didn’t know how serious to take that warning though, and after not being able to hike up to the waterfall on the Napoli Coast Trail I was feeling like we needed to do something crazy to make up for it.

We hopped across the lava rock scattered coastal walls to find mighty Queen’s Bath in all of her glory, laid out right in front of us ready to welcome us…or devour us.

Honestly, we took one look and we were ready to chicken out. The waves were crashing badly over the walls of the pool and there were soooo many warnings about how many people have died there. When we arrived no one else was swimming but there were a few guys sitting around the edge. One guy came up to us and introduced himself as Allan. He was a ginger from Alaska by way of Portland. He has been on Kau’ai working on and off as a farmer since this past January. He seemed pretty familiar with the bath and encourage us to jump in. He went first after explaining that the only thing to remember is to stay away from the mouth of the pool, closest to the ocean. This is “no man’s land” and it will suck you out to the rocky Pacific if you get too close.

So in went Allan, I followed, and Sarah dove in after. It was great. We bopped around and waded in the wavy aftermath for a while and then jumped out. No one was harmed:)

We stuck around and sat on the rocks at Queens Bath for a while and watch some more brave souls jump in, or puss out and leave. Our new friend Allan was hoping to catch a ride with us and hang out but we got scetched out when he informed us that he was really good at massages, if we were interested. Ugh. We could have been friends Allan.

So we headed back towards home for the evening. Sarah found a fancy schmancy Restuarant not far from our hotel called Hukilau Lanai. We stopped at the hotel to get the mud off of ourselves and we headed to dinner.

Dinner was suuuuper good. We each ordered Mah Tai’s and they knocked the pants off of the Smith Family Luau Mah Tai’s. I had the mixed grill- 3 kinds of local fish; Mahi Mahi, something I can’t remember, and Wahloo. All spear caught right on the east coast of Kau’ai and served in a coconut cremy dressing. It was seriously amazing. S.D. got the filet mingon, again incredible. It was served with purple Hawaiian sweet potatoes and a red wine reduction. 

We each had a glass of wine with our meal. It think it got to our heads. 

This restaurant was pleasantly placed on the coast with a beach view and an open lanai. We were thoroughly satisfied and totally ready for bed after a long day of hiking.

Today was the first day this whole week that we slept in past 7am. We didn’t wake up until 8:22am. Yikes!

We weren’t sure what we wanted to do, I was getting frustrated that we hadn’t moved yet and we had been going back and forth about whether or not to go to a Luau while we were here…so I called and booked it for that evening. At 5pm we had plans to go to the Smith Family Garden Luau. 

So we slowly got ready to leave for the day and stumbled over to the Ono Family Restuarant once again. This place is great, just a little Hawaiin greasy spoon but the food is good. Sarah had a the loco moco- which is basically a beef patty atop white rice covered in brown gravy. I had the Garden Patch- stir fried veggies w scrambled eggs over thier delicious fried rice. We both had sourdough toast with the most delicious papaya jam. 

Next we packed the jeep up and headed out towards the north shore. We didn’t get very far, there was a pull off that looked intriguing and we quickly turned in. Turns out it was the entrance to Donkey Beach. A couple folks had told us that we should go here so we decided to take the short hike down a paved path to the beach. The walk was a little long and it was HOT out, holy cow. 

Right after I took this photo I realized I left my cell phone in the car. Not good. So Sarah stayed on the beach while I freaked out and sprinted back uphill in the heat to the parking lot. It made me miserable but my cell phone was safely on the seat of the car. 

Now even more hot than before I made my way back down to the beach.

 Donkey beach sucked. 

I would say don’t go here. There are so many other great beaches on this beautiful island, a lot of which don’t take that long of a walk to get to. Also it was dirty. Tons of garbage and trash. Hawaii is pretty clean for the most part, especially the beaches…but this one was gross. The waves were giant also and we were not comfortable with going in the water. We both agreed that we were ready to leave. Waste of time:(

At that point we were hungry again and still weren’t sure what we felt like doing before the Luau. We pulled off of the main road and went into Healthy Hut Market & Cafe. What a great place, if we lived here this is where we would shop. It reminded me of a co-op grocery store from back home and of course we were sucked in by one of the cutest dogs we had ever seen.

Though there was a lot to offer in the store, we decided to grab a quick bit from Paco’s Tacos -the food truck outside of the store. We phoned home to check on our own pups while we ate our tacos.

Then it was time to get ready for the Luau. We had some hesitations as we really haven’t done any of the “touristy” things while we have been here. There are tons of zip line tours, horseback riding, catarman cruises etc..and we considered some but we just didn’t feel like those things were unique to this vacation. However a Luau in my mind was somewhat obligatory to a Hawaiian vacation. Meh.

Smith Family Garden Luau – here is my short review:

At 5:00 pm you show up here:

With hundreds of other people. It is a beautiful property, full of tropical gardens and animals. We picked this luau because it has been run by the same Hawaiian Family for something like 50 years and it is not associated with a hotel.

Once you are in you get plopped on a tram that takes you for a spin around the property. It was great aside from big ole uncle Smith who had a monotone voice full of boredom. The tram drops you off at the spot where they have the pig buried and cooking. Traditionally this is called the Imu. They have an Imu ceremony at 6:00pm. But there is a ton of time in between the tram ride and the pig coming out of the ground and the bar was not open!!!! Wtf, we paid for a ticket that says open bar, not cool. 

I hate seeing the pig that I am going to eat. When it comes to that ignorance is bliss for me. So we skipped the Imu ceremony and found a seat in the giant dining area, right near the bar. We were prepared to be the first two up there and double fist two Mah Tai’s.

It was sort of an akward experiance having to sit at a long table of no one we knew, but neither of us is very shy in these situations and we ended up chatting with a nice lady from Pasadena, CA. The smith family band played pleasant Hawaiin music while we waited.

Dinner was good. The pork was great. Sweet and Sour Mahi Mahi, adobo chicken, poi, fresh salads and lots of fresh fruit. It was served buffet style. After dinner the desserts rolled out and were also awesome. Coconut Tapioca, coconut cake, coconut milk jello and a whole bunch of other things.

Then at 8:00pm we moved over to the outdoor theatre for the show. The stage and setting was pretty cool but as soon as we sat down our asses fell asleep. It was the worst seating ever. Worse than an elementary school gymnasium. 

There was a live band which I greatly appreciated and found impressive. The show was basically a tour through Hawaiin dance and how a slew of different cultures helped to contribute to the culture. Our favorite part was when the Hula girls first came out on stage and the little British boy behind us screamed “Ah haha they have coconuts on thier boobies!!”, to his parents. Sarah and I died laughing.

I am glad we experienced this but I can’t say I would want to do it again. A little to hokey for our liking.

Tomorrow we hike the Napoli Coast.

After Waimea Canyon all I could do was sing “All over La Jolla and Waimea Bay, everybody’s gone surfin’, surfin’ U.S.A.” 

Waimea Canyon is full of dusty red dirt. We were hot and needed to find a place to take a dip. I had read about Salt Pond Beach earlier that day, as we are driving we came across the sign and quickly turned in. Very cool place. There is a small rock wall roughly 80 feet off shore that the waves crash over. It is mesmerizing to stand in the water and watch. We stayed there for a little while, collected a few shells, snapped a couple pics, caught some rays and then on we went.

Post-beach jeep pic:
After soaking up the sun at Salt Pond we were very thirsty and it just so happened that there was 1 of Kau’ai’s 2 breweries on our way back. 

We stopped in at Kau’ai Island Brewing in Port Allen. It was tucked back in an older warehouse type building but the space inside was fun. There was a long bar and lots of tables full of what looked like mostly locals. We sat at the bar. Everytime Sarah and I travel we find ourselves sitting at the bar to eat/drink when possible, it forces you to talk to others and the bartenders. We have found out some great tips from chatting w/ bartenders and others that we meet this way. 

We ordered 2 flights of their beers – 8 tasters all together. They were all very good. The bar tender was friendly and recommended we go with a small portion of the nachos if we just wanted something small. We took his advice and they were delicious.

My personal favorite was the Wai’ale’ale.

We haven’t really been drinking so we were feeling a little loopy…ugh lightweights.

Then we got tired and Kau’ai Cofee was on our way home so we decided to stop for a second visit. The coffee is unbelievable. Honestly, we may even stop a 3rd time.

We bopped around the Southern Coast and rolled into Piopu around 5:30ish. We weren’t sure what we felt like doing so we ended up walking out onto Shipwrecks Beach. We set our towels down as the sunset and watched a few people off in the distance jumping off a cliff. This man’s girlfriend gave him a kiss, screamed how scared she was and then jumped. He stood there for over an hour and his buddy had to go up and walk him back down. Haha it made for great entertainment. 

After packing up at Shipwrecks we headed home through Lihue. This is where Kau’ai’s second brewery is located, so we stopped in. Kau’ai Beer Company is located on Rice St. Once again we bellied up to the bar.

Our bartender was an adorable guy named Jesse, originally from Arizona. He recommended the Reuben and set us up with a flight of all their beers.

Everything was so good. The beers were legit, the oatmeal pale ale might have been one of my favorites ever. I was disappointed because the pork sandwich w Spam was not on the dinner menu:( sorry Tommy. We may go back though. We met a rocket scientist from Alabama named Steve who comes to this island often for work. He gave us a ton of tips and highly recommended the Napoli Coast trial once again. We left feeling very satisfied and promising ourselves we would hike the Napoli coast before we go home.

Once again got to bed before 10pm:)

Day 3- Saw the sunrise! The roosters were doing what they do bright and early..actually it was still dark when the roosters wail- but a lovely sound at that. 

We still have not settled on doing an organized tour of any sort. We still haven’t gone to the west coast of the island and we have been having so much fun riding the jeep and traveling roads less traveled! That seems to be my theme. So piece of info…you can not travel the island in a complete circle- we have discovered this the hard way-but no regret cause we seem to keep finding new endeavors despite traveling back the way we came.

We packed light and made our way south and around to the west coast. Found a perfect breakfast joint where you seat yourself, order at the counter, grab your choice of coffee and water and make your way- seemed like service was quicker without the need for a waitress. Not that I want to see wait service diminish but it was a pleasant experience and not too time consuming-we had shit to see! 😉

My meal was great- their cafe’ frys were roasted nicely and the corn muffin was split and a little toasty on the inside. My eggs were omelet style with Portuguese sausage, red pepper, onion and Munster cheese. It was a great meal. Thank you Kalaheo cafe’ and Coffee Co. #kalaheocafe

Onward.. 

We then went straight along Route 50 past Hanapee thinking we were going towards Waimea Canyon Lookout but instead we ended up on a rough dirt road that had us heading towards Polihale State Park. At the time we were unaware that there was a gem at the end. Because we had a rental and saw signs that said “rental coverage ends here,” we turned back not testing our luck. We ended up back on route and made our way to numerous pull offs throughout the Waimea Canyon. 

 Mark Twain was correct when he dubbed it as the “Grand Canyon of the Pacific!”

We made our way up and came across this Native Hawaiian. He was interesting and we learned 3 major things from him.

Aloha-broken up in 2 parts;                              Alo-meaning to share in the presence of..face to face                                                                        Ha-meaning the breath of life. “To share the breath in another’s presence”

Wie-(pronounced vie) means fresh water which in turn equates to wealth                                                                        
I– the creator or supreme 

Hawaii– only needs 3 things to sustain a simple and righteous life

Ha-wai-I--have your breath, the fresh water to sustain it and all the life around including the creator

We also learned this area is the wettest place on earth..400-600 inches of rainfall a year!

Here was our route back out and heading to the first Brewery!  Top down and cruising in the Jeep is fun in itself-we might be getting skin cancer but for the moment we’re loving the air, sun and freedom while we travel Kauai! At one point driving through the canyon I found myself releasing the seatbelt and standing up to get the shots with the GoPro. 😳👍 

Good Day Friends! Teagan will continue blogging about the rest of the day!

So the Poke was delicious. On to our afternoon adventure…

We headed up to the North coast. Before coming here I googled “Most beautiful parts of Kau’ai”. My searches all came up with different results…I am here to tell you that the North Shore is by far the most beautiful. Sarah would agree.

We first passed through a place we have wondered about since we were little kids. If you have ever sang “Puff the Magic Dragon” you know that he lived “in a land called Hanalei”…well Puff was no dummy…this place is amazing.

We drove through and located The Dolphin, the freshest fish mart/restaurant on the entire island. We noted for later that we needed to drive back through and have dinner here.

Then on we went, down the Napoli coast. We stopped on Hanalei beach and watched lots of surfers that all looked like professionals to us. Look closely at the guy in the far right of this photo. He caught air right when I took it.

Amazing. We could have sat there all day but onward we went. 

Next we drove up the narrow roads and one lane bridges that navigate the Napoli coast. We stopped at a pull off that beautifully highlighted the taro fields:

Not far from that was an awesome little farmers market where we stopped and sampled all the delicious local fruits alongside mostly locals. We grabbed and ice cold coconut for good measure:

Onward once again.

As we ventured further up the coast the vegetation became even more intense, and the coast became more harsh and more beautiful.

We came across the dry cave and then the entrance to the wet cave at the end of the Napoli Coast. We noted that we need to go back this week and hike that trail.

After the end of the road we turned around, we headed back toward Hanalei and The Dolphin. It was somewhere around 4:30pm when we pulled in to the restaurant. We had heard about how great the fresh fish was here, especially the poke…so for the second time that day we ordered a poke bowl and a bowl of the chowder along with 2 cold coconut porters.

The poke was indeed amazing. It was the Tahitian bowl – white fish, ahi tuna and shrimp over sweet sushi rice with red and green onions, topped with a sweet Tahitian sauce. So good. Get this if you go here. Just take our word for it, even if you think you don’t like raw fish…it will most likely change your mind. The chowder was also amazing – a mix of clams, calamari and shrimp maybe? I don’t totally remember but it was all good. If we go back I feel like we would be excited to order the exact same thing again.

We made our way back down to the east coast where we are staying. We stopped for ice cream quick at a shopping plaza somewhere near Anahola beach. After we were going to head straight home but Sarah wanted to take a random left turn and look for animals and the sunset. We ended up on Kilauea Rd. There are beautiful horses there that will come right to the fence and say hello.

 Just a bit further down the road before the lighthouse there is a section that is called “The Strip” by the locals. We found a whole bunch of cars pulled off the road with people sitting on top of their roofs looking out at the setting sun. We met a guy named Emilio there. He was a friendly local who worked down the street at The Bistro. He told us that they all park there on their nights off and stare down the coast at the cliff/rock formation that they call “The Chief” as the sun sets. It takes a little bit of imagination to see it but it is called this because it looks like a chief laying down.

It was a great day. Tomorrow we explore the South coast and venture towards Waimea.

Day 2-Early sunrise-missed it but we’ll catch one one of these mornings;) Made coffee and ate the from the bunch of bananas we bought on the street yesterday- they are chubbier and more airy than back home, sweet and delicious. We then made our way back to another Kauai Juice Co.,traded in our glass bottles for our morning kickstart so that we could rent cruisers from Hele Kauai Bike Rentals to go along the Kapaa Kauai bike trail that runs Oceanside..we took some nice pics and GoPro video. 

We stopped to swim in the Ocean, which then peaked our hunger and my curiosity for fresh Poke’.  

Off to the Pono Market! Yep, Teagan ventured on the spicy Ahi tuna and me a little less risky on the spicy crab . So reasonably priced! $6.95/bowl with rice! Finally our curiosity came over us when we saw a steamed, wrapped tea leaf. I guess it was a pork wrapped in a spinach like green- and further wrapped in a tea leaf and steamed for 6 hours- it was fantastically delicious! 

Haha I am cracking up right now because I just sat down on the balcony to write about the rest of day one and Sarah tried to walk out a few min after me and crashed right into the screen door.

Never a dull moment haha.

So we continued to driving on 56. Stopped at the Kilauea lighthouse as we got to the Northshore. It was beautiful and Sarah snapped a killer pic.

Then we drove a little further and got out to walk Anini Beach. It was awesome, the little white sand crabs were cracking us up and it felt good walk along and wade in the water.

We played with the GoPro’s remote app on our phones a bit too much and the batteries were dying so we decided to head towards home.

We got back to Kapaa and walked in some of the shops around town. We stopped at a little Mexican place for happy hour Margeritas and some chips and cheese. It was just alright…I really wanted Poke.

We both felt like an afternoon pick me up and had iced coffee on the brain. So we got back in the jeep and decided to head for the South shore and Kau’ai Coffee Co. We meandered back through Lihue and took the Hawaii Scenic Byway stoping in Koloa to look around and admiring the coast.

We saw a ton of people taking advantage of a photo opp at Spouting Horn. We got out and tried to snap a pic of ourselves with the natural water fountain but we weren’t totally successful. 

We had 15 min to make it to Kauai Coffee before they closed. We left Spouting Horn and made it in roughly 10min. 

For anyone who is a coffee drinker, this place is heaven. 30 different flavors of coffee to try as much or as little as you would like. It was delicious. It is set on a beautiful piece of property filled with rows of coffee bean plants. Off in the distance to the south is a view of the ocean, and to the north the majestic mountains. Amazing. This place is seeping further and further into my heart. 

On the way back we took a rogue turn and had a quick visit to Wailua Falls. The falls were epic and I was captivated by them. Sarah however was way more captivated by the locals hanging out with their dog and some wild pigs. Haha.

We headed back to Kapaa. Decided to clean up and venture out for some food. The struggle to find anything that looked good and was fairly priced happened once again. The sun sinks and this place turns into a ghost town. 

We settled for a Thai restaurant down the street a ways. It was dead and overpriced, but the spring rolls were amazing. We decided to just munch on a couple appetizers and beers and then headed back to retire for the evening.

Day 2 awaits…