Happy 40ths in Kauai!

(360-degree rainbow in Kalalau Valley on Wednesday)

We got away to celebrate our 40th birthdays in Kauai! With the uptick in COVID cases because of the Delta variant and Ryan's sister Mallory having her second baby, it was really looking iffy for a long while. I am SOOO HAPPY it all worked out. Ryan's mom flew in on Sunday night, we spent Monday together, and Ryan and I left on Tuesday morning. We returned the following Tuesday morning, in awe at the beauty of this amazing world. 

DAY ONE - TRAVEL – Tues, Sept 7

A very long travel day, which concluded with an hour wait for our rental car. Not cool. 

On the way to our hotel, we drive through the Tree Tunnel, a 3-mile eucalyptus tree tunnel with over 500 overhanging trees. It all started with a cattle rancher's gift from Australia 100 yrs ago, and it's been added to ever since. 

Dinner was a peaceful beach walk from our hotel to Puka Dogs (fresh-baked buns, pineapple & mango relish, Hawaiian mustard) on the Poipu Beach. These first 2 nights we stayed in Poipu @ Marriott Waiohai Beach Club.

DAY TWO – WEST - Wed, Sept 8 (Na Pali & Waimea)

Still being on Central Time, we arose early (3am!) and packed up for a long, busy day. We started with breakfast @ Aloha Sweet Delights, where we ordered a donut with coconut filling, a cream-filled malasada and a pineapple fritter. Best ones we had all week, for sure.

Our first excursion was with Na Pali Coast Tours. It was called Morning Magic. It was a small boat that could maneuver into sea caves and tunnels. We also enjoyed snorkeling and fresh pineapple. The water was very rough, but we saw the Na Pali coast from the water, as well as the two uninhabited, off-shore islands. We saw lots of swamp and freshwater waterfalls too. Snorkeling was at a reef in a protected cove with lots of colorful fish. We saw one sea turtle too. 

After changing in the backseat of the rental car, we stopped for lunch at Da Booze Shoppe in Waimea, as recommended by our boat captain. We had furikake fries with wasabi mayo and fried mahi mahi. It was good, but we decided we weren't going to be able to take that much horseradish sauce again.

 

Next we headed up Waimea Canyon (aka "Grand Canyon of the Pacific"). We paused at a couple lookouts. First up was the Waimea Canyon Lookout where we saw the Waipo’o Falls from afar. Then we stopped at the Pu’u Hinahina Lookout, which offered a different perspective of the Canyon as well as a lookout at the Forbidden Island of Ni’ihau.

Continuing on through Waimea Canyon is Koke’e State Park. Our first hike was from the Pu’u O Kila Lookout. We did the first mile of the Pihea Trail. It was CRAZY muddy and was much more difficult than its 2-mile name suggests, but we saw the most incredible views from the ridge looking down into the lush oasis of Kalalau Valley. It is my newest favorite place on Earth (up there with Yellowstone). Our portion of the hike ended at the Pihea Overlook, which is the highest rim point of the Kalalau Valley. It was so neat to see from above what we saw from below just that morning on our boat tour. 

(See why I am obsessed!?)

Our second hike of this day was from the Kalalau Valley Overlook. We took the Kalepa Ridge Trail, which is 2 miles roundtrip, but it was steep with sharp drop-offs and very hilly. You have to walk around a “trail closed” sign and around a metal railing that acts as a barrier, but the views were worth every rule we broke to see Kalalau Beach from above! It drizzled several times on us, and the rainbows were out of this world. (The almost complete 360-degree circle at the start of the post came from this hike; it was unbelieveable!)

We were muddy and tired after such a long, full day, so we grabbed a teriyaki burger at Bubba's in Poipu as they were closing up for the night. W enjoyed the slice of pineapple on the burger and the mixed basket of fries with onion rings, and Ryan liked his chocolate milk shake. We stopped at the hot tub before bed.

DAY THREE – SOUTH – Thurs, Sept 9 (Poipu & Koloa) 

We had only snorkeled with one turtle by this point, so we requested a late checkout and went to Koloa Landing in Hanakaape Bay. On our way, we stopped at Spouting Horn, a natural lava rock hole that waves crashed into and the water shot up. Each wave was followed by a breathy exhale, which reminded us a lot of the dragon at Yellowstone.

We had a hard time finding the best place to snorkel this morning and the water was COLD and murky, so it was a challenging morning. Ryan saw one turtle, but I didn't get to see any. :-(

After showering and checking out of the hotel, we headed to Koloa Fish Market for poke bowls. Ryan got smoked marlin, and I got seared ahi. So yummy! 

After some wandering and souvenir shopping in Koloa, we took an ATV Waterfall Tour. It lasted about 4 hrs, and we traveled about 23 miles off-roading by the Koloa Sugar Mill, along the Kahili Ridge, through an old sugar plantation, visited a bunch of movie sites, through deep Hawaiian jungle, toured an abandoned WWII bunker, and drove through a hidden ½-mile tunnel. We also had a snack and swam at 2 waterfalls where Ryan did a cliff jump. We thought this would be our muddiest day, but in reality, it was just our dustiest. 

We enjoyed some much-deserved shave ice @ Koloa Mill Ice Cream before heading to our new hotel in Lihue (Kauai Beach Resort & Spa). This night we opted to skip dinner and just snack on our granola bars after a trip to the hot tub. We were just so tired...

DAY FOUR – EAST - Fri, Sept 10 (Lihue & Wailua)

Up early again, we headed to Kalapaki Bay for our guided instruction in an Outrigger Canoe. Our guide lost his whole family to the Christmas 2004 Sri Lankan tsunami after the Indian Ocean earthquake. He was amazing, and we really enjoyed our ride. 

For breakfast afterwards, we headed to Lilikoi Grill. We shared macadamia nut pancakes with lilikoi (their word for passionfruit) syrup and a too-die-for Pipikaula omelet. Seriously so good.

Now we headed into Wailua River State Park, where we took another illegal hike down to the base of the 140-foot falls from the Wailua Falls overlook. It was short hike, but we followed a steep-sloped, MUDDY trail to bottom pool to swim. Previous hikers had tied ropes onto the trees to repel down, which is probably the only reason it was even possible. The best part was being able to hike around behind the falling water! 

We enjoyed some much deserved time swimming at the hotel in the afternoon.

Now it was time to clean up and head to the Smith Family Garden Luau. We took a tram ride to view the gardens and saw the Imu Ceremony (where they uncover the buried pig). Next was dinner, where the host sang in Hawaiian to all of us celebrating birthdays. The food wasn't incredible but the atmosphere made up for it! After dinner was the luau show. It was a great time to dress-up and enjoy some culture mixed in with all our other adventuring! 

DAY FIVE – EAST – Sat, Sept 11 (Wailua & Hanalei) 

Time to checkout of our 2nd hotel now! Our first adventure of this morning was with Wailua Kayak & Canoe Deluxe River Waterfall Picnic Tour, where we took a guided kayak tour two miles to a 1-mile hike to Secret Falls, which is only accessible by kayak. I liked this excursion, but we didn't like our guide (told Dad Jokes for 4 hours straight!) and the river, trail & falls were all super crowded. 

Our snack after this adventure was at @ Wailua Shave Ice in Kapa’a. It was the absolute best shave ice! We ordered Lilikoi (passionfruit) Cream & Almond Joy. For the Almond Joy, we added ice cream underneath, and there was fudge, toasted coconut and shaved almonds on top. AHHH-mazing! 

Onward! After a shoe-change in the car, we headed to the Opaeka’a Falls Overlook. Next up was the Sleeping Giant Trail - West. It was about 3-1/2 miles roundtrip and took us about 3 hours. The views were breath-taking, but I really struggled with the steep hike on uneven terrain across Nounou Mountain. So amazing from the top though! We could see the whole river valley we'd just kayaked, as well as the volcanic crater from our ATV excursion, and the wonderful turquoise beaches and cerulean ocean in all directions. Such a pretty place.

After our hike, we headed to Dolphin Restaurant for dinner in Hanalei. We had the Rainbow Poke Bowl for an appetizer, then shared teriyaki ahi with steamed vegetables for the main course, and finished up with Hawaiian Butter Mochi with lilikoi glaze and a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Seriously, the best dinner ever though super pricey! After a brief downpour, the rainbows were pretty stellar too. We even drove over to watch the yachts and sunset in Hanalei Bay afterwards.

We stayed in Princeville @ Wyndham Bali Hai Villas, where they gave us a 2-bedroom, 2-bath condo. It was a little sad to just have the two of us in such a perfect suite for our whole famly. We hit the hot tub to soothe our sore muscles and met two wonderful families, one from Lihue and the other from Seattle.

DAY SIX – NORTH – Sun, Sept 12 (Haena & Hanalei)

We grabbed a quick snack at the Hanalei grocery store, then parked in the Waipa Park & Ride to catch the 7:30am shuttle to Hāʻena State Park. 

From the State Park, we hiked 2 miles along the Kalalau Trail, starting near Ke’e Beach and hiking west along the Na Pali Coast. Two muddy, strenuous miles later, we arrived at Hanakapi’ai Beach. It is an extremely dangerous beach, so no swimming is allowed, but the sea caves and rocks to the left were awesome! 

We opted to utilized our last full-day snorkeling rather than continuing this hike to the Hanakapi’ai Waterfall (because hadn't we seen enough waterfalls by now?), so after a wardrobe change in the bathroom, we hopped back on the shuttle to go to Tunnels Beach.

 

Tunnels is a tree-lined beach near Haena County Beach Park, and we were able to spread out a blanket under the trees and snack on granola bars and trail mix for lunch. It is named for its underwater lava tube reef, and its fish and turtles didn't disappoint! We saw with one turtle and swam with him for about 5-minutes, and I was in heaven.

After some rest on the sand, we caught the shuttle back to our rental car, and headed to Hanalei Gourmet for dinner. We shared mahi fish tacos and fish & chips. We topped it off with dark chocolate cake and a scoop of vanilla ice cream. So much delicious food this trip! 

Wanting to catch as much of the beauty as possible, we walked to Hanalei Bay pier to watch the sunset. And, last but not least, we needed a bit more hot tub time to manage the soreness before some much-needed sleep. 

DAY SEVEN – NORTH – Mon, Sept 13 (Princeville & Kapa'a)

Our last morning! :-( Up early as always, we hiked to Queens Bath. It was a challenging 1-mile down a steep, muddy trail to a natural swimming pool set in the craggy lava coast of Princeville. Ryan jumped in and swam in this completely enclosed pool, which can be dangerous when the surf is rough but was perfect this morning.

After cleaning up and another late check-out, we enjoyed a snack @ Moloa’a Sunrise Juice Bar, which is a roadside stand. We didn't love their fruit juices, but other people claim they have the best fruit smoothies in the whole wide world. We had The Date With Fate & Passion Fruit Hoot. Meh.

Wanting to stay relatively clean for our red-eye flight, we did some souvenir shopping in Kapa’a. We walked along the beach on the Kauai Multi-use Trail, and we took a pic with the pineapple mural at Kauai Juice Co. We then walked about a mile to Kenji Burger for a mid-afternoon meal. Ryan had a katsu chicken sandwich, and I had my last ahi poke bowl. Man, I love those things.

After another mile walk back to our rental car, we treated ourselves to one last stop @ Wailua Shave Ice. This time we ordered another Almond Joy (of course!), and we tried the Lava Flow, which was pineapple juice and fresh strawberries with coconut foam on top. Seriously, why can't Mainland ice companies figure this out!? I'm talking to you, Kona! 

Sadly, all good things must come to an end. We returned our rental car and returned to the airport to start our long trek home. 

DAY EIGHT – TRAVEL – Tues, Sept 14

After 7 hours across the ocean and 2-1/2 hours from Denver, I went straight to bed at noon when we got home. We had a fabulous trip, and we are so glad we were able to get away to celebrate our big 40th birthdays. Thank you to Nana for keeping the kids, and to Mallory for staying pregnant a few days longer ;-) This sure is a beautiful planet! 

(The story goes that a hurricane blew through a long time ago, and a farmer's chickens got out. Now Kauai is overrun by wild chickens - on the beach, up in the mountains, on the lava rocks, among the food trucks and picnic tables - EVERYWHERE! There aren't any sea gulls, that we saw, but there are roosters cock-a-doodle-doo-ing ALL DAY LONG!)