Getting to T.B.I. - Feb 27
We were lucky to be able to get 2 earlier flights, which put us at the airport about an hour early. Unfortunately, we spent that hour waiting for luggage. We were able to get the car earlier and attempt (unsuccessfully) to find some food while we waited, however.
We finally got our luggage and made our way to the hotel - Kona Coast Resort - Keahou Gardens. It was a long drive - longer than we thought (and it seemed even longer, since every restaurant we went by was closed and we were famished!). I believe it was around 30 minutes, and then when we got to our hotel, we got slightly lost finding the check in desk, and were greeted by an entire lobby full of guests who were waiting for their rooms. Apparently with the tsunami evacuation, the cleaning staff was sent home and weren't able to return until 2pm to begin the job they normally started at 6am, so they weren't finished cleaning rooms that were already occupied. Thankfully, our room was next slated to be cleaned, so we went to find some supper and when we came back, our room was ready for us.
But about that supper...YUCK! We ate at L&L Barbecue, and quite frankly, it was really bad. I would never eat there again! It was like...the worst-case scenario of bad chinese from the mall. As in...like...glazed over and rubbery and just...just not good at all. It was odd, because it was HIGHLY recommended by people in the lobby. If they thought that stuff was good, I don't want to know what they subject themselves to normally. I'm not a picky eater at all, but even I would hardly touch it. It was a good idea...in theory...but just very poorly executed. I would've been more satisfied with a hot dog and potato chips. We may have just ordered the wrong thing, though, but WOW...
Our room was great - and the bed was nice and firm (great for us, because our backs weren't loving us at this point lol) Nice kitchenette, laundry in the condo, and 2 bathrooms. Oh, and a nice living room with a larger TV. Strangest thing was the DINKY (as in like maybe 19") tv in the bedroom, that was encased in this HUGE cabinet. Odd, but we didn't exactly spend most of our time there anyway, so it was no big deal. But parking kinda was a big deal. There was only one handicap spot anywhere near where we were, which was eternally taken. So there was the constant "drop Mark off, find a spot, walk forever to get to the room" thing going on. Annoying, but not the end of the world. We didn't explore the grounds much, as we were on the road pretty much all day every day.
Day 1 - February 28 - Kealakekua Bay, Punalu'u Black Sand Beach & Volcanoes National Park
We woke up a little later, had breakfast, then started off towards Volcanoes National Park for the day. We stopped along the way at Kealakekua Bay, which was nice, but we didn't really do much there. On our way back up the mountain to the highway, we stopped at this little shack for lunch. Worst experience ever! The food wasn't so bad, but it took me 20 minutes in line behind 2 PEOPLE (who knew what they wanted already) to get 2 hot dogs. Oh, and then they overcharged me. When I tried getting my money back, I got yelled at by the owner saying that this "wasn't McDonald's", that they "grill all their food fresh", and he was "tired of people complaining about the service". Umm....then maybe it would be a good idea to treat your customers better and not yell at them when they were overcharged, hmmmmm? If you know me, you know I don't take well to being yelled at (especially when I'm not being mean at ALL), so of course, I was a bit shaken up for the rest of the drive to Volcanoes National Park.
After that experience, we made our way back up the mountain to the highway, then kept on going toward Punalu'u Black Sand Beach. It was SO neat! The black sand is from washed over lava rock, so it's not probably the best on your feet or to lay out on, but I wouldn't know for sure, since I wore water shoes. Mark stayed in the car, but I explored for a bit, bought a couple postcards, and saw a couple nesting sea turtles. So cool!
After an incredible scenic drive, we made it to Volcanoes National Park just in time for it to start raining. We were pretty bummed, but turns out it does this often. We made the rest of our way through the park to the crater overlook, past a few stops for vents and such. The view was absolutely incredible, and the rain sort of let up once we got there, making way for a beautiful rainbow. However, the road was all blocked off to go any further (due to heavy volcanic sulfuric ash), so we had to turn around and drive back up around the other side of the park.
The rain started letting up after a few stops at different craters from previous eruptions, and we finally found ourselves at a little trail that led to the lava tube. I hiked the short trail, only to find myself at the parking lot for the lava tube, so I turned around and hiked back to the car and we drove over to the entrance. Mark even hobbled down and through the cave-like tube, and it sure was impressive!
After the lava tube, we stumbled across Hilina Pali Road, a 9-mile stretch of 1-way, windy road that ends up at an incredible overlook of the ocean. At first, we weren't too sure about this, seeing not a single soul for the entire 9 mile stretch, but when we got there, there were a couple folks, and then when we started back, we passed a couple others, and saw some campers as well.
We started back just before sunset, and then decided to try to to see where the lava was flowing. However, we ended up driving aimlessly through a torrential downpour and it was getting late, so we turned around and headed back to our condo for the night. We stopped along the way to pick up some supplies for a spaghetti supper at a newly-opened grocery store in Ocean View.
Absolutely wonderful day! Wish we could have spent more time there and seen more!
Day 2 - Pololu Lookout / Waipio Lookout / Glass Bottom Dinner Cruise
We continued our trend of relaxing in the morning (a.k.a. icing Mark's leg and getting ready), and were on the road around 10am again, headed this time for the Pololu Lookout. It was the oddest drive you would imagine. It was a definite change of scenery from the day before - today being all desolate old lava flows with minimal dry bushes growing around the area. Eventually, we got into the mountains a little more, and stopped for lunch in Hawi at J&R Restaurant for some burgers and fries. Pretty good food for a little shack!
After lunch, we continued on to Pololu Valley Lookout, which was just incredible! Mark especially enjoyed how the pastureland just cut off into these incredible views! I hiked down the trail to get a closer look (breathtaking!) while Mark waited. It was a short hike, but worth it!
We hopped back in the car and headed back down along hwy 250 through Waimea to hit up the Waipio Valley Lookout next, with more incredible views. I hiked down the road a little ways (could have really enjoyed this walk, I'm sure, but time was of the essence...a trend in this trip), and then headed back up so we could get on our way back to Kailua for our dinner cruise!
The description of this day certainly does not do it justice. We just spent so much of it driving that it's tough to put it all into words. We went from desolate wasteland to rainforrest to beaches to mountains to farmland all within the same 6 hour stretch, so the drive was so much of what made this day so incredible!
We made it back to our hotel just in time to make a quick change and get back down to the Kailua Pier for our dinner cruise! The cruise was pretty decent, but we didn't really see much. I have to admit that the food was some of the best we'd had on the trip thus far, but with the excitement of distant whale sightings, it was hard to eat it all before it got cold. We had live music and a hula dancer along with a buffet supper, and it all started with a beautiful Kona sunset! Once the lights went down, they turned on the lights down underneath the boat, and we could see what was beneath the boat, which turned out to be some coral, a few small fish, some old tires and a couple starfish. No manta rays, which was disappointing (since that was what they touted, which was part of the reason we booked the cruise), but we still had a great time anyway!
Summation of Day 2: Lots of driving, but all worth it! Dead tired at the end of the day, but looking forward to our last day in Hawaii the next day :)
Day 3 - Hilo / Akaka Falls / Apple Bananas / Umauma Falls / Home
We checked out of our condo at 10am and were on the road to Hilo a few minutes after. We had been up in the air about what we wanted to do this day. We partly wanted to just hang around Kona (since we really hadn't spent much time there), but we also wanted to see some of the sights near Hilo. I had initially considered sticking around and doing some snorkeling, but considering I wouldn't have anywhere to shower, all our things were packed up, and we were looking at approximately 15 more hours of traveling, we decided that staying out of the ocean was probably the best bet. So...we went to Hilo for lunch, then made our way back slowly towards the Kona Airport for the day.
In Hilo, we had lunch at a little shop (rather, I had lunch - Mark had eaten this huge breakfast and wasn't hungry), and although it was slightly awkward, the food was really delicious! (Awkward because we walked in on the owner having lunch with her girlfriend, and they made it pretty clear that we had interrupted)
We weren't in Hilo for long, since our flight was only 3 hours away, and the drive back to Hilo would take up 2 of those, leaving just 1 hour for any detours. And so we took a few detours...to a scenic point overlooking Hilo Bay, on a scenic drive along the coast through the Hawaii Botanical Gardens, to Akaka Falls (after which we found the most wonderful bananas at a roadside stand), and on another scenic drive past Umauma Falls...all on our way back to the airport. Each and every detour was equally as incredible (if not moreso) as most of the other stops we had made. I felt awful thinking on this day that while it was all just absolutely breathtaking, we were past the shock factor and ready to go home. So as beautiful as it all was, I have to admit that I am more taken aback by it all while looking back through pictures than I was while we were there.
The Big Island Recap
The Big Island was by far most beautiful place I have been in my life. I loved Kaua'i for its tropical grandeur, but The Big Island's vast difference in terrain just took me in. If we return to Hawaii, we will likely spend all our time here - renting a B&B in the mountains near Waimea, near the beauty of it all, but tucked away in the countryside.
Accommodations:
We stayed at the Kona Coast Resort - Keahou Gardens. Was wonderful! We really enjoyed having a place of our own that felt like home while we stayed there. It was so nice to have a kitchen, 2 bathrooms, living room, dining room, dishes, etc. so that when we came home after a long day, it felt like home. Would definitely stay here again. However, if you're looking for a "view", this probably isn't the place for you, because there really isn't one from your room like there would be in a hotel. Great location for your roadtripping, and close to a mall and most anything else you would want to do.
Activities:RECOMMEND: Glass Bottom Dinner Cruise - I would HIGHLY RECOMMEND it if we had seen more on the bottom of the boat. They say they have sightings 80% of the time, but unfortunately, we fell into that 20% category.
HIGHLY-RECOMMEND: Pololu Valley
HIGHLY-RECOMMEND: Waipio Valley
HIGHLY-RECOMMEND: Akaka Falls
HIGHLY-RECOMMEND: Volcanoes National Park
HIGHLY-RECOMMEND: Punalu'u Black Sand Beach
WISH WE WOULD HAVE: Snorkeled, Helicopter Tour, Spent more time in Hilo, seen the lava flow, HAD MORE TIME!
Restaurants:
RECOMMEND: J&R Restaurant (Hawi)
HIGHLY-RECOMMEND: Meal on Glass Bottom Dinner Cruise
Yeah, we didn't eat out much on The Big Island
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Kaua'i Overview
February 23 – Getting to Kaua’i
Our flight got in on schedule to Lihu’e airport in Kaua’i, and after a VERY long wait to get our rental car, we finally got checked into our hotel – the Outrigger Waipouli Resort and Spa – around 7:30pm. We settled in for a bit, then headed to find some supper at Brickhouse Pizza just down the street. It was pretty good, and it was nice that they had a big projection screen playing the Olympics on the wall! After supper, we stopped at the grocery store and picked up a few things for the next 4 days (milk, creamer, ice pack) and then watched some more Olympics before heading to bed early.
February 24 – First full day in Kaua’i
The next morning, I tried to refill Mark’s dwindling supply of narcotic pain meds at the local pharmacy only to find that apparently Hawaii state law says that an out-of-state doctor cannot prescribe narcotics to a Hawaiian pharmacy. I then stopped at the store and picked up an ice pack for Mark (since the hotel didn’t have an ice machine – what?!) and headed back to break the news to Mark. After breakfast, we relaxed for a while in the hotel room, then headed down to the pool and hot tub for a while.
Around lunch-time, we drove to nearby Kapa’a for lunch at the Olympic Café. I had fish tacos (YUM!) and Mark had another burger and fries, and then we shopped around a little bit before heading down the road to nearby Wailua Bay for the Fern Grotto Wailua River Cruise. The river cruise was neat – with a band and hula dancers – and the views were pretty cool as well. Mark wasn’t able to get out of the boat and hike to see Fern Grotto, but it was pretty incredible! I guess a lot of people get married at the Grotto, but with all the rain and erosion over the years, they’ve had to stop allowing people to actually enter the grotto as it has become unsafe, so you can just see it from a distance on the platform.
After the river cruise, we headed back to the hotel for a while, giving Mark a chance to rest his leg and ice it more while I headed back down to the pool for a bit. When his leg was good and rested, we decided to drive around in the mountains for a while to get a feel for rural Kaua’i, and it sure was beautiful! There were a few farms and beautiful, lush gardens up in there. We made our way back down to the Opaekaa Falls before sunset, where we also saw a beautiful overlook of the Wailua River we had cruised earlier in the day.
After sunset, we drove up along the NE coast to see the Kilauea Lighthouse, which was beautiful, but too dark to really see much. We spent a few minutes up there before heading back to Kilauea for supper at the Lighthouse Bistro, where we split a DELICIOUS meal of Bistro Chicken. I HIGHLY recommend the Lighthouse Bistro. Not only was the food excellent, the presentation and service was as well, and we sure enjoyed the live island music there as well. I’ve been craving the Bistro Chicken since we left.
After supper, we headed back to the hotel and got to bed early, as we had to be up early for our helicopter tour the next day!
February 25 – Day 2 on Kaua’i
Our second day on Kaua’i, we got up early and headed to the Harbor Mall near the airport in Lihu’e for our helicopter tour with Blue Hawaiian. We got their a smidge early (as in, like, an hour), and were pleasantly surprised to find that Mark was 12lbs under the weight limit! (We were scared he might register higher than 250, which would cost an additional $200!) So we just sat around for what seemed like a really long time before we went on our helicopter tour!
The views were absolutely stunning – just incredible! Unfortunately, Mark ended up getting motion sickness about 15 minutes into the helicopter tour, so he was pretty miserable for the last 40 or so minutes, but he did get to see some of it.
With Mark’s shirt being pretty soaked and him not feeling so great, we decided to head back to the hotel for a while so he could cool off and sleep for a bit. I, of course, spent more time down by the pool (after finally being able to pick up some different meds that WERE able to be prescribed by a non-Hawaiian doctor – HALLELUJAH!) He joined me after a while, finally without a sore leg with a full dosage of pain meds, and then we decided to get cleaned up and find some lunch in Poipu.
We stopped in Poipu and had lunch at Puka Dog, highly recommended by friends as well as the Hawaii Revealed books. We thought they were alright, but wouldn’t recommend the Mango one. We tried Mango and Pineapple. Mark isn’t entirely fond of fruit mixed with meat in general, so while he thought it was a good quality polish sausage and bun, he would’ve much rather just had ketchup and mustard. And he was kinda turned off by paying $6.50 for a hot dog.
After lunch, I shopped a little while, then made reservations at Roy’s for supper. We then took off for Waimea Canyon, hoping to make it back by our dinner reservation at 8:30pm. It was a really long, slow drive, but the views were just incredible! We had a pretty uneventful drive up to the Waimea Canyon Lookout, but decided to continue on up to the Kalalau Trail Lookout at the very end of the Waimea Canyon drive.
The last 3 miles of the drive were incredibly rough – potholes abounded – but we finally made it to the lookout right around sunset, and made it out alive! When we pulled up, it was kinda eerie, since no one was around except for a couple hippie-looking people in a beat up old truck. It struck me as some sort of scene out of a horror movie. Luckily, they left shortly after we showed up, and the view was indescribable!
We took in the view (after grabbing our jackets – it was COLD up there, albeit warmer than Minnesota), and then headed back down the road so we could make it to Poipu for supper at Roy’s in time.
Roy’s Poipu Bar and Grill was another recommendation from a friend of mine from high school in Indiana, and this was one recommendation I am SO glad we took! The food and service was spot on. I had a little game going with the “water boy” to see if he could keep up with my insane water intake that night – he won! The atmosphere was great, and the food was out of this world! Mark had their meatloaf and I had their salmon. I told the waiter you can tell when meatloaf (or meat in general) is good, because Mark puts Heinz ketchup on EVERYTHING, and he ate this meatloaf sans-ketchup!
After supper, we headed back to our hotel, anticipating another scenic drive up to Kilauea, Princeville and Hanalei along the North shore the next day.
February 26 – Day 3 on Kaua’i
On our third day, we were able to get moving along a little more quickly and were on the road by 10am. We stopped on our way up along the north shore just outside Kilauea at a little farmer’s market where we picked up some absolutely incredible fresh fruit and a couple necklaces. It was our first taste of passion fruit, which was just SOOOOOOOOOOO yummy!! We headed back on the road and hit the Kilauea Lighthouse around noon. We explored the area (Mark via golf cart) for a good half hour before heading to Hanalei for lunch at Tropical Taco.
Tropical Taco was…interesting. The beef burrito Mark had and the fish tacos I had were just so-so, albeit HUGE! They certainly were alright, but I guess this is the first time I’ve ever had fish tacos that tasted like…well…normal tacos. And with the fish being a fishy texture, I just didn’t personally feel like it worked well. The most notable food here was their insanely hot salsa! It creeps up on you, and it left me by the water cooler for a good 20 minutes. I thought my mouth was going to burn off. In their defense, they did give me fair warning, but I didn’t think it could be THAT hot. Boy was I wrong!
After lunch, we continued along the coast through Hanalei and Princeville, making a few stops along the way at Lumahai Beach and Haena State Park, and finally arrived at the end of the road - the Kalalau Trail! Our initial plans involved spending a few hours hiking the trail, but with Mark's injury, I had written off the trail entirely. I did, however, end up hiking the first quarter mile...in a sundress and water shoes. I got a few strange looks, but it was really really neat - truly what you would picture as a "jungle". Mark waited patiently taking in the sights at the nearby beach in Haena State Park.
I wasn't gone long, but then came back to find Mark and we headed back to our hotel, with a few stops along the way. Not too far down the road, we stopped at a wet cave and also a dry cave. It was pretty incredible to realize that we had a whole mountain of rock above our heads, just waiting to crumble on top of us!
We stopped shortly after the caves for some shave ice (which I LOVED, and Mark was iffy on) at a little truck on the way, but didn't really make any stops the rest of the way back to the hotel. It was a very long day for Mark, so we decided to stay in and order some good old Pizza Hut for supper at the hotel, after more pool time.
February 27 - Day 4 on Kaua'i - TSUNAMI
Around 4:30am on our final day on Kaua'i, I received a text message from a friend of mine letting us know that there was a tsunami warning for Hawaii after the 8.8 earthquake in Chile the day before. I hurried to get gas in the rental car (we were just about out), and then got back to the hotel (45 minutes later - already there were long lines!) and we packed our things up and checked out of the hotel.
We started towards Lihu'e to make sure we were near the airport, but took a quick detour to Wailua Falls, since we had missed them before. The sunrise from Wailua Falls was incredible! We stayed there for a while looking around, then decided to see if the Kauai Coffee Company would still be open. BIG mistake! We ended up driving right into the messy evacuation (apparently it is too close to the coast), so we spent another 30 minutes after turning around just trying to get back to higher ground.
After getting turned back around, we decided to hang out at Walmart for a while (since Mark could sit in the electronic cart and all), so we did some browsing and found some snacks for the rest of the day. Most everything was closed for the day, so we were fortunate to find Subway open for lunch, and some wireless internet as well.
With most everything being closed, there wasn't much we could really do, so we parked at Border's (which was closed) for the rest of the afternoon and napped. (It had been an early morning, afterall) It got old. Fast. But after a few hours, we decided to head over to the airport to get checked in for our flight early.
Recap
Accommodations:
We stayed at the (Outrigger) Waipouli Beach Resort and LOVED it! Wish we'd done a condo, but the hotel rooms were nice. Service was friendly, but not over-the-top. Pool was great, with a nice selection of hot tubs (at different temps, even!)
Activities:
HIGHLY RECOMMEND: Helicopter Tour with Blue Hawaiian (note: take Dramamine the night before or right when you wake up)
HIGHLY RECOMMEND: Kilauea Lighthouse
HIGHLY RECOMMEND: Waimea Canyon - make sure to drive all the way to the Kalalau Trail Lookout
HIGHLY RECOMMEND: Kalalau Trail - must hike at least a portion of this if you're able
WISH WE'D BEEN ABLE TO: Do a ziplining tour, take a Captain Andy's Na Pali Coast tour, snorkel, hike more of the Kalalau Trail, spend more time on the island!
Restaurants:
HIGHLY RECOMMEND: Lighthouse Bistro (Kilauea)
HIGHLY RECOMMEND: Roy's Poipu Bar and Grill (Poipu)
RECOMMEND: Olympic Cafe (downtown Kapa'a) - great fish tacos - fantastic, really!
RECOMMEND: Puka Dog's (we would opt for normal ketchup and mustard, however, but the fruit fillings were interesting) (Poipu)
RECOMMEND: Brickhouse Pizza (south of Kapa'a)
DO NOT RECOMMEND: Tropical Fish (near Hanalei)
Our flight got in on schedule to Lihu’e airport in Kaua’i, and after a VERY long wait to get our rental car, we finally got checked into our hotel – the Outrigger Waipouli Resort and Spa – around 7:30pm. We settled in for a bit, then headed to find some supper at Brickhouse Pizza just down the street. It was pretty good, and it was nice that they had a big projection screen playing the Olympics on the wall! After supper, we stopped at the grocery store and picked up a few things for the next 4 days (milk, creamer, ice pack) and then watched some more Olympics before heading to bed early.
February 24 – First full day in Kaua’i
The next morning, I tried to refill Mark’s dwindling supply of narcotic pain meds at the local pharmacy only to find that apparently Hawaii state law says that an out-of-state doctor cannot prescribe narcotics to a Hawaiian pharmacy. I then stopped at the store and picked up an ice pack for Mark (since the hotel didn’t have an ice machine – what?!) and headed back to break the news to Mark. After breakfast, we relaxed for a while in the hotel room, then headed down to the pool and hot tub for a while.
Around lunch-time, we drove to nearby Kapa’a for lunch at the Olympic Café. I had fish tacos (YUM!) and Mark had another burger and fries, and then we shopped around a little bit before heading down the road to nearby Wailua Bay for the Fern Grotto Wailua River Cruise. The river cruise was neat – with a band and hula dancers – and the views were pretty cool as well. Mark wasn’t able to get out of the boat and hike to see Fern Grotto, but it was pretty incredible! I guess a lot of people get married at the Grotto, but with all the rain and erosion over the years, they’ve had to stop allowing people to actually enter the grotto as it has become unsafe, so you can just see it from a distance on the platform.
After the river cruise, we headed back to the hotel for a while, giving Mark a chance to rest his leg and ice it more while I headed back down to the pool for a bit. When his leg was good and rested, we decided to drive around in the mountains for a while to get a feel for rural Kaua’i, and it sure was beautiful! There were a few farms and beautiful, lush gardens up in there. We made our way back down to the Opaekaa Falls before sunset, where we also saw a beautiful overlook of the Wailua River we had cruised earlier in the day.
After sunset, we drove up along the NE coast to see the Kilauea Lighthouse, which was beautiful, but too dark to really see much. We spent a few minutes up there before heading back to Kilauea for supper at the Lighthouse Bistro, where we split a DELICIOUS meal of Bistro Chicken. I HIGHLY recommend the Lighthouse Bistro. Not only was the food excellent, the presentation and service was as well, and we sure enjoyed the live island music there as well. I’ve been craving the Bistro Chicken since we left.
After supper, we headed back to the hotel and got to bed early, as we had to be up early for our helicopter tour the next day!
February 25 – Day 2 on Kaua’i
Our second day on Kaua’i, we got up early and headed to the Harbor Mall near the airport in Lihu’e for our helicopter tour with Blue Hawaiian. We got their a smidge early (as in, like, an hour), and were pleasantly surprised to find that Mark was 12lbs under the weight limit! (We were scared he might register higher than 250, which would cost an additional $200!) So we just sat around for what seemed like a really long time before we went on our helicopter tour!
The views were absolutely stunning – just incredible! Unfortunately, Mark ended up getting motion sickness about 15 minutes into the helicopter tour, so he was pretty miserable for the last 40 or so minutes, but he did get to see some of it.
With Mark’s shirt being pretty soaked and him not feeling so great, we decided to head back to the hotel for a while so he could cool off and sleep for a bit. I, of course, spent more time down by the pool (after finally being able to pick up some different meds that WERE able to be prescribed by a non-Hawaiian doctor – HALLELUJAH!) He joined me after a while, finally without a sore leg with a full dosage of pain meds, and then we decided to get cleaned up and find some lunch in Poipu.
We stopped in Poipu and had lunch at Puka Dog, highly recommended by friends as well as the Hawaii Revealed books. We thought they were alright, but wouldn’t recommend the Mango one. We tried Mango and Pineapple. Mark isn’t entirely fond of fruit mixed with meat in general, so while he thought it was a good quality polish sausage and bun, he would’ve much rather just had ketchup and mustard. And he was kinda turned off by paying $6.50 for a hot dog.
After lunch, I shopped a little while, then made reservations at Roy’s for supper. We then took off for Waimea Canyon, hoping to make it back by our dinner reservation at 8:30pm. It was a really long, slow drive, but the views were just incredible! We had a pretty uneventful drive up to the Waimea Canyon Lookout, but decided to continue on up to the Kalalau Trail Lookout at the very end of the Waimea Canyon drive.
The last 3 miles of the drive were incredibly rough – potholes abounded – but we finally made it to the lookout right around sunset, and made it out alive! When we pulled up, it was kinda eerie, since no one was around except for a couple hippie-looking people in a beat up old truck. It struck me as some sort of scene out of a horror movie. Luckily, they left shortly after we showed up, and the view was indescribable!
We took in the view (after grabbing our jackets – it was COLD up there, albeit warmer than Minnesota), and then headed back down the road so we could make it to Poipu for supper at Roy’s in time.
Roy’s Poipu Bar and Grill was another recommendation from a friend of mine from high school in Indiana, and this was one recommendation I am SO glad we took! The food and service was spot on. I had a little game going with the “water boy” to see if he could keep up with my insane water intake that night – he won! The atmosphere was great, and the food was out of this world! Mark had their meatloaf and I had their salmon. I told the waiter you can tell when meatloaf (or meat in general) is good, because Mark puts Heinz ketchup on EVERYTHING, and he ate this meatloaf sans-ketchup!
After supper, we headed back to our hotel, anticipating another scenic drive up to Kilauea, Princeville and Hanalei along the North shore the next day.
February 26 – Day 3 on Kaua’i
On our third day, we were able to get moving along a little more quickly and were on the road by 10am. We stopped on our way up along the north shore just outside Kilauea at a little farmer’s market where we picked up some absolutely incredible fresh fruit and a couple necklaces. It was our first taste of passion fruit, which was just SOOOOOOOOOOO yummy!! We headed back on the road and hit the Kilauea Lighthouse around noon. We explored the area (Mark via golf cart) for a good half hour before heading to Hanalei for lunch at Tropical Taco.
Tropical Taco was…interesting. The beef burrito Mark had and the fish tacos I had were just so-so, albeit HUGE! They certainly were alright, but I guess this is the first time I’ve ever had fish tacos that tasted like…well…normal tacos. And with the fish being a fishy texture, I just didn’t personally feel like it worked well. The most notable food here was their insanely hot salsa! It creeps up on you, and it left me by the water cooler for a good 20 minutes. I thought my mouth was going to burn off. In their defense, they did give me fair warning, but I didn’t think it could be THAT hot. Boy was I wrong!
After lunch, we continued along the coast through Hanalei and Princeville, making a few stops along the way at Lumahai Beach and Haena State Park, and finally arrived at the end of the road - the Kalalau Trail! Our initial plans involved spending a few hours hiking the trail, but with Mark's injury, I had written off the trail entirely. I did, however, end up hiking the first quarter mile...in a sundress and water shoes. I got a few strange looks, but it was really really neat - truly what you would picture as a "jungle". Mark waited patiently taking in the sights at the nearby beach in Haena State Park.
I wasn't gone long, but then came back to find Mark and we headed back to our hotel, with a few stops along the way. Not too far down the road, we stopped at a wet cave and also a dry cave. It was pretty incredible to realize that we had a whole mountain of rock above our heads, just waiting to crumble on top of us!
We stopped shortly after the caves for some shave ice (which I LOVED, and Mark was iffy on) at a little truck on the way, but didn't really make any stops the rest of the way back to the hotel. It was a very long day for Mark, so we decided to stay in and order some good old Pizza Hut for supper at the hotel, after more pool time.
February 27 - Day 4 on Kaua'i - TSUNAMI
Around 4:30am on our final day on Kaua'i, I received a text message from a friend of mine letting us know that there was a tsunami warning for Hawaii after the 8.8 earthquake in Chile the day before. I hurried to get gas in the rental car (we were just about out), and then got back to the hotel (45 minutes later - already there were long lines!) and we packed our things up and checked out of the hotel.
We started towards Lihu'e to make sure we were near the airport, but took a quick detour to Wailua Falls, since we had missed them before. The sunrise from Wailua Falls was incredible! We stayed there for a while looking around, then decided to see if the Kauai Coffee Company would still be open. BIG mistake! We ended up driving right into the messy evacuation (apparently it is too close to the coast), so we spent another 30 minutes after turning around just trying to get back to higher ground.
After getting turned back around, we decided to hang out at Walmart for a while (since Mark could sit in the electronic cart and all), so we did some browsing and found some snacks for the rest of the day. Most everything was closed for the day, so we were fortunate to find Subway open for lunch, and some wireless internet as well.
With most everything being closed, there wasn't much we could really do, so we parked at Border's (which was closed) for the rest of the afternoon and napped. (It had been an early morning, afterall) It got old. Fast. But after a few hours, we decided to head over to the airport to get checked in for our flight early.
Recap
Accommodations:
We stayed at the (Outrigger) Waipouli Beach Resort and LOVED it! Wish we'd done a condo, but the hotel rooms were nice. Service was friendly, but not over-the-top. Pool was great, with a nice selection of hot tubs (at different temps, even!)
Activities:
HIGHLY RECOMMEND: Helicopter Tour with Blue Hawaiian (note: take Dramamine the night before or right when you wake up)
HIGHLY RECOMMEND: Kilauea Lighthouse
HIGHLY RECOMMEND: Waimea Canyon - make sure to drive all the way to the Kalalau Trail Lookout
HIGHLY RECOMMEND: Kalalau Trail - must hike at least a portion of this if you're able
WISH WE'D BEEN ABLE TO: Do a ziplining tour, take a Captain Andy's Na Pali Coast tour, snorkel, hike more of the Kalalau Trail, spend more time on the island!
Restaurants:
HIGHLY RECOMMEND: Lighthouse Bistro (Kilauea)
HIGHLY RECOMMEND: Roy's Poipu Bar and Grill (Poipu)
RECOMMEND: Olympic Cafe (downtown Kapa'a) - great fish tacos - fantastic, really!
RECOMMEND: Puka Dog's (we would opt for normal ketchup and mustard, however, but the fruit fillings were interesting) (Poipu)
RECOMMEND: Brickhouse Pizza (south of Kapa'a)
DO NOT RECOMMEND: Tropical Fish (near Hanalei)
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
If you're 30 or older [or slightly younger], You'll get a kick out of this :)
When I was a kid, adults used to bore me to tears with their tedious diatribes about how hard things were. When they were growing up; what with walking twenty-five miles to school every morning.... Uphill... Barefoot... BOTH ways… yadda, yadda, yadda
And I remember promising myself that when I grew up, there was no way I was going to lay a bunch of crap like that on my kids about how hard I had it and how easy they've got it!
But now that I'm over the ripe old age of thirty [edit: I'm only 28, but still...], I can't help but look around and notice the youth of today. You've got it so easy! I mean, compared to my childhood, you live in a Utopia!
And I hate to say it, but you kids today, you don't know how good you've got it!
I mean, when I was a kid we didn't have the Internet. If we wanted to know something, we had to go to the library and look it up ourselves, in the card catalog!!
There was no email!! We had to actually write somebody a letter - with a pen! Then you had to walk all the way across the street and put it in the mailbox, and it would take like a week to get there! Stamps were 10 cents!
Child Protective Services didn't care if our parents beat us. As a matter of fact, the parents of all my friends also had permission to beat us! Nowhere was safe!
There were no MP3's or Napsters or iTunes! If you wanted to steal music, you had to hitchhike to the record store and shoplift it yourself!
Or you had to wait around all day to tape it off the radio, and the DJ would usually talk over the beginning and mess it all up! There were no CD players! We had tape decks in our car. We'd play our favorite tape and "eject" it when finished, and then the tape would come undone rendering it useless. Cause, hey, that's how we rolled, Baby! Dig?
We didn't have fancy stuff like Call Waiting! If you were on the phone and somebody else called, they got a busy signal, that's it!
There weren't any cell phones either. If you left the house, you just didn't make a call or receive one. You actually had to be out of touch with your "friends". THE HORRORS...not being in touch with someone 24/7!!! And then there's TEXTING. Yeah, right. Please!
And we didn't have fancy Caller ID either! When the phone rang, you had no idea who it was! It could be your school, your parents, your boss, your bookie, the collection agent... you just didn't know!!! You had to pick it up and take your chances, mister!
We didn't have any fancy PlayStation or Xbox video games with high-resolution 3-D graphics! We had the Atari 2600! With games like 'Space Invaders' and 'Asteroids'. Your screen guy was a little square! You actually had to use your imagination!!! And there were no multiple levels or screens, it was just one screen... Forever! And you could never win. The game just kept getting harder and harder and faster and faster until you died! Just like LIFE!
You had to use a little book called a TV Guide to find out what was on! You were screwed when it came to channel surfing! You had to get up off the couch and walk over to the TV to change the channel!!! NO REMOTES!!! Oh, no, what's the world coming to?!?!
There was no Cartoon Network either! You could only get cartoons on Saturday Morning. Do you hear what I'm saying? We had to wait ALL WEEK for cartoons!!!
And we didn't have microwaves. If we wanted to heat something up, we had to use the stove! Imagine that! [edit: Okay, I'm not quite THAT old - I don't recall not having a microwave as a kid]
And our parents told us to stay outside and play... all day long. Oh, no, no electronics to soothe and comfort. And if you came back inside... you were doing chores!
And car seats - oh, please! Mom threw you in the back seat and you hung on. If you were lucky, you got the "safety arm" across the chest at the last moment if she had to stop suddenly, and if your head hit the dashboard, well that was your fault for calling "shot gun" in the first place!
See! That's exactly what I'm talking about! You kids today have got it too easy. You guys wouldn't have lasted five minutes back in 1980 or any time before
Regards,
The Over 30 Crowd [or in my case, the "almost" 30 crowd]
And I remember promising myself that when I grew up, there was no way I was going to lay a bunch of crap like that on my kids about how hard I had it and how easy they've got it!
But now that I'm over the ripe old age of thirty [edit: I'm only 28, but still...], I can't help but look around and notice the youth of today. You've got it so easy! I mean, compared to my childhood, you live in a Utopia!
And I hate to say it, but you kids today, you don't know how good you've got it!
I mean, when I was a kid we didn't have the Internet. If we wanted to know something, we had to go to the library and look it up ourselves, in the card catalog!!
There was no email!! We had to actually write somebody a letter - with a pen! Then you had to walk all the way across the street and put it in the mailbox, and it would take like a week to get there! Stamps were 10 cents!
Child Protective Services didn't care if our parents beat us. As a matter of fact, the parents of all my friends also had permission to beat us! Nowhere was safe!
There were no MP3's or Napsters or iTunes! If you wanted to steal music, you had to hitchhike to the record store and shoplift it yourself!
Or you had to wait around all day to tape it off the radio, and the DJ would usually talk over the beginning and mess it all up! There were no CD players! We had tape decks in our car. We'd play our favorite tape and "eject" it when finished, and then the tape would come undone rendering it useless. Cause, hey, that's how we rolled, Baby! Dig?
We didn't have fancy stuff like Call Waiting! If you were on the phone and somebody else called, they got a busy signal, that's it!
There weren't any cell phones either. If you left the house, you just didn't make a call or receive one. You actually had to be out of touch with your "friends". THE HORRORS...not being in touch with someone 24/7!!! And then there's TEXTING. Yeah, right. Please!
And we didn't have fancy Caller ID either! When the phone rang, you had no idea who it was! It could be your school, your parents, your boss, your bookie, the collection agent... you just didn't know!!! You had to pick it up and take your chances, mister!
We didn't have any fancy PlayStation or Xbox video games with high-resolution 3-D graphics! We had the Atari 2600! With games like 'Space Invaders' and 'Asteroids'. Your screen guy was a little square! You actually had to use your imagination!!! And there were no multiple levels or screens, it was just one screen... Forever! And you could never win. The game just kept getting harder and harder and faster and faster until you died! Just like LIFE!
You had to use a little book called a TV Guide to find out what was on! You were screwed when it came to channel surfing! You had to get up off the couch and walk over to the TV to change the channel!!! NO REMOTES!!! Oh, no, what's the world coming to?!?!
There was no Cartoon Network either! You could only get cartoons on Saturday Morning. Do you hear what I'm saying? We had to wait ALL WEEK for cartoons!!!
And we didn't have microwaves. If we wanted to heat something up, we had to use the stove! Imagine that! [edit: Okay, I'm not quite THAT old - I don't recall not having a microwave as a kid]
And our parents told us to stay outside and play... all day long. Oh, no, no electronics to soothe and comfort. And if you came back inside... you were doing chores!
And car seats - oh, please! Mom threw you in the back seat and you hung on. If you were lucky, you got the "safety arm" across the chest at the last moment if she had to stop suddenly, and if your head hit the dashboard, well that was your fault for calling "shot gun" in the first place!
See! That's exactly what I'm talking about! You kids today have got it too easy. You guys wouldn't have lasted five minutes back in 1980 or any time before
Regards,
The Over 30 Crowd [or in my case, the "almost" 30 crowd]
Friday, March 5, 2010
Oahu Review
We arrived at the Honolulu Airport around 10pm on schedule on Saturday, Feb 20. Pretty exhausted after two long flights (3 hrs to Portland, then 5 hrs from Portland to Honolulu). We didn't have any issues with our luggage or getting our rental car, and after getting lost only slightly, checked into our hotel, Hyatt Regency Waikiki, shortly after 11pm. Mark's poor leg was VERY swollen after all the traveling, so after icing it and downing a couple pain pills, we were off to bed.
Day 1 - Feb 21
The next morning, we woke up pretty early (around 6:30, which seemed to be the "norm" on the trip), and were amazed at the beautiful view of the city and surrounding mountains from our room! After more icing and relaxing, we headed out for the day along the SE shore of Oahu. We weren't able to climb Diamond Head (for obvious reasons) or snorkel in Hanauma Bay like we had initially planned, but we still managed to make a few scenic stops before stopping for lunch at the Kahala Mall at Panda Express. There was a dance team dancing for what we think was the Chinese New Year or something with these dragons - really interesting!
After lunch, we continued further north to take in some of the sights before heading back to our hotel to get ready for our sunset cruise on the Na Hoku II! We had a BLAST on the cruise and would highly recommend it! Luckily it wasn't far from our hotel - within walking distance even for Mark, with his torn achilles tendon in a boot! The sunset was absolutely stunning!
After the cruise, we walked up to the restaurants nearby for supper. We had supper at the Hula Grill - some delicious ribs! Then we went back to the hotel for the night for Mark to rest his leg. This was also a trend on the trip - late mornings and early evenings :)
Day 2 - Feb 22
The next morning, we woke up a little earlier and headed for the North Shore around 10am. On the way, we stopped at the Dole Pineapple Plantation, where we took a ride on the Pineapple Express, learned the proper way to cut a pineapple, and experiencing the famous Dole Whip before continuing on along the North Shore. We stopped by Waimea Beach to see some of the sights! Incredible views, but a pretty rough surf! Mark couldn't really come down by the beach, so we just viewed a few more beaches without stopping.
We stopped for lunch at Kahuku Grill, where I had the most fantastic Coconut Shrimp I've had in my life. Mark had the Twice As Much Burger combo, which was pretty huge and greasy, but he said it was good.
After lunch, we made our way to the Polynesian Cultural Center for the remainder of the day, getting there around 1pm. We were fortunate to be able to rent a wheelchair for him for the day, which made getting around MUCH easier. We saw some of the shows, then went to the Ali'i Luau and the show after supper. A wonderful, but pretty long day!
Day 3 - Feb 23
On our final day on Oahu, we got our things packed up a bit earlier, then headed down to the Kuhio beach, across the street for an hour or so. This was the only time I actually went in the ocean the whole trip! After the beach, we went down the street a bit to Duke's for an early lunch (Mahi Mahi sandwich for me and a burger for Mark) before checking out of our hotel and heading to Pearl Harbor.
Pearl Harbor was really interesting, and the Arizona Memorial sure was just incredible! We learned a lot and really had a great time exploring the area. We didn't go down in the Bowfin submarine since we had already experienced a submarine while in Virginia Beach with Daniel two years prior. (It would've been kinda difficult to get there with Mark's leg and all anyway).
After Pearl Harbor/Arizona Memorial, we headed to the airport to catch our flight to Kaua'i!
I wouldn't say Oahu was my favorite island, but if you haven't ever been, there is certainly enough there to keep you busy! If you're looking for a relaxing vacation, it's not the island for you, but if you're into shopping, beaches and busy traffic, this could be your paradise!
Day 1 - Feb 21
The next morning, we woke up pretty early (around 6:30, which seemed to be the "norm" on the trip), and were amazed at the beautiful view of the city and surrounding mountains from our room! After more icing and relaxing, we headed out for the day along the SE shore of Oahu. We weren't able to climb Diamond Head (for obvious reasons) or snorkel in Hanauma Bay like we had initially planned, but we still managed to make a few scenic stops before stopping for lunch at the Kahala Mall at Panda Express. There was a dance team dancing for what we think was the Chinese New Year or something with these dragons - really interesting!
After lunch, we continued further north to take in some of the sights before heading back to our hotel to get ready for our sunset cruise on the Na Hoku II! We had a BLAST on the cruise and would highly recommend it! Luckily it wasn't far from our hotel - within walking distance even for Mark, with his torn achilles tendon in a boot! The sunset was absolutely stunning!
After the cruise, we walked up to the restaurants nearby for supper. We had supper at the Hula Grill - some delicious ribs! Then we went back to the hotel for the night for Mark to rest his leg. This was also a trend on the trip - late mornings and early evenings :)
Day 2 - Feb 22
The next morning, we woke up a little earlier and headed for the North Shore around 10am. On the way, we stopped at the Dole Pineapple Plantation, where we took a ride on the Pineapple Express, learned the proper way to cut a pineapple, and experiencing the famous Dole Whip before continuing on along the North Shore. We stopped by Waimea Beach to see some of the sights! Incredible views, but a pretty rough surf! Mark couldn't really come down by the beach, so we just viewed a few more beaches without stopping.
We stopped for lunch at Kahuku Grill, where I had the most fantastic Coconut Shrimp I've had in my life. Mark had the Twice As Much Burger combo, which was pretty huge and greasy, but he said it was good.
After lunch, we made our way to the Polynesian Cultural Center for the remainder of the day, getting there around 1pm. We were fortunate to be able to rent a wheelchair for him for the day, which made getting around MUCH easier. We saw some of the shows, then went to the Ali'i Luau and the show after supper. A wonderful, but pretty long day!
Day 3 - Feb 23
On our final day on Oahu, we got our things packed up a bit earlier, then headed down to the Kuhio beach, across the street for an hour or so. This was the only time I actually went in the ocean the whole trip! After the beach, we went down the street a bit to Duke's for an early lunch (Mahi Mahi sandwich for me and a burger for Mark) before checking out of our hotel and heading to Pearl Harbor.
Pearl Harbor was really interesting, and the Arizona Memorial sure was just incredible! We learned a lot and really had a great time exploring the area. We didn't go down in the Bowfin submarine since we had already experienced a submarine while in Virginia Beach with Daniel two years prior. (It would've been kinda difficult to get there with Mark's leg and all anyway).
After Pearl Harbor/Arizona Memorial, we headed to the airport to catch our flight to Kaua'i!
I wouldn't say Oahu was my favorite island, but if you haven't ever been, there is certainly enough there to keep you busy! If you're looking for a relaxing vacation, it's not the island for you, but if you're into shopping, beaches and busy traffic, this could be your paradise!
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