Day 7 - Going home

Well, today's the day we head back. We got up at 8am and headed to Camp House Grill for one last meal. I had a hankering for some pancakes. The food was good as usual. That place just has that "home cooked" feel about it. It's like you're over at someone's house and they're waiting on you.

We made our way back to the room and loaded up the car. Everything went smooth today. From returning our rental car to catching our connecting flight. No problems at all. We slept, read, ate, watched a little bit of video on the laptop as we made our way back to Los Angeles.

The last little bit of excitement came with the taxi ride home. Taxi drivers don't like to give us a ride, because we live so close to the airport. It's a quick and relatively cheap fare. On top of the fact that LA cab drivers are a little nuts to begin with. I swear there must be some sort of test or process that weeds out all the normal people. The driver we got tonight was no different. He cursed and mumbled to himself and antagonized some guy that was driving slow in front of him as we were leaving the airport. Then later he nearly rear-ended a parked bus because he was turned around trying to tell me a story. The story of course revolved around the fact that he doesn't make that much money on short fares. Imagine that. If he gave up cab driving and wrote kids books, they'd be about the same thing. Regardless, he got us home in one piece. No extra charge for the "woe is me" story or the near death experience.

We're pretty beat from traveling all day and are about to hit the sack. We had an amazing time and have plenty of fond memories to look back upon. It's always nice when you know what you want to get out of a vacation and get exactly that out of it when all is said and done. We are refreshed and renewed. Life....carry on.

Day 6

D: Today was our last day in Kaua'i. We wanted to get an early start so we could get lots of swimming in. We were up, fed and out the door by 9am or so. Pretty good for us, since we've been more leisurely on this vacation.

We headed to Lydgate Park which we had checked out yesterday. We got there around 10am and headed to the water. There were a lot of people there, but it wasn't too crowded. There seemed to be a lot of older people and they seemed to be fond of cheap, brightly colored floats. L surveyed the water condition and gave the green light to get wet. We geared up and started swimming around.


This was the perfect area for her to brush up on her snorkeling. There was a man-made barrier that kept the waves out for the most part. This keep the water nice and calm. It was low tide so it was only about 4 feet deep at the most. We swam for about an hour or so and then had some sandwiches before heading out.

We drove to Kapa'a and stopped in to see the Hawaiian Blizzard Shave Ice man. He doesn't work weekends, so we were looking forward to today, since it was Monday. Well, sadly enough, he wasn't there. I remember reading something in our guide books about the "looseness" of his schedule. Even though we were disappointed it just added to the mystery that surrounds the shave ice man.

We got back on the road and headed towards the North Shore. The town of Hanalei was about 24 miles away, but the drive is pretty. Part of it takes you along the coast and part of it goes thru lush tropical forests.



We got to Hanalei and headed for the backup shave ice stand. This one was was called Shave Ice Paradise. We didn't have high hopes for this one, because it seemed like a tourist feeding ground. Being cautious, we got one and shared. It turned out to be ok. Better than Jo-Jo's (both of them), but no where near the level of perfection of Hawaiian Blizzard. Who'd thought there could be so much room for variation in the world of shave ice?

After downing the shave ice and a small salad from the nearby health food store, we made our way further up the coast to Tunnels Beach.

This beach was amazing. It's the beach you see in your mind when you think of a tropical beach. The water was clear with waves crashing in the distance. It's hard to capture the awe that we felt as we emerged from the small dirt road where we parked and stepped onto the sand.



It wasn't crowded at all. There were people here and there, but no one ever got in anyone's way. We found a spot to drop our beach gear and stood for a moment to observe the water. After analyzing the water patterns and spotting the safest spot to enter the water, we grabbed our fins and masks and were on our way.

Though this proved to be a more challenging area to snorkel, the payoff was worth it. There were lots of fish of all shapes, colors and sizes. The ocean floor was a mixture of rocks with open areas of white sands. As we snorkeled above all of this it felt like we were flying over an alien terrain. L did great again and seemed pretty comfortable as she swam around. There were a couple of moments where she got slightly nervous because water from a passing wave got in her snorkel, but she held up pretty well. I kept reminding myself that this was only the second day she'd gone snorkeling in her life. Not too mention she has little to no ocean experience at all. She's a trooper.

After a little while, I dropped L off at the shoreline and I headed out to do a little exploring further out. I'd overheard some guys mentioning that they'd seen some turtles. I wasn't sure where they saw them, but it was worth a shot. Before you get too excited, I didn't see any turtles. I did see a few more kinds of fish in some deeper waters and I saw where the sand shelf dropped off in the the black of the ocean depths. It was a little daunting to be floating right along the edge of it, but completely worth it. I kept checking on L as I was swimming around. She spent her time working on her technique in a smaller area near the shore. After a little more exploring I headed in.

I got the camera from the car and L and I took some photos and videos to try and capture just the slightest bit of the beauty that was around us. We got enough to ignite our memories down the road when we reflect back on this trip. One last look around and we packed up our stuff.

We drove about a mile down the road to a more public area where we washed off some of the salt water and sand. There was a large cave opening off to the side of the road. Like everyone else, we made our way over to it to check it out. It was a large opening about 20 feet wide and 10 feet high. the cave itself was a large circular "room" of sorts. It was about 100 feet deep and wide with maybe an 8-10 feet tall ceiling. We walked all the way to the back of the cave and looked around for a few moments. It was cool to think how much mountain was on top of us at that point.

After our few minutes in the cave we got back in the car and headed back to Hanalei. We shared an Ahi sandwich at the Polynesia Cafe. We'd gone there the other night, so we knew the food was reliable. Our other choices were pretty minimal in the quick bite to eat category. Pizza slices, chinese 2 or 3 item combos or Subway. After our little snack, we headed across the street to Java Kai for a cup of coffee and a muffin. It was a different crew working the coffee counter, but they were all still really friendly and helpful. We sat on the lanai and soaked in the fresh air while sipping coffee and nibbling on a pineapple muffin.

We were pretty much done with our goals for the day so we headed back. On the way we stopped at a couple of areas for a scenic view. One was a view of some farmland against the backdrop of some cloud covered green mountains.

Another was a beach along the highway that seemed popular with the local surfers. We watched them navigate thru the chaotic waters while they looked for the next wave. As we were leaving it seemed more and more locals were showing up with their boards.

The last stop before we got back to our room was at Mark's Place. It's a restaurant that'd we'd read about. We discovered that they had a location near where we were staying. They serve a mix of Hawaiian style foods which is what we wanted for our last meal on our last day. We got a combo plate that had brown rice, fried chicken, chow mein, macaroni salad and chicken adobo. The styrofoam to go container must've weighed 5 lbs., and for only 6 bucks it was a deal.

We got back to the room we had things to take care of. We packed up our stuff, got cleaned up and ate our Hawaiian take out food feast. It was a great way to round out a trip that'll definitely go down in the books as one of our favorites.

Last on the list....pancakes with a gecko.

Day 5

L: We got out the door this morning by 9am and headed to the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Poipu for the breakfast buffet. As we were leaving the Inn we saw the cutest small black bunny along the side of the driveway. I asked D to pull up to it so I could take a picture of it. I thought for sure it was going to run away, but it just kept eating and looked at us. If I could I would take it back home with us. It was that cute. But that dog we saw the other was really cute, too. Hmm.....

D: The buffet was awesome. The Grand Hyatt was awesome. I don't know what I was rambling on about yesterday when I was talking about resorts and tourists and all that stuff. It must've been something in that fresh island air as it cleaned out the smog in my head. We sat in a large high ceiling dining room with large floor to ceiling doors that opened up to the outside overlooking the landscaped grounds of the Hyatt and the Pacific Ocean. Simply amazing.

The food was great, too. We had a variety of fruits, eggs, seafood hash, potatoes, juices, coffee cakes and danishes, bacon, etc. It was ridiculous and difficult to know where to start. I did have to laugh at one point though. As I was in line filling my plate, there was a lady behind me distraught at the fact that they weren't offering hash browns. She mumbled in disbelief to herself for a few moments. I pointed out the thick cut potatoes with onions and peppers to her and she was uninterested. Just then someone else she was with showed up and she proceeded to tell them about the the lack of hash browns. I was in awe. Here is this woman in a beautiful resort in an exotic locale with as much gourmet food as she could eat at her finger tips and all she can do is go on about them not offering hash browns. Simply amazing. At that moment, I felt bad for the people that worked at the Hyatt. The fact that they had to deal with these sorts of people on a day to day basis is a tough one to swallow. I don't know how they do it, because all I wanted to do was throw scrambled eggs at the lady.

I relayed this little experience to L when I sat down. Her take on it was that the thick cut potatoes that were offered probably seemed too much like a real vegetable to the lady. It made me laugh, because she was probably right. Scary.

After we ate, we walked around the Hyatt grounds for a bit to check it out. Pretty amazing stuff. There's was a man-made lagoon that you could kayak in. The place was landscaped with all manners of tropical plants with walking paths everywhere. The pool had a waterslide at one end. There were some restaurants on the lagoon. All of this was flanked by the rooms and suites that they offered. I realized that a resorts like this have their place. There's nothing wrong with dropping some dough and letting yourself get spoiled every once and a while. Live like a king, just don't forget there's a world out there. It all comes down to balance.

L: After breakfast and our self guided tour of the Hyatt we drove to Mahaulepu Beach. It was within 10 minutes of the hotel. Part of the drive there was on an unpaved bumpy road, but not nearly as bumpy as the drive to Polihale Beach. The part of the beach we walked to was secluded and beautiful. It was quite windy and the waves higher than we'd seen so far. The area reminded us of central California's coast.

We took some short videos of ourselves. D is holding an umbrella in one. It was my sun shade at Polihale Beach and today at Mahaulepu Beach. The sun is strong here and I wilt easily in the heat.

D: On the way back we stopped off at a small roadside produce stand we'd stopped at before. L got some papaya and some apple-bananas (small bananas). We made our way back to the room to get our stuff ready to go swimming. Which is exactly what we did, right after we woke up from our food-coma-nap. Now that's what a vacation is all about, being able to live like a two year old again. Eat. Play. Sleep. Etc.

We finally got out there door and on the road. We were heading to a beach on the east coast about 15 miles away called Lydgate Park. On the way we made a couple of sightseeing stops. The first was Wailua Falls. It's a huge waterfall that's famous for being featured in the opening credits of Fantasy Island. We took a couple of pictures and then continued on.

The second stop was another waterfall called Opaeka'a Falls. This was a smaller waterfall and the vantage point was farther away. I guess it didn't make too much of an impression on us because we didn't even break out the camera for it. Still nice to see and only a few minutes out of the way.

It was around 2:30pm and we finally made our way to the beach to swim. Lydgate Park proved to be very large and very popular, especially with picnicking families and other festive large groups. L suggested that we go check out the swimming area before we got all of our stuff out of the car. The weather wasn't quite holding up the way we were hoping. It was a bit overcast and pretty windy.

Not many people where in the water, but there were a few. One was a chubby kid who was attempting to ride his boogie board standing up at the water's edge. He wiped out a couple of times to our amusement. He finally found success when he altered his technique to lying on his stomach instead of standing. And for what it's worth, his tall skinny friend was trying the same thing and kept wiping out. Husky kids unite.

After testing the water and staring at it for a little bit, we decided to forego swimming for the day and take a walk instead. Lydgate Park was a pretty large public park that stretched along the shore for at least a mile or so. It had a paved path that ran along the beach as well as around the various sports fields and play areas. We walked along and took some random pictures while enjoying our surroundings. After a while we headed back to the car and began planning our next food excursion. We browsed thru our guide books in search of our next prey.

L: We had read about Duane's Ono-Char Burger in a couple of books and it was mentioned in a local paper's list of Best Burgers in Kauai. This could have been all marketing, but if a place is mentioned as being popular with locals we'll check it out. I really wanted Hawaiian food, but most places were closed on Sunday that I wanted to visit. Duane's would have to do. We passed it as we drove up to Anahola. It's address is "on the highway" in Anahola. Luckily D noticed it and we turned around. It was a small red shack and as we pulled up there was a clown at the window ordering. A real clown in a costume. It was a funny site. We tried not to stare so he wouldn't feel self conscious. D did however take a picture of him while he wasn't looking. We ordered cheese burgers w/ onion rings. The burgers were good. They had a charbroiled flavor from grilling. Onion rings were huge and crispy-not soggy. High marks for the little shack.

We sat under a table w/ an umbrella while it rained and watched various animals-chickens, cats, ducks "foraging" for the fries and onion rings people left behind. It seemed so unnatural for them to being eating fried food! For the record, we did not feed them. The onion ring getting mauled in the video is from someone else.

D: On our way home we stopped off at the Kapa'a branch of Java Kai to grab a cup of coffee for the ride home. We also made a quick stop at a supermarket to pick up a couple of things to snack on later as well as tomorrow. Food. Food. Food. It's necessary for life.

We got back to our room earlier than we had in the previous days. We cleaned up, checked emails, updated the blog and read thru our guide books to figure out the game plan for our last day tomorrow.

I also watched some more of "Cosmos War of the Planets". I can't tell if the trouble I'm having understanding the film is because it's a cheap hack of a film wrought with bad editing or if it actually defining a new level avant garde and I'm too stupid to comprehend it's genius. L doesn't seem to have an opinion one way or the other. She justs laughs at the funny sound effects every now and then while she's reading thru the guide books and listening.

We topped off the night with a slice of chewy chocolate mac nut pie from the Camp House Grill. A little bit of vanilla ice cream to keep it company and I am now officially a glutenous pig. And now my friends, I am two years old again and ready for night night time.

Day 4

D: Today was one of those days without a real plan. The kind of day when we really didn't know what we were doing from one hour to the next. Here's how it unfolded.

It all started with some breakfast in our room. Actually, it really started with some roosters crowing around 5am, but ear plugs and some half-awake meditation have me almost convinced that they don't exist. Anyway, having the full kitchen has really been handy. It's nice to be able to make your own coffee in the morning without having to go anywhere and get dressed for that matter.

Over breakfast we decided to head west. There's a beach area out there called Polihale State Park that is literally at the end of the road. So we packed up some supplies for the day and headed out. On the way there we passed thru Waimea again. We were familiar with the area since we'd been here the other day when we went to Waimea Canyon. As we were driving we started thinking about where we'd be eating when we returned from Polihale. We decided upon a place called the Shrimp Shack. All they serve is shrimp prepared various ways. Pretty much a no brainer.

As we neared Waimea, we decided we could just stop at the Shrimp Shack first and share something. Some human fuel for the drive and eventually beach walk. The pictures pretty much tell the whole story. Order at the window. (We chose sweet chile and garlic shrimp.) Wait a few minutes. Pick up food. Eat. It's pretty apparent when L and I like something we are eating, because the conversation pretty much ceases. Not much was said once we got our food at the Shrimp Shack.

The drive to Polihale was pretty straight forward for the most part. Until, that is, we got to the "end of the road". That's where we were presented with the last leg of the drive which was an unpaved 5 mile pot hole extravaganza. We had been forewarned by some friends about this part of the drive so we were prepared. We had rented a 4WD vehicle just for such an occassion. It took us about half an hour, but we arrived in one piece and lunch intact.



Polihale State Park was amazing. Possibly the best beach I've ever been on. It lies along the west coast of Kaua'i. It stretches for nearly 15 miles. It's sandwiched between the beginnings of the Na Pali coast to the north and the Pacific Missle Range Facility to the south. You stand on the beach and you are surrounded by some pretty incredible mountains.

It was pretty hot out and shade was not an option. You're pretty much required to where some sort of shoes while walking on the sand so you don't scorch your feet. We walked along the water's edge for a good half hour or so. It was the weekend so there were a few small groups of people around. Most of them had tents and campsites setup up for the weekend.



Once the sun had taken it's toll we headed back. The drive out was just as bumpy only this time we discovered a few things. Putting our seatbacks down and sitting upright along with driving slightly faster (believe it or not) provided for a somewhat less jarring ride. L also added the technique of holding her arms out in front of her. She looked like she was on a rollercoaster.

We stopped off in Waimea again for some shave ice. This time instead of going to Jo-Jo's, we opted to try it's newly opened rival... Jo-Jo's "Original" Shave Ice. I don't know all the details, but there's definitely some drama involved with this new shop opening up a mere stone's throw away. L and I guess that it involves a broken heart with a twist of bitterness. However it came to be doesn't really matter, because Jo-Jo's "Original" was pretty much exactly the same as Jo-Jo's. And that amounts to merely an "average" shave ice experience. Though I was glad that this Jo-Jo's actually had azuki beans, which went quite well with the tropical flavors suggested by the lady behind the counter.

On the way back to the room we passed thru Hanapepe and I abruptly pulled the car over. The reason, I can't quite explain. You can look at the pics and create your own explanation for the oddity that lay in front of the lens of my trustly little Nikon Coolpix. "Haunting" is about the only word that comes to mind for me.

Further down the road we stopped off at Salt Pond Beach. It was described as being more of a local's beach. It definitely had that feel. It wasn't too crowded and the people that were there seemed like they'd been going there for quite a while. We might go back ourselves since the surf wasn't too crazy and it might be a good place for L to practice.

When we pulled into Salt Pond Beach we heard a noise coming from one of the tires. Turns out we'd run over a screw and it was stuck in one of the tires. The tire was fine and wasn't losing any air, but we wanted to get it taken care of if possible. Luckily enough, on the way back we came upon a service station right across the road from the Camp House Grill. I asked the guy if they'd be able to plug the tire and how much it'd cost. He said it'd be no problem and cost 10 bucks. That sounded fair to me so I let him do his thing.

While he was fixing the tire, his friend was standing next to him. He struck up a conversation and turned out to be pretty friendly. Not "shave ice man" friendly, but friendly nonetheless. We ended up talking to the two guys for about 20 minutes or so after the tire was fixed. One of them had lived in LA briefly years back and was comparing it to life in Hawaii. It was interesting to get some local insight to life on the island and how it's changing. We found out where all the white people live. He said that the next time we came back to Kaua'i to come find them and they'd show us the real Kaua'i. I invited ourselves over to his house for dinner the next time we were here. He said okay, and the thing is....he really meant it.

With the tire fixed, we headed back to our room. We got cleaned up and decided to try and catch the sunset. This lead us to an area just down the road that is littered with various resorts. And where there's resorts, there's tourists. When I go to these sorts of areas I start to feel a little dirty. I know I'm one of them, but I try to avoid the places that exist solely for tourists. The reason for this is that they ultimately all feel the same. A touristy resort area in Kaua'i feels pretty much the same as a tourist resort in Costa Rica or anywhere else. They tack on a layer of plastic knick knacks and try to pass it off as local culture.

We'll be going there tomorrow morning. There's a breakfast buffet that's got my name written all over it. Go figure.

It wasn't much of a sunset since we're on the south part of the island. Not to mention an over abundance of billowy clouds obscuring the could-have-been-magical moment. We did get to see the Spouting Horn. It's a local attraction where ocean waves slam into the rocky shoreline. Water shoots up high in the air at one point as it's forced thru some natural lava holes in the rocks. It's pretty interesting. The tourists love it. We did too, for about 2 minutes.

The rest of the evening unfolded with another trip to Wal-mart. You see, I wasn't kidding about the buffet. I'm going to eat myself sick tomorrow morning and I'm going to look the part when I'm doing it. I needed a shirt with buttons and a collar, something that none of the 5 or so t-shirts that I packed for this trip manage to have. Wal-mart to the rescue again. No harm, no foul. Oh and I also picked up a DVD for a buck. L pointed it out that the register when we were checking out. It's called "The Sci-Fi Invasion". It's got 4 movies on one disc. That's 330 minutes of "who the hell knows what" sci-fi glory.....for a dollar.

After a quick discussion on the way to the car. We decided to pick up something for dinner. I left the decision up to L since I wasn't too hungry. I still had a chocolate mac nut cookie doing laps in my coffee filled stomach so I was going to sit this one out. She decided on a burger from Camp House Grill.

As we waited for them to put our order together we realized that they served breakfast as well. I grabbed one of their breakfast menus and we looked it over for future reference. Pretty standard fare, but eating it in a place with such atmosphere and charm as the Camp House Grill made it even more appealing. There's a fake wood chicken that sits in the green light section of an old traffic light in an area next to a stuffed deer head that is patrolled by a live tailless gecko that lives behind one of the framed photos on the wall. I'm definitely having pancakes at this place before we leave.

We got back to the room. L ate her burger. I had a little bit of a salad while watching some of my sci-fi DVD. "Cosmos War of the Planets" was first up. Must've missed that one when it was out at the theatres. So far this one astronaut just died because he got battery acid on his space suit while he was doing a space walk. I shit you not.

That about covers today. I've got to wrap this up so I can get some rest for tomorrow. Buffet is only 8 hours away.

Day 3

D: Damn this bed is comfortable! We woke up today to the sound of roosters off in the distance. Had a quick breakfast in the our room and got ready for our time at the beach. On the way down the driveway to the main road we saw a little dog in the driveway. He seemed excited to see us driving up to him so L took a picture of him. He looks like he's smiling.

We've seen some interesting things in the driveway over the past few days. One of them being a coconut lying in the middle of the driveway. Not entirely strange, but we were struck at the size of this thing. About the size of a watermelon. This thing could have done some serious damage to someone walking or driving by. The other thing we saw was a chicken mother and her little chicks walking around looking for food. She quickly lead them off into the hillside as I stopped to photograph them. I guess these things only stand out to us since we're just visitors. To a local these sorts of sights are part of the every day.

We headed down to Poipu to go swimming for the first time. We chose this area because it's a good "beginner" area for getting used to the water conditions in general. L is still learning to swim so we weren't looking for 6 foot swells.

She did great though. We did some snorkeling and swam for about 2 hours. We saw about 10 different kinds of fish. A good starter experience to whet our appetites. Towards the end of our time their L seemed to be getting pretty comfortable. I was very impressed, as this was the first time that her and I have even gone to a beach together AND actually swam in the ocean.

We headed back to the room to get cleaned up. After some hot showers and a light snack we were on the road again. This time we were heading up the east coast of the island with intentions of making it to the North Shore.

We sort of casually made our way along the highway. We stopped at a Sunshine Market to check out some local produce. Sunshine Markets are pretty much small scale farmers markets held for a few hours in different parts of Kaua'i though out the week. L picked up some papaya and rambutan, a fruit that looks like it came from the pages of a Dr. Seuss book. We saw a handful of fruits and vegetables that we weren't familiar with.

There was a guy there with a pickup truck full of coconuts, straight from the tree. He had a large hatchet type knife that he used to whack off part of the coconut so you can drink the juice inside. This took a little effort, but this guy had the look and was definitely up to the task. Definitely worth the dollar that it cost to get one of these things.

Though afterwards, L decided she didn't like the taste of the juice and dumped it when we got back to the car. I don't know, maybe it wasn't ripe. Whatever the case it was cool to see the guy in action.

We continued our drive up the coast and ended up in Kapa'a. This was a slightly more urban section of the island. By urban I mean that it had a few strip malls, a movie theater and a Taco Bell. We stopped off at the Kaua'i Village Shopping Center which ultimately was a strip mall. We grabbed some lunch from the hot bar at a health food market. It was surprisingly tasty. It actually could give similar places like it in Los Angeles a run for their money. I got my afternoon coffee fix from a nearby Vietnamese restaurant, also in the strip mall. The place was empty since it was around 3 o'clock, but they had Vietnamese ice coffee and it was damn good. I slowly savored it as I followed L around as she shopped for some flip flops. There was a particular brand that is only sold in Hawaii. She eventually found them in Long's Drug Store.

A quick minute or so up the road and we were at our next destination....oddly enough, it was a strip mall. We were looking for Hawaiian Blizzard, a shave ice stand. (By the way, it is "shave ice" and not "shaved ice". I'm sure some research on Google would confirm and explain why this is. For now, just go with it.) This one was very small and only given a sentence or two in one of our guide books. We found it thanks to a very attentive L. We were looking for something more substantial than the small cart that it turned out to be. Regardless, we got two things out of visiting this shave ice cart. One, we got the best shave ice I've ever had. Granted this was only the second Hawaiian style shave ice that I've ever had, but this one was definitely the best. It lived up to the expectations that I'd built up in my mind for "real" Hawaiian shave ice. It was like eating fresh snow sweetened with the finest artificial sweetener, flavors and coloring you can imagine. I didn't care, because it was simply awesome. The second thing we got out of visiting this stand was getting to meet the absolutely friendliest and nicest man I've ever come across in my entire life. This guy made the Dalai Lama look a little mean. It was a sincere niceness though, not some forced smile and insincere thank you. This guy made you feel special for stopping by his stand and spending 2 bucks for some ice and cheap colored syrup. If you're ever in Kaua'i you owe it to yourself to visit this guy. We'll be going back again before we leave. Stay tuned for an update.


Next stop was Hanalei. This is a town located in the North Shore of Kaua'i. I didn't expect much out of this town, especially after driving thru it's neighboring town, Princeville. Hanalei was great. It seemed to find a healthy balance between being a tourist trap and a functioning living breathing ocean town in Hawaii. We had coffee and a muffin from a local coffee shop. Even though they were about to close in 10 minutes the ladies behind the counter were super friendly and personable. Not something we're used to in LA.

As I was sitting there sipping on a descent cup of coffee I watched the sun lower in the sky behind very plump clouds. The wind was blowing and it was green, lush and tropical everywhere I looked. I finally felt like I was on vacation. It's like when you're eating a great meal and there's that one culminating bite that defines the meal itself. That moment sitting on the lanai of Java Kai in Hanalei was when it finally sunk in for me. It was a good feeling.

L and I took a short walk on the nearby beach. The sun was setting behind the mountains and made it look like they were slowly catching fire on the other side. There were about 20 surfers in the water waiting for waves. It seemed like more of a social gathering since there weren't really any waves to ride. Occasionally, one of them would catch a small wave and milk every last bit out of it.


It was nearing dinner time, but we weren't quite hungry so we headed down the road. We wanted to drive to the very end of the main highway. The road doesn't wrap around the entire island. You can only go so far in each direction. It was a windy road and the speed limit was 25mph most of the way. It felt pretty remote and just when we'd think that no one lived that far out, we'd come across a handful of houses that looked quite comfortable where they were.

The end of the road was a parking lot of a state park. We stopped there and watched the water for a few minutes from the car. It was getting dark and the mosquitoes were out on the prowl. Once our view got blocked by a local trash collector we headed back down the road to Hanalei to get some dinner.

We ate at a place that a friend recommended. They tout themselves as having gourmet food that's served on a paper plate. They were a bit pricey for a place where you order at the counter and pretty much wait on yourself, but it was worth it. I had the mac nut crusted Ahi with some sort of pesto sauce. L had an Ahi sandwich. We washed it all down with a Ginger Lemonade that was so gingery that it put hair on my chest hairs. Tangy goodness.

The drive back to our room was uneventful. It took a little over half an hour due to the speed limit on the island with some scattered rain thrown in for good measure. All in all, a nice full day.

Good night shave ice man.