Kauai Day 1

Hello Everyone,
So this past weekend I went to the island of Kauai with Tami and her family. We left Friday night after Tami was done with school and came back to Oahu late Sunday night. This blog is just the first day of our trip.
Tami and I were very excited to be leaving one rock to go to another. We were in need of a mini vacation for sure.

Here's us on the plane ready to go.

Here's Tami's family, Aunt Sandy, Barb, and Jameson. They got stuck next to crazy us.

Seriously the last picture before leaving the gate.

Yay!!! We made it to Kauai.

Welcome to Kauai...The Garden Island. Also the wettest islands of the Hawaiian islands.

See it was raining when we got there. This is after we finally found our condo that we were staying in. At first we went to the one that had been booked but due to some trouble with the owner of that condo we got an upgrade but had to go to another place. But after driving in circles we did finally find the place. They even gave us a fruit/snack basket. This condo was right on the beach in Lihue.

Tami took this picture of the moon the first night we were there. It was so beautiful plus we could hear the waves crashing since we were right there on the beach.

Here's pictures from Saturday morning when we woke up. It was still kind of rainy all day Saturday but it was still a good day.

We drove down the road to the Coconut Marketplace at ate breakfast Saturday at Eggberts. Their pancakes were quite delicious.

After breakfast we drove up towards the north shore.

Our first stop was the Kilauea Lighthouse and bird sanctuary.

It was very cool and there were birds everywhere.

Here's me with the lighthouse in the background.

Walking up to the lighthouse.

Here's the lighthouse that was built in 1913. It is no longer in use.

This is the bird sanctuary island that is off in front of the lighthouse.

It is kind of hard to tell but there are little white spots all over and those are all the birds.

This is a map of the island of Kauai. The yellow area on the right is Lihue where we stayed and flew in and out of.

Tami and I having a little bit of fun in the car, of course.

Barb, Tami and I in the back seat. We each had a map or book on our laps. There was a plumeria tree outside our condo so each morning we picked up some flowers to wear in our hair. You have to pick the fallen ones because its illegal to pick them from the tree.This is the Princeville Resort on the north shore.

Here's a hut that was on the beach as we were driving to Hanalei.

We had to drive on a bunch of switchbacks as we were driving to the end of the road.The crazy windy road we drove on.

I think this is part of the Wailua River but I'm not really sure it just looked cool.

Since it was raining we didn't get out here at Hanalei Lookout.

This is the picture that was in my book of what Hanalei lookout looks like when it is not raining.

This was the dry caves and below are the wet caves that we passed on the up the north shore.

Looking out to the road from the wet cave.

This is at the end of the road going up the north shore.

Here's one of the very few beaches on Kauai that you can actually swim at. The water is a lot rougher on this island so that's the reason that you can't swim most places.

At the end of the road to drive on is the Kalalau trail. This is the 11 mile trail that is featured in the movie, A Perfect Getaway. If Tami and I ever go back we're going to hike that trail.

Sounds like fun, right?

This is the start of the Kalalau Trail.

Since we were at the end of the road going north we headed back south. There were some waterfalls that we passed on the way up that we wanted to stop at. The first was Opaeka'a Falls which is pictured in the above picture. The water wasn't as full as we had seen in pictures but it was still cool.

Across the road we could see the Wailua River which a lot of people kayak and paddle board.

There are a bunch of kayakers on the left side of the river in the picture here.

I loved these purple flowers. They were very bright. This is looking to the shore over Kapa'a.

This is Wailua Falls which is a little further down the road from Opaeka'a Falls.

We ate lunch/dinner at Duke's Canoe Club in Lihue. They have a Duke's on Waikiki.

Here's a picture of Tami's mom and I enjoying our Duke's Signature Mai Tais. They were delicious.

After lunch/dinner we drove to the Koloa Rum Company. We did some shopping and rum tasting. We got to try their gold and dark rum along with their mai tai mix. We also got to try their rum cake and rum fudge. It was great.

After the rum tasting we decided to go to the Kauai Coffee Company.

Barb and Aunt Sandy in front of the Kauai Coffee Cafe. After leaving the coffee company we drove back to the condo to hang out for the rest of the night. Hope you enjoyed these pictures. Sending you warm wishes and aloha kisses.