Day 25 – Golf Our Style

The morning started off with Mike trailing running the first 2 miles of the Kalalau Trail and I jogged from Ke’e back to the house, stopping off at Cannons Beach to some air squats and step ups on driftwood.

After a breakfast of fresh fruit and Kauai coffee, we headed off to play golf. Kauai has some of the best golf courses and we went to play on the newest course, Anaina Hou. We had a fabulous time playing on lush greens and surrounded by beautiful scenery.

Kauai Mini Golf was a fun little course to play.

P1020101 — oops got caught swearing at the ball

P1020099 — ball goes into the water hazard

P1020097 — Someone isn't happy with his putt

This was a great change of pace for us. I would recommend it if you are staying on the North Shore and need a break from sitting on the beach.

Afterwards we headed to Kilauea to pick up some more prize gifts (we ran a little facebook contest for our friends) and had lunch at Kilauea Bakery. We had a fresh turkey panini with a pumpkin carrot soup. I loved the soup because it was dairy free!! Ok, it tasted great too.

After that we hit the post office to mail off the packages and then drove down to Anini Beach.

After that we drove down the Hanalei Plantation road and drooled at a few of the houses that sit on the bluff overlooking Hanalei. AHHHHH to dream.

We then stopped in Hanalei, so I could check out clothes at Hanalei Trading Co. I picked up the cutest skirt.

We headed home to nap, catch up on the world, shower and cook dinner.

As usual we strolled to Tunnels to watch the sun do her thing.

After sunset, Mike whipped up a great little dessert, frozen cherimoya, pineapple, banana and lilikoi topped with toasted macadamia nuts and chocolate covered macadamia nuts. It was outstanding and refreshing.

Tomorrow we hike…but can’t decide yet where to, it will come to us…we will all have to wait until tomorrow to find out where we go.

August 4, 2011 0

Day 22 – Hanakapi’ai Falls

We hit the trail around 7:15 a.m. from Ke’e Beach. The parking lot wasn’t as crowded as it has been in the past. It was a nice sunny morning and the trail was fairly dry, not the mudfest it had been previously.

The view down the Napali Coast still takes my breath away, every time I look down it.

This was the first time we noticed this sign:

and of course my favorite sign on the trail:

We made it to the river crossing in an hour and 12 minutes. Pretty good time. Then we turned away from the beach and headed into the Hanakapi’ai Valley to the falls.

A little ways up the trail, you had the a good view of the interior of the valley.

As we hiked along, we noticed stone walls and terraces built by the ancient Hawaiians. This valley used to be used for farming taro.

Of course what would a hike be in Kauai without mud?

What was fun about this trail were the pockets of bamboo that would spring up.

We were able to pick our own fruit on the trail, mountain apples and strawberry guavas.

The trickiest part was crossing the river at Duke’s Pool.

We lost the trail marker and thought you had to cross higher up, where the current was strong. Mike crossed here, but I had minor freakout and then we located the right place to cross without a strong current.

P1010955 — duke's pool, cross before the pool, not after

We started to catch glimpses of the falls.

We only had a mere .25 miles to the falls. Once we arrived at the falls, only three other people were there, so we could jump in the water and be by ourselves.

P1010949 — Hanakapi'ai falls, yes you can swim in that pool

Now that was scary jumping in the water because the water was so cold, it literally stopped me breathing.

P1010940 — mike's swims around for a closer look

While Mike was swimming around, I sat on a rock and admired the falls.

We ate a brief snack and headed back down the trail. As we were leaving many people were just arriving at the falls. Good time for us to leave dodge.

With one last look at the falls, we hiked out of the valley.

On the way out, I grabbed some awapuhi to put in my hair.

I grabbed the head and just squeezed the goodness out of it and fingered it through my hair. We picked a few to take back with us. I did use it to wash my hair and the natural awapuhi is amazing.

Once we hit the Hanakapi’ai Beach the crowds were growing.

The groups coming in on the trail, slowed us going out. The only redeeming quality of going slower was turning back to look down the Napali coast.

The colors were stunning.

Our gps recorded the hike at 7.6 miles (though trail books say 8 miles) and a total of 5.5 hours (including stop time).

After we landed at Ke’e we ran into the water to cool off, then hit the outdoor showers. Once at home, we cleaned up more, ate lunch and I napped.

After dinner tonight, we slowly walked to the beach for sunset. Our bodies were feeling the effects of the hike. We sat with friends and watched the sunset.

August 1, 2011 1

Day 20 – A Day of Firsts

We had hoped to sleep in today, but at 3 a.m. a monsoon come pouring down, so we were awake. Then after the rain stopped the roosters made up for lost time by making a racket. So much for sleeping in, up around 6 a.m. and we sipped our coffee, catching up with the life we left behind.

Finally when we could get our motors going, we headed to Ke’e Beach for a stroll.

I came along my first of the day. A sea creature I hadn’t seen before.

I always love this view of looking at the Napali Coast in the morning.

After our morning walk on the beach we drove back to the house. We encountered another first for us, we picked up hitchhikers at Haena Beach Park. A couple older than us had been our running, but the Manoa Falls causes the road to flood here and they were concerned about crossing it. We gave them a lift to our house and they ran the rest of the way to where ever they were staying. Nice couple.

After that we were on the road to Koloa Plantation Day Parade. First though we had to make a stop at the KCC market in Lihue. We had never been to this market before and we had some firsts here.

I had my first ice coffee ever, by Moloa’a Coffee Company, the woman also gave us a yellow dragonfruit, a new fruit for us. Then we picked up some longans another first for us. This was a fun little market.

Finally we were going to make it the Koloa Plantation Day Parade to meet up with Eric and his family. Well that didn’t happen. The police must have had a miscommunication about parking. Police were detouring traffic telling us they will let you park at the other end. You get to that end and the police said, the other end is letting people park. We drove around a bit and finally the mess cleared up and we could park, but we missed the parade.

We found our friends in the tent, listening to Taiko Drummers, waiting for the comedians to start. I have never sat and listened to a live comedian before. We really enjoyed Augie T and Frank DeLima and hanging with our friends. I really had a good time playing with their baby.

After that we hit the Da Crack for some lunch. We chowed down at Poipu Beach Park. Again it was delicious and so filling.

After that we returned to the North Shore and went to see the Sand Castle Competition at Hanalei Bay. It should be called the Sand Art Competition. It was great family fun and another first for us.

It was fun walking around, checking out all the art.

We were tired and headed home. Mike decided our fruit trees needed some picking so a picking he went.

After that it was time for sunset. We walked down the road a bit.

And we had a friend join us for the sunset.

After a peaceful sunset, we sauntered home, only to find the cows having a fight across the street.

We had a grand time watching them, though I’m sure the cars passing by us thought we were nuts for watching cows. In Kauai, we enjoy each unique moment that is given to us.

Tomorrow we plan to be slugs on the beach and then I’m sure the week ahead will be full of hikes and more adventures. Maybe some more firsts?

July 30, 2011 0