We are quite a ways from Knoxville...at the Pacific Air Museum
Welcome to Kauai!!
Many unique examples of flora and fauna most of which are not native to the island.
Allan and I recently returned from a two week trip to the breath-taking Hawaiian Islands of Oahu and Kauai. We landed in Honolulu and spent two nights and one full day exploring the island and taking in the sights at the USS Arizona Memorial and the Pacific Aviation Museum. Both of these Pearl Harbor attractions were amazing and even if you are not an aviation buff the Museum is a sight to be seen. We traveled around the island to take a look at the famous "Pipeline" on the North Shore, but the really huge swells don't occur until November. Allan figured even he could have surfed it the day we were there. A must-eat treat in the Waikiki Beach area is Puka Dog. These are Hawaiian-style hot dogs that are out of this world. Check out their website at http://www.pukadog.com/ to see how they make the Puka Dog so awesome. We also visited Duke's on the Beach our first night there and enjoyed the obligatory island style cocktail. Then we packed back up and headed over to the Garden Island, Kauai for the rest of our trip.
Drink of the Day at the Pool Bar - Mai Tai
Kauai was absolutely wonderful. We stayed on the North Shore at The Westin at Princeville Resort in Princeville. There is nothing big city about this entire island and I think they roll the sidewalks up at 10PM, but we didn't care because by that time we were getting some shut eye in preparation of the next day's adventures. We spent each day visiting one of the 45+ beaches on the island and visiting the small towns around the island such as Hanalei, our favorite and home of the delicious Bubba Burgers and Kapa'a, home to a bunch of art galleries and a terrific farmer's market (and also home to another Bubba Burgers). Some of the highlights of our trip were the helicopter tour over the island which included a waterfall-side lunch, tubing the irrigation ditches at an old sugar cane plantation and hiking up the Na'Pali Coast to a secluded beach. There were so many sights to see and it would take a long time to tell everything that we did, so I am including some photographs from our trip below. One word of caution: If you are afraid of chickens, do not visit Kauai. Chickens are everywhere and the roosters start crowing around 7AM. They made for a very interesting alarm each morning especially when I would be out on the balcony enjoying the morning sunrise or rainbow depending on the weather. Allan and I agree we will return to Kauai again soon. It is a fantastic place to relax, take photographs, enjoy a terrific meal, have fun with friends and make memories to last a lifetime.
Chickens...chickens...and more chickens
Hello Kitty visits with a kitty at the Fern Grotto on Kauai.
Plumeria
Taro field with waterfalls in the mountains. There wasn't much rain the first half of visit and when it rained the waterfalls became active.
Beautiful rainbow view from our balcony.
The awesome helicopter we toured the island in.
Secluded beach we hiked to on the Na'Pali coast.
View from the helicopter
Na'Pali Coast
Gorgeous fiery sunset from our balcony.
Postcard perfect sunset...again
Ke'e Beach- The end of the road on the North Shore of Kauai and the start of the Na'Pali Coast.
Spouting Horn at the southern end of the island
Serene beach accessed only by a somewhat treacherous trail straight down a shear cliff.
Good bye Kauai...see you again soon!!
No comments:
Post a Comment