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.

June 2010

Hello Everyone,
Tami's family (Mom, Aunt and brother) came to visit us for the past two weeks. Here's some pictures of their trip to the island. Most of these pictures are from the weekends because I had class during the week so I basically just went out for dinner with them during the week.

Well Tami and I got lots of fun car pictures because we just enjoy doing that. This is when we were leaving the parking garage to head to the North Shore.

This was when we were further down the road and out of the parking garage. Hahaha.

Tami and her brother, Jameson, are both dive certified so they went diving at Shark's Cove and myself, Tami's mom, Barb, and Aunt Sandy snorkeled.

This was the last time we saw Tami and Jameson before they came back up.

On our way back in we saw this huge sea turtle that just came up from between the rocks. It was so cool.

He was swimming to the surface to just chill.

He just hung out at the top of the water.

Also on our way back I saw the biggest pufferfish I have ever seen while snorkeling.

When we were done snorkeling and diving we headed back to Haleiwa and when to eat dinner at Jameson's By The Sea. So this is Jameson under the sign there.

We had to get a picture of all of us with drinks and everything. So from left to right its Jameson, me, Aunt Sandy, Barb, and Tami. Aunt Sandy and I both had the banana daiquiri and I would recommend it to anyone that likes bananas. It was very tasty.

After eating dinner we went down the road to Matsumoto's for some dessert. Aunt Sandy and Barb hung out in the car while we waited in line.

But of course waiting in any line for Tami and I always means a perfect opportunity for a photo.

But you gotta have a little fun because they can't all be just smiling. That is just too boring.

Getting very excited waiting in line.

The whole group with our shave ice. YUM!!!

The next day after going to the swap meet we headed back up the North Shore to Waimea Falls. Tami and I walked while the rest took the shuttle. We got there way before the rest did so again with the pictures.

We got Aunt Sandy and Barb up in front of the falls for a picture.

But before we got them up there Tami and I got up there for some pictures.

It is very hard (well at least for me) to keep your eyes open while up there.

This is our group picture in the water where we were trying really hard not to sink because we couldn't touch the bottom.

Had to take a group picture in front of the waterfall after playing in the water.

After the waterfall we headed to Turtle Bay Resort to Lei Lei's to try their oyster shots. It is an osyter, shrimp cocktail sauce and horseradish sauce. Tami, Jameson and I were the ones that tried them and all we could taste was the cocktail sauce but they weren't bad. I also got a Strawberry Lemon Drop to drink. After our appetizers we went to Giovanni's to have shrimp for dinner.

This was at dinner at The Chart House on the last night Tami's family was here. Tami just couldn't take a nice picture.

But we finally got one. It was lots of fun to have people over to visit. We helped them get around the island and they helped us move our stuff to the new place. Hope you enjoyed the pictures. Sending warm wishes and aloha kisses.