Hit the ground running

Yup that’s me! Back from my fabulous trip to the Hawaiian island of Kauai.

To spare anyone a tedious recap, I’ll bullet point it. In short, it was SO NICE. Weather could be a bit iffy, depending on where you were- rainy/windy, or sunny but quite windy. Overall average between 25-27 deg, sun was HOT when it was out, so had to reapply lots of sunscreen.

Ocean was chilly but swimmable, I’m a bit of a chicken there so others might find it easier!

• Do go trail riding. We went to CJM, which does kind of quiet/boring walk-only rides but the length- 2 hours, and scenery is amazing. AMAZING!

Trail riding at CJM

• Go to the Nepali coast. We did the hike, and the beach there (Ke’e) and bought coconuts off some young guys truck.

Hiking at Nepali

• Go to the brewery (Kauai brewery in Port Allen) smart friendly owners. Their Lillikoi beer if amazing!
• Go to the rum tasting at Koloa Rum. It’s in the Gaylord Plantation, friendly and fun!
• Snorkel at Poipei. It was super windy but we saw TONS of fish really easily. Busy but because it’s one of the best spots…

Sea turtle at Poipei beach

• Buy fish from the grocery store- I had king crab meat for $7 bucks, and we bought huge ahi tuna steaks for like less than $8.
• Don’t buy bread- it costs more than the fish!
• Go swimming at any beach- there are zillions! We liked the beach at Kaap’a that had the Andy Irons memorial.

Beach time!

• Buy a taro pie at McDonalds. It looks super bizarre (purple?) but so tasty!
• Stay at two places. We stayed in a super creepy, crumbling resort (the Aston Aloha) for a few days and wow, did it ever feel like its heyday was 20 years ago- creepy but cool. Then we stayed at a jungle lodge off the beach and out of town for a few days. Got the best of both worlds!
• Eat fruit from everywhere! We got mangoes off a tree (well, from a crazy looking but nice Hawaiian dude who beckoned us over to give us some he had been busy collecting off the ground..) SO GOOOD.

Starfruit

• Apple bananas, pineapple, citrus- any kind, mangoes, starfruit. Try them!
• Do a luau at least once. We liked the Smith’s Garden Luau.

Smith’s Garden Luau

• Understand that going to see Waimea Canyon is a crapshoot. We ended up with this: after a hair-raising stomach-churning 10 miles of driving…

Waimea Canyon disappointment…