California Dreaming: Aloha from Kaua'i

Po'ipu Beach

Welcome to Kaua'i- the home of about 67,000 people and an unknown number of chickens! The chicken story is a little long to relate here but…. hens,chicks and roosters are EVERYWHERE! And the roosters cock a doodle do all the time. As tourists we found it amusing but if we lived there Dave would be blasting away at them and we would be eating a lot of chicken. Kaua'i is beautiful and much less developed and less "citified" than O'ahu. We stayed just north of the airport on the eastern side of the island. It was a pretty spot and the resort was set by itself.
Our first day(Monday) we explored the southshore… Po'ipu was a nice cove to snorkel in. I saw lots of fish especially after a few snorklers fed the fish (which is frowned upon). I was glad they did because the fish really swarmed! The reef is pretty trampled on because it is shallow and stupid people stand on the coral.

Po'ipu

This photo got out of order- this is 'Opaeka'a Falls on the east side.

Back to the south….. Spouting Horn Beach Park. We always knew when we were a a tourist destination because the big buses would be parked. And there would be stands to buy overpriced pineapples and souvenirs. The pineapple was good but $8 each???? My Costco pineapples are a bargain at $3!

Now we are back on the east side of the island in a laid back town called Kapa'a. It was probably my favorite town of the entire trip. Hippy town would describe it best. Coconuts for sale.

There was a 4 mile path along the coast in Kapa'a- lovely place to get our exercise.

Along our walk

We ate at a "local color" cafe - Mermaid's Cafe. We ate at very few chain restaurants and depended on my Lonely Planet guide book to find good eats. I would highly recommend it- was very helpful in finding other sights to see also.

Dessert was Hawaiian shaved ice- can't go to Hawaii and not try this!

Many of the t'shirts, mugs, etc had the chicken theme.

Our second day(Tuesday). This is Ke'e Beach which is on the Northshore. It is the trailhead to a hike that Shane and Nikelle told us we should go on. It is called Kalalau Trail and you hike to Hanakapiai Falls and then on to Kalalau Beach. It traverses along the Na Pali coast. This is the western side of the island that you only see from this hike, the air , or a boat. We were all pumped to take this hike until we heard that the previous week 64 hikers were stranded overnight on this trail! Because it is winter there is more rain and the stream/river you cross a few times can become impassable. One woman drowned trying to cross it and the rest were rescued by helicopter the following day. We hiked the trail the first 1/2 mile to a very windy lookout- a gorgeous spot! The trail was very wet and slippery so we were happy to head back!

Partway up- looking back to Ke'e Beach

The trail before it got steeper.

Na Pali coast- a view I would never get tired of!

My hiking buddy :)

Back at the beach

Every rooster looks like this one- all that interbreeding I guess!

The momma who stuffed 8 little chicks under her wings while she waited for some of my trail mix.

Another Lonely Planet suggestion- fish tacos at Pat's Taqueria food truck in Hanalei Bay

Hanalei Bay. Voted one of the best beaches.

We figured out how the natives control the chicken population! They were very tasty!

Wednesday found us exploring Waimea Canyon and one of the wettest spots on earth. 4,000 ft elevation and often in the clouds. We had a perfect sunny day. I think it said there was about 450 inches of rain per year with the record being 630 inches!

The Na Pali coast behind us- a very steep drop off!

We hiked one of the many trails- very steep ravine beyond Dave. I stayed well back from the edge!

Waimea Canyon- the Grand Canyon of Kaua'i

After our hike we ate lunch in the little town of Waimea….

A smoothie from here and shrimp from there…. We rarely ate inside either while we were on Kaua'i- just perched on picnic tables on the sidewalks. And for all of you who gave us such wonderful suggestions of tours / helicopter rides, etc.- please don't be offended. Dave and I came to realize that we aren't organized tour type of people. We enjoyed wandering about with my book and exploring. It would have been great to kayak along the Na Pali coast but being winter and very windy those tours didn't even go.

Beautiful Kailauea Point. The ocean blues are indescribable!

These fine people- Ken and Marilyn let us join them for Bible study Wed night.

This is the Kauai Beach Resort that we stayed at right on the coast. This pool had a sandy bottom. The beach was not suitable for swimming due to the rocks.