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.