My VERY generous parents decided last year that they would take one child+spouse on their yearly Hawaii trip. Last year, my sister Justyn, and her husband Dan, were the lucky winners. This year? It was our turn. Graham and I hemmed and hawed about whether or not we should take the time off/spend the money, and remained on the fence for quite a while. Then, I got pregnant. So I decided for us. We WOULD go. Because with two kids, who knows when we will ever be able to get away? The trip was booked, and we eagerly anticipated the day we would hop on a plan and fly to paradise.
That day finally arrived on October 5th. Our bags were packed, our itinerary planned (because I don't do trips without a meticulous plan), and our spirits almost giddy at the thought of a week without a toddler in tow. We arrived in Kauai where my parents picked us up at the airport, and drove us to our little paradise within paradise, the Westin resort in Princeville.
Day 1:
This was our "Explore the Island" day. It was a bit gloomy, and a lot rainy, so a drive around the island was the perfect solution. We started on the North side of the island at our home base in Princeville, and drove all the way to Waimea Canyon on the East shore, and back. Our stops included a cute plantation town town called Koloa, lunch at Puka Dog, a quick trip to the Russian fort, panoramic views of Waimea, a stop in the mountain town Kok'e, dinner at Verde's, and dessert at Pink's. It was a full day, and we FELL into bed to gear up for our adventures on day two.
Day 2:
We started the day with a drive into Kapa'a. Once there, we took kayaks up the Wailua River and through a narrow offshoot overgrown with trees. It was seriously magical. Then, we hopped off our kayaks, and hiked through the muddiest trail on the planet to Secret Falls. I was seven months pregnant, and my mom had just had foot surgery six weeks earlier, so we were a comical pair. We did pretty well keeping up with the group, but I'm pretty sure we gave our tour guide a heart attack a time or two as we slipped and stumbled up the trail. At the base of the falls, we ate lunch, fed chickens, and swam in the freezing cold water of the pool (Graham even braved the cascade of water directly below the falls). I don't think I've ever seen such beautiful scenery in my life.
Day 3:
We started the day at church and attended the cutest little branch in Hanalei. After that, day three became our "beach day." We were determined to find a good snorkeling spot on the North shore. I had pored through our guide book, and read all of the blogs for the best spots...but unfortunately, the nasty weather, and strong winds made snorkeling pretty uninspiring. But we persevered. Our first stop was Ke'e Beach (with a quick detour at the "Dry Cave" and Haena Beach). The water was rough, and so we moved on. Next was Hanalei Bay. The snorkeling was, again, nonexistent...but we enjoyed the views (and our lunch) there, and moved on. Our next destination was Anini Beach (but not before we stopped for shaved ice at the Wishing Well), where the water was much more calm and the snorkel gear FINALLY came out. We didn't see much, but enjoyed the bathtub-temperature water, and again, the lovely views. We continued our North Shore beach-jumping, and ended up at Kalihiwai Bay to watch the surfers. Dinner was pizza at Hanalei Bay Pizzeria. Our crew always loves to explore, so even though it took most of the day to find a decent beach, the day was WELL spent!
Day 4:
Day four was our tubing excursion with "Kauai Backcountry Adventures." This was probably my favorite activity of the trip. The day started with a trek out to the former Lihue Plantation, where we hopped on tubes and floated down irrigation canals that were hand-dug in the 1870's. We traveled through a series of five tunnels, with head lamps turned on, and bumped and crashed into one another down the entire mountain. We finished our tubing adventure by 3:30, and drove over to Poipu to try our luck at snorkeling once again. Jackpot! the place was teeming with fish, eels (yuck!), sea slugs, coral, and ONE sea turtle. Graham was in heaven. It was his goal through our whole vacation to swim with a turtle, and his wish came true on day four. We finished the day at Puka dog (again) and made our way back to home base on the North Shore. Because we spent most of our day in the water, I didn't take any pictures on my camera. So you'll have to let your imagination work to envision how FANTASTIC our day looked.
Day 5:
The boys set off on their much anticipated "Kalalau Trail" hike, while the girls relaxed around the pool. Then, we met up, and headed back to Poipu to visit Allerton Gardens where we got to tour 80 acres of beautifully landscaped and lush garden scenery. We finished the night with a stop at some tide pools, and ate dinner at Street Burger in Kapa'a.
Day 6:
Okay, by this point in the trip, I was REALLY starting to miss our little girl. We Facetimed with her every day, and knew that she was having a blast without us...but the sheen of being toddler-less had started to fade by day six. But we soldiered on. We started day six with the best snorkeling of the trip at Tunnels Beach on the North Shore. Then, we stopped for more shaved ice at The Wishing Well. After a quick shower, we headed to Kilauea Lighthouse and toured the grounds there. We finished pretty early (it was HOT at the lighthouse), and decided to check out a couple of waterfalls in Kapa'a. We ended the night by eating in, and walking around our gorgeous resort.
Our last day in Kauai. Day seven was really laid back...and entirely picture-less. We ate lunch the the Hanalei Bread Company (yum!), and did a whole lot of shopping. Then, we spent the rest of the day sitting by the pool. We cooked dinner in our hotel room, and finished up our last night with dessert at Pink's.
While we were sad to be leaving the following day, we were also ready to squeeze the heck out of our little girl. We had missed our little banshee, and counted down the hours until we could see her again. Paradise was everything we had hoped for, but we were ready to get back to our chaos.
No comments :
Post a Comment