Opaeka’a Falls is a short drive from Lihue … we saw a flock of Nene grazing nearby.
Wailua Falls is also near Lihue. Make a day of it; see them both!
We had this vision of Kauai as a rustic tropical paradise — the least developed of the major islands. It sounded like the perfect place to celebrate our 30th Anniversary.
In previous posts, you learned about our 30th Anniversary plan, which started in Honolulu and then continued onto Kauai. We spent 5 days there … again, not nearly enough time, but it was enough for us to find what we were looking for.
We’d never been there, of course, so we were relying on the recommendations of friends and guide books. We made a few mistakes: we didn’t go to any of the paid gardens (who knew that they were really, really pretty?). We didn’t go to the best luau on the island. And we didn’t find 3 of our 4 favorite restaurants (more on that later).
What did we do? We celebrated our 30 years of marriage in grand style, and found our new favorite getaway. We have since returned 3 times in 4 years. Get the picture … for people that didn’t go on vacations, we discovered a reason to do so!
So what’s on Kauai?
Waimea Canyon is gorgeous. Maybe someday I’ll shoot a picture as nice as this one! There are plenty of hiking trails and lookouts around the Canyon; explore to your heart’s content.
Waimea Canyon: The Grand Canyon of the Pacific. That’s what Mark Twain called it … and it is without question one of the best sights in the islands. On the other hand, I’ve never been able to take spectacular photos of it … so the photos shown here are from a Hawaii tourist website. The view is spectacular, but we didn’t hit the weather right to get spectacular photographs.
This sea urchin hotel is one of my favorite pictures from the south shore, on Maha’ulepu Beach.
Beaches, of course! There are all manner of beaches, but we most enjoyed visiting Poi’pu Beach on the south shore. We found a secluded spot, with no other humans visible … anywhere. We found beaches for sunsets, beaches for surfing (well, for watching surfing), and beaches for relaxing.
Good news: they will ship your purchases home, so you can freeze and then savor Kauai Coffee for many months following your visit.
Exotic foods are grown … in exotic places, naturally. We enjoyed all manner of tropical delicacies, and especially enjoyed touring the Kauai Coffee plantation. It’s a great couple of hours for a coffee connoisseur like Velda. And I tolerated it, too.
If you haven’t tried Shave Ice, then you don’t know what you’re missing. Try it with some sweet cream and tropical flavors, just sayin’.
Unique foods were also tried. After days of searching, we finally did find some malasadas to taste. And we ate shave ice for the first time in a place called Hanalei.
Love this bush growing in red dirt near a creek on the way to Waimea Canyon. I take a picture of it every visit!
You need an icy beverage and a flower in your hair while on Kauai. Check!
A rare photograph shot by Velda, at Maha’ulepu Beach. We lost our car in the 20′ tall bushes separating the beach from the sugar cane field. We still made our flight, though!
I still haven’t taken the perfect sunset photo, but I am not going to stop until I do.
To paraphrase my good friend Dennis, “Married 30 years, and those have been 25 of the best years of my life.” You can see me winking, right? Right???
