Paul & Libby's World of Travel » Hawaii

Day #10: Kauai & To Home

Paul — Tue, 22 Mar 2016 15:55:07 +0000

Since this was our last day, we changed our routine a bit to allow time for packing and a last trip to the hotel’s beach (as Emerson wanted to build a sand castle). This made for a fairly relaxed morning and we weren’t especially in a rush knowing our flight wasn’t departing until a little after 9:30 that night.

We checked out of the hotel around 11:30 and headed out to see some of the sights in central Kauai that I’d reserved for this day. This included visits to a couple of fairly impressive waterfalls, namely Wailua and Opaekaa Falls.

Opaekaa Falls

From there, we headed down to Lydgate Beach Park. It has an impressive beachfront and protected swim area, but we were visiting to allow Emerson to play at the Kamalani Playground. And, while the playground is impressive, the Kamalani’s “Play Bridge” a bit further down the trail was unlike anything I’d ever seen. Needless to say, Emerson was very impressed:

Emerson loved this!

After the park, we visited the modest in size yet impressive in quality Kauai Museum. The collection provides an overview of native Hawaiian life, the state’s royal history, the island’s natural history, and a sense of the multi-ethnic backgrounds that make up Hawaii’s population today.

Kauai Museum

Following our visit to the museum, we returned to our hotel to have dinner at again Duke’s (which is hard to beat in terms of quality and ambiance) and gelato at an excellent little place that we’d discovered called Papalani Gelato. This made for a short drive to the airport to return the rental car and get checked in. Our flight left on time and everyone slept fairly well en route to Los Angeles.

I’m writing this final blog post at LAC during our 4 hour layover before heading to Tampa. Unless something interesting happens on the way home, I’ll probably make this my final post of the trip.

It was really good to return to Hawaii after all of these years and even better to share it with the girls, who really seemed to enjoy it. It’s much as I remembered it… though my memory was clearly more impressionistic than vividly detailed in some respects. We could have easily and happily spent another week, and I’m fairly confident that we’ll return in the future, if possible.

Aloha and mahalo, Hawaii!

Day #9: Kauai (North)

Paul — Sun, 20 Mar 2016 19:05:05 +0000

Today, we made the drive to northern shore of Kauai to the Princeville, Hanalei Bay, and Haena State Park area. At a few points, we experienced a little drizzle but otherwise had good weather. The surf was really up on Kauai’s north shore, making for some impressive vistas:

Surf on Kauai

Unfortunately, pictures don’t really do it justice, as the scale of the waves (some 20 feet high at certain points) was difficult to capture.

Not safe for swimming…

In Haena State Park, we visited the Maniniholo Dry Cave, which is safe to enter and explore with children.

Maniniholo Dry Cave

On our way back, we stopped in Hanalei for lunch at Puka Dog (a purveyor of Hawaiian style hot dogs that feature a special garlic sauce, tropical fruit relish, and mustard — all squeezed into a cored rather than sliced hot dog bun):

Puka Dog!

After this, Emerson and I shared a shave ice:

Emerson’s stawberry shave ice …

We spent the late afternoon at the hotel’s pool and grabbed dinner near the hotel.

Day #8: Kauai (South)

Paul — Sat, 19 Mar 2016 19:30:16 +0000

Today, we headed for the southern side of the island. We started out by picking up some coffee and malasadas (a Portuguese hole-less, yeast donut that has been embraced as part of the cultural stew that comprises Hawaii after successive waves on immigration). The donuts were pretty good: very reminiscent of my family’s German fasnacht tradition and of a similar pre-Lenten donut origin.

We enjoyed breakfast at Poipu Beach Park, where we intended to swim and try snorkeling again. To make things easier for Emerson, I bought her a “boogie board with a window” to toe her around, and I have Libby some snorkeling lessons the prior day in the comfort of our hotel’s pool. This was a partial success: Libby found the snorkeling much more enjoyable, but Emerson struggled a bit with the board as we had a little surf to contend with.

After the beach, we picked up food for a picnic lunch and drove to Waimea Canyon, aptly called the Grand Canyon of the Pacific and another example of the diversity of the Hawaiian landscape:

En route to the canyon…

Waimea Canyon

From Waimea, we continued up the road to Kokee State Park where we did a nature walk and got to see a glimpse of the largely inaccessible (unless you have a boat or a helicopter) Na Pali Coast:

Na Pali coastline from Kokee State Park

On the way back to our hotel, we stopped at the Kauai Coffee Company and sampled a variety of their offers, all of which were pretty good. Indeed, I might join their coffee club. After a dip in the hotel’s pool, we picked up take-out Chinese and ate it on the balcony off of our suite’s living/dining room.

Day #7: To Kauai

Paul — Fri, 18 Mar 2016 22:30:56 +0000

The morning started with breakfast, a bit of packing / repacking, dropping of the rental car, and checking in for our slightly longer flight to Lihue, Kauai. Although the distances aren’t great between the islands, you lose approximately 1/2 a day unless you fly out really early in the morning or really late at night going through the airport rituals. That’s probably the greatest downside to island hopping. The benefit, however, is building a richer tapestry of appreciation for the islands.

Like Maui, we arrived a little before noon, grabbed our luggage, and picked up out rental car at National. Since we could “pick any car” with national, Emerson sold us on a cherry red Ford Mustang convertible — not awful for a mere $34 per day!

Coming from the airport, we stopped by Fish Express for a proper, no frills Hawaiian lunch plate like the locals eat. We then went to a local park and had a bit of a picnic, where we got to experience Kauai’s now (in)famous wild chickens up close and personal. According to perhaps an urban legend, it seems that these chickens really blossomed following the landfall of Hurricane Iniki in 1992 — though wild chickens are found on every island, Kauai does seem to have an outsized share of them.

Our car and Kauai’s wild chickens…

After checking into our Marriott Beach Resort hotel (decent room, underwhelming “oceanview”), we ran a few additional errands for beach and food supplies and then spent the remainder of the afternoon lounging by the pool.

For dinner, we went to Duke’s an enjoyed good food and drinks in a really nice beachside setting.

Libby and her “Lava Flow”

Day #6: Maui R2H & Beyond

Paul — Thu, 17 Mar 2016 22:00:54 +0000

This morning we woke up early to drive the Road to Hana (R2H), which is a narrow, curving, single-lane bridge festooned roadway to (unsurprisingly) the town of Hana on the lush, windward side of the island. I sort of vaguely remembered it from childhood (having not paid especially close attention to driving conditions as a kid), but I figured that I was either brave or stupid enough to just go with it as an adult.

The drive and environment really is spectacular. Neither words nor pictures can do it justice. It must be experienced firsthand to really appreciate it. There’s also a lot to do along the way; thus, we were a bit forced to make decisions about what to do and what not to do. We opted from the Garden of Eden Arboretum (totally worth the proverbial and literal “price of admission”), the (not so) Secret Falls, and the Wai’anapanapa State Park (for lunch, seaside lava caves and blow hole, and black sand beach).

View from Garden of Eden

Wai’anapanapa State Park

After lunch, we arrived in the small town of Hana and faced a decision: return via the route we’d come or press on to “The Beyond” (which I’ve heard might not even be approved for rental cars to traverse). Having managed the R2H without any white knuckle moments, we opted to press on and make the full circle.

The scenery–though less lush–was as or more spectacular. The road–about a lane and a half at its widest, unpaved or poorly paved in parts, and blocked occasionally by cows–might have been a bit too much for some, but I didn’t mind the drive. Our Buick SUV handled it fairly well (though a smaller car would’ve been nice).

Driving “The Beyond” in Maui

After completing this lap, we drove up the mountain we’d been circling for the better part of the day: the 10,000 ft volcano called Haleakalā, which means “House of the Sun.” This too is a spectacular drive, especially on a day like today with a cloud layer between the base and the peak that you get to drive through on the ascent.

Into the clouds…

Above the clouds…

Amazing! It’s like driving your car to heaven.

The summit is pretty amazing too. The crater of the volcano looks more like the surface of the moon. This, of course, is even more spectacular when juxtaposed with the tropical lushness and sun-baked brush that we’d see but a few hours prior on different sides of the same mountain.

View from the summit…

Libby and Emerson at the top!

For dinner, we ate at a local Mexican place called Amigo’s. It was surprisingly good and all the more so after a long day!

Day #5: To Maui

Paul — Wed, 16 Mar 2016 22:00:33 +0000

Like yesterday, this morning started with a work-related phone call followed by breakfast. I also discovered that Hertz overcharged me (by double!) for my rental car… and the Hertz customer service folks really pissed me off by not being able to correct it immediately, refusing to let me talk to a supervisor, and telling me it might take up to 7 days to correct. Well, having rented countless cars and spent thousands of dollars with Hertz, fuck them, I say. I cancelled my subsequent reservations and switched to National. This saved me a few hundred dollars in rental fees and took $1000 out of the pocket of Hertz.

We left our hotel around 7:30 for our brief (20 minute or so) flight to Maui. All was very smooth with Hawaiian Airlines. We arrived in a rainy Maui on time, grabbed our luggage, and picked up our rental car.

We then proceeded to get an awesome cup of coffee (Maui Red) at the Wailuku Coffee Company and picked up lunch for Emerson. To avoid the rain, we drove up the leeward side of the island to visit the town of Lahaina. Although windy (which amazingly drove a light rain from clouds seemingly miles away), Lahaina lived up to its reputation as a town bathed in sun. We visited the small museum in the courthouse, had some high quality ice cream, and generally strolled around the quaint but slightly touristy town.

Courthouse / Museum

Downtown

For dinner, we drove to Wailea for dinner at Migrant, a restaurant by Top Chef contestant Sheldon Simeon. The food was both inventive and outstanding with the highlight being the “bottom of the plate lunch” cabbage salad with puréed macaroni salad and kalua pork “chews.”

Fried Brussels Sprouts

Tocino, Filipino Sweet Pork

“Bottom of the Plate Lunch”

Day #4: Waikiki

Paul — Tue, 15 Mar 2016 10:20:36 +0000

I’d been spending my early morning hours doing some work-related activities, but today I found work to be a bit more consuming then I’d otherwise planned. Nonetheless, I managed to grab breakfast with Libby and Emerson and head to the beach with them for a while.

After the beach, they went to lunch without me while I participated in another meeting and then we spent the afternoon at the Honolulu Zoo.

Honolulu Zoo

For our last evening in Waikiki, we ate dinner at P.F. Chang’s and then explored some of the shops and hotels along Kalakaua Avenue.

Royal Hawaiian

Goodbye Waikiki

Day #3: Around Oahu

Paul — Mon, 14 Mar 2016 22:45:32 +0000

We grabbed breakfast early this morning before heading off to Hertz a couple of blocks away to pick-up a rental car at 8am. Once behind the wheel, I set the GPS for Hanauma Bay which is located about 25 minutes to the east of Waikiki. From my childhood visits to Oahu, I distinctly remember this place as one of the most captivating bays / beaches in the world, reknowed for its reef and associated marine life. Having never snorkeled there as a child, I thought it would be awesome for the girls to have that opportunity to do what I never did: swim with tropical fish and see a coral reef up close and in its natural habitat.

Hunauma Bay

That said, even arriving early, visiting the beach at Hanauma is a bit of a hassle. Thankfully, we got there early enough to get a parking spot. Unfortunately, there was a lengthy line to pay for admission and get a timed entrance ticket. Why timed? It turns out you have to watch a safety / education video before they’ll let you down to the beach. Once at the beach, I returned us snorkel / swim gear and a locker (about $65 for the three of us). Then we headed to the shoreline and got our gear on… or tried too… as the girls couldn’t handle walking in flippers.

Indeed, we found access to the water difficult even without fins (in hindsight I realize we picked a bad spot) due to coral / rocks that came right up to the water line. What’s more, Libby realized she wasn’t a fan of swimming with either a snorkel or so close to so many large fish. For her part, Emerson liked the fish but found some of the marine invertebrates a bit unsettling (like the spiky urchins) and feared a face-to-face encounter with an eel (which I never saw) thanks to the damn safety video.

As for me? Well, it took a little bit to get comfortable using the snorkel. Breathing through your mouth underwater doesn’t feel natural. However, once I got the hang food it, I have to say… wow… that was one of the more spectacular experiences of my life. I felt like I was part of an ethereal undersea world… or maybe swimming through a giant scale version of my childhood salt water aquarium. I now fully understand the appeal of snorkeling and (presumably) scuba diving. Just spectacular!

After Hanauma Bay, we drove up the windward coast of the island toward the North Shore. A particular highlight (despite it now raining us) was the replica of the Byo-do-In Temple of Equality and surrounding gardens located in the Valley of the Temples cemetery.

Byo-do-In Temple

We continued through the drizzle to the North Shore, stopping at Waimae Bay to see (for the North Shore of Oahu in winter) only relatively modest surf. This was a bit disappointing, but what can you do? Wind and currents are not within my control.

Waimea Bay

Having little surf to watch, we proceeded to the Dole Pineapple Plantation, which was transformed (based on my childhood recollection) from factory tour and fruit stand into far more of a proper tourist destination (complete with gift shop, cafe, gardens, maze, etc.). Despite a drizzle, we opted to conquer the world’s largest maze: requiring a person to enter the maze with a time-stamped card, find eight locations and stencil each’s associated icon onto the card, and then successfully exit the maze to receive a completion time stamp. The record elapsed time is around 10 minutes; the average closer about 45. We managed it (despite the rain and sliding through red mud that eventually covered our feet and legs) in 28 minutes. Not too bad!

Map of the maze…

As our reward, Libby and I had a Dole Whip! Emerson–not a fan of pineapple–got a bag of BBQ chips, much to my chagrin.

We drove back to Waikiki via downtown Honolulu (which allowed us to briefly see some of those sights), arriving back at the rental car agency around 5:30pm.

Day #2: Waikiki

Paul — Sun, 13 Mar 2016 22:05:55 +0000

Our day started early (due to jet lag) with the breakfast buffet at our hotel. Being an Elite Marriott member, the $29.95/pp “international breakfast buffet” was free of charge. The food was decent and eating outside was nice. So at a cost of free, it was a great deal, but at $30 bucks per person, umm, not so much.

We spent the morning at the beach on Waikiki, which is really one of the more spectacular and pleasant beaches in the world (at least in a highly touristed destination). This is especially true across from our hotel, where the beach area is fully sheltered by a wall.

Waikiki Beach

In the afternoon, we visited the Waikiki Aquarium. Although it’s modest in size, I was impressed by the aquarium’s quality and emphasis on Hawaii’s native marine life and associated ecosystem. It also seemed that this might prove to be a good introduction to our future aquatic activities.

Waikiki Aquarium

Toward evening, we attended the finale parade for the Honolulu Festival, which (knowing nothing about it) appears to be some sort of Pacific Rim cross cultural event. We watched the parade both from street level and later from the 4th story balcony of a Mexican restaurant where we ate.

Watching the parade…

After dinner, I took Emerson to have a proper Hawaiian shave ice. Unlike with a snow cone, top-quality shave ice establishments use syrups made of natural fruits rather than from flavored and colored corn syrup.

Strawberry shave ice…

Day #1: To Hawaii

Paul — Sat, 12 Mar 2016 22:35:19 +0000

Having completed our country and continent goals, we’re turning our attention to finishing up all 50 US States this year. Thus, we found ourselves on an early morning Delta departure for Honolulu via Los Angeles today. Unfortunately, our connection time in LA got compressed due to schedule changes, giving us only 35 minutes between flights (assuming an on-time arrival). While I do this sort of thing regularly for business travel, I don’t enjoy the stress when I’m on vacation with the girls.

Sure enough, our inbound flight landed on time but got trapped on the taxiway due to gridlock at LAX. So, I called Delta and reserved us seats on a later flight. The fact that I could secure these seats seemed to cause the airline gods to see the futility in their endeavor to thwart me and thus they delayed our outbound flight by 30 minutes. So, despite the added stress and mad sprinting between terminals, we ended up boarding with time to spare.

The rest of the trip was uneventful, even pleasant, aboard a newly retrofitted Delta 757. We arrived in Honolulu about 30 minutes late and proceeded to our hotel in Waikiki. The Marriott gave us a free upgrade (nice) to a “premium oceanview room,” which was a nice touch.

Arriving in Honolulu

After checking in, we dropped off our stuff and headed down to Waikiki beach to explore a little and find dinner. Having not been to Hawaii in about 30 years, I didn’t know what to expect, but my first impression was that is was largely familiar though not unchanged. What do I mean? Well, Waikiki feels like it’s lost a bit of its local flavor, replaced by international (mostly higher-end luxury) brands and chain restaurants. One example: the International Marketplace has closed and will be replaced by a Saks Fifth Ave. department store, which is currently under construction.

After contemplating dining options (Cheesecake Factory? P.F. Chang?), we settled on Roy’s, which at least comes from Hawaii and represents its regional cuisine. Dinner was generally very good (ultra fresh seafood), albeit a bit pricey. We strolled back to our hotel and called it a night, generally feeling good to be (back, for me) in Hawaii.