Kauai

Kauai was beautiful despite how much it rained and stormed throughout our stay. There were maybe 3 good days where we had sunshine and our last day was the absolute best. Here’s my favorite picture from Kauai, its at Kauapea Beach aka Secret Beach. It’s on the north shore and off the beaten path. About a 10 minute hike down a dirt trail lies this beautiful stretch of sand where the surfers, beach walkers and anyone who wants to get away from the crowds hang out. It was paradise, the sun was shining. I sat on the sand and watched the waves while taking pictures. The waves captured my imagination and all I kept hearing in my head was the song “Catch a Wave” by the beach boys.

Joe was up early and captured the sunrise from our lanai at Kapa’a.

Kapa’a’s oldest church

We took a walk along Lydgate beach and watch the birds chase the waves.

The chickens were everywhere on Kauai. We drove North to the end of the road where the Napali Coast begins. When we got out of the car we had greeters.

This is the trail we hiked. We had hoped to get at least to the 2 mile point but 20 minutes in it started to rain. Then for the first time we saw lightning followed by thunder. We made it about 1 1/2 miles in until it got slicker and we couldn’t get any traction. When we started slipping every step we decided it was best to turn around. We thought we’d make it back another day but the weather just didn’t cooperate. We still got a few pictures of our hike before it poured down rain.

The storms lasted throughout the night and all of this day.

We headed south to sunny Po’ipu only on this day the sun wasn’t going to come out anytime soon. We took a shopping day and late in the afternoon decided to take a detour to Spouting Horn.

We took a drive to Waimea Canyon. What a beautiful sight. Haze appeared after the heavy rains and sometimes the clouds hung low.

More chickens!

Further up the road is Pihea Trail. After all the rains the trail was filled with mud and puddles but we mucked our way along because we couldn’t get enough of the view.

Next day was spent at Kauapea Beach aka Secret Beach.

That night we went to a Lu’au. This is the pit (imu) where the pig roasted all day. This was the only picture that came out that night.

Next day was cloudy and just after we arrived at Po’ipu Beach it started raining again. With the wind and rain at our backs we took a few more pictures and headed for the shops.

If you’ve never had a Puka Dog you don’t know what you’re missing.

This is the menu.

This was Joe’s breakfast on our last day. He ordered French Toast with Coconut Syrup at this little place called Tutu’s. Little did he know they would cut a whole loaf of Hawaiian bread into 3 pieces and serve it up. The owners worked in a tiny workspace with a regular stove. We watched through a screen door as they placed 3 large pieces of bread in a fry pan to sizzle. We thought for sure they had 3 orders to fill, but when it came out it was all on Joe’s plate.

On our last day we walked Lydgate Beach. The clouds were out and we forgot the sunscreen. Ironically the first time we ditch the sunscreen is the day the sun comes and and we got burned. This turned out to be the day we had been hoping for our whole trip. When the sun finally did come out, it stayed out and made it a day to remember.