Aloha!!!

When we were working on visiting all fifty states, we saved Hawaii for last. To be honest, we were worried that we had built it up so much in our imaginations that we would inevitably be disappointed when we actually got there. From the moment we arrived, we realized that our fears were completely unfounded and we fell in love with Hawaii. We went to the Big Island in 2004 and then to Oahu and Maui in 2007. We had always planned on visiting Kaua’i since it was the last of the four main islands of Hawaii (you know how we love to check items off our travel lists) and we decided to go before my spring semester started on January 21.

The first Saturday proved to be a long day! We left our house at 8 am for a 10:50 flight from Dulles to LAX. The five-hour flight passed rather quickly for me because I slept for almost of it. We landed in Los Angeles just before 1 pm and were faced with a pretty lengthy layover of more than four hours. We had lunch and then found an empty gate where we charged our phones and hung out until our 5:15 flight – unfortunately, there were no celebrity sightings.

The flight to Hawaii was pretty uneventful – the flight was not full, so we had an empty seat in our row. Having slept on the first flight, I was not tired and did not really know what to do with myself because I usually sleep on flights! I watched a couple of movies – Toy Story 3 on my iPad and Hachi on the plane’s screen – both of which made me sob and miss our dogs.  Clearly poor choices!

We landed in Kaua’i around 9:15 pm, picked up our rental car and headed to the condo we had rented. This was a first for us – we have always stayed in hotels. I wasn’t sure I would like staying in a condo, but I loved it. So much space and privacy and our balcony/view was fantastic!

Welcome to Kaua'i!

our Jeep for the week

kitchen

kitchen

dining room

living room

master bedroom

master bathroom

doors to balcony from master bedroom

second bedroom

second bathroom

view from our balcony when we woke on our first morning

sign outside our front door

sign outside our front door

sign at our beach

It was a phenomenal week. Kaua'i is absolutely breathtaking. We hiked, snorkeled (so many tropical fish!), swam, relaxed, and explored the island. Rainbows were spotted almost every day, which resulted in my shouting at C, "There's a rainbow!  Pull over so we can take pictures!" He kindly indulged me, but even when we couldn't pull over, I took pictures through the car windshield. Hours each day were spent gazing at the ocean and at gorgeous sunrises and sunsets. We saw whales in the distance every day and the stargazing was incredible, although the full moon was a tiny bit of a hindrance. Still, the moonlight lit up the beach at night and words fail me to describe what I felt as we admired the diamond-filled sky. Many planets were easily visible - Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune - at various times of the night and there were so many stars that it was difficult to identify some of the more common constellations. We also saw a shooting star, which is always magical!

this was taken at night
(note that the sidewalk lights are on)
and Jupiter is to the right of the moon

whale watching

whale watching

whale watching

whale watching

We were repeatedly amazed by the wonderful food we encountered, including literally the BEST pizza we have ever had - and considering we lived in Chicago, that is saying something!

we loved it here so much we ate here twice in two days

the most amazing margherita pizza we've ever had

license plates were everywhere inside the restaurant

Of course Hawaii is also famous for its Shave Ice.  Not "Shaved Ice." Shave Ice!  We tried a couple of different places, but our favorite was a place called Uncle's. The employees were wonderful and the shave ice was delicious!

Uncle's Shave Ice

banana

lime-lemon-cherry

watermelon-peach

Hawaii seems to be very animal-friendly...chickens and roosters roam freely all over the island and dogs are welcome on the beaches.

some friends we met on one of our strolls to the beach

a black-and-tan Dachshund frolicking in the sand

However, there were also a lot of what I believe are feral cats. The ones we encountered were very friendly.

hanging out in a parking lot

hanging out near a restaurant

Our favorite adventure of the week was driving to the beach at Polihale State Park near the Na Pali Coast. It was at the end of the roughest road I've ever been on...about five miles of road required almost an hour of driving. No joke! But the payoff at the end of such a muddy and jarring ride cannot be overstated. A beautiful deserted beach that stretched for miles in both directions. In all of that space, we saw only six other people. It was just fantastic! The ocean there is rough, with very large waves and the silence and solitude was magnificent. Unequivocally one of the best days of my life.

There is nothing I can write to capture the beauty and majesty of the island, so here are some photos of Kaua'i for your viewing pleasure:

On our last day, a rainbow hung in the sky and we watched the sunset on our beach before heading to the airport.  The red-eye flight to LAX and then a connecting flight to Dulles got us home at about 5 pm on Sunday.

Mahalo, Kaua'i, for a week we will never forget!

A big thank you - as always - to my mom for watching our four furry friends!

Happy Tails to you!