Kauai -May 2009

Day one:
Saturday, May 16th

-Left Gran and the boys and headed for our anticipated journey to Kauai. We arrived in Kauai around 5 or 6 p.m. and killed a couple of hours before we met up with our friends, Anne and Travis. We went to a near-by restaurant and had a nice meal and then retired to our hotel to end the day...even though Kauai is 3 hours behind Utah time, we didn't have trouble falling asleep. We stayed at the lovely Sheraton hotel (thanks to Costco) and a delicious breakfast buffet was included in our package. The hotel was ok, but what made my vacation a vacation was the included breakfast: french toast with coconut syprup, apple-wood smoked bacon and MOUNDS of fresh hawaiian pineapple. I was in heaven!!





Jeron and I killing time before Anne and Travis arrived.

Our first night out with Anne and Travis in Kauai after
a long day of traveling. All we had time for was dinner.

Our traveling buddies - Anne and Travis Jackman.

Day 2:

Sunday, May 17th



Here is a shot of Jeron and Travis. They have been best friends since 6th grade. They played jr. high and high school football and basketball together. They were in the same ward and in boy scouts together. They ran for student council together. After their missions (Jeron served in the Guam/Marshall Islands mission, Travis served San Diego, Spanish speaking) they were roommates at Ricks college in Rexburg, until we got married. Jeron got into pharmacy school the year after Travis did, so they are both pharmacists. They have been on golfing trips to Maui, Aspen, Colorado, California, and Nevada. They have been to college bowl games, NBA games, NFL games, and even the Tonight Show with Jay Leno. They have been playing fantasy sports together for over 10 years. They were at each others weddings and kids' blessings. Travis has been a big part of Jeron's life, so It was fun to take this trip with them.

The view as we ate breakfast every morning.

(Thanks Anne for the great photo) The view from the Jackman's room
balcony. We stayed on the 1st floor.

The best thing about the Sheraton was their delicious breakfast. Anyone who knows me, knows how I obsess over food sometimes. Eating the buffet made me the happiest on this trip. We enjoyed our yummy breakfast and jumped in the car to explore the island. We headed north east and were open to any and everything. Since Jeron and I had spent our 10 year anniversary there previously, we played tour guide to Travis and Anne. Last time, Jeron fell in love with this great local dive called "Bubbas" that serves great hamburgers and shakes. Their slogan is "we relish your buns." And of course they sell shorts with that slogan and just about every other kind of thing you can think of. It started raining (it rains somewhere there every day) and didn't let up the rest of the day. Even though the sun shining makes everything 1000 times more beautiful, it was still very pretty even with the rain. We took them to the north part of the island, stopping to enjoy the scenery along the way.
Bubbas: known for delicious burgers.


The view from below Bubba's deck.

After Bubbas, we headed north and enjoyed the scenery. All of Kauaii is beautiful, but the northern drive is breathtaking.

Our first view from the back seat.

Little tunnel of trees that we drove through every time we headed north - off the main highway before you enter Koloa town.



One of our first views in the rain.


We crossed this bridge every time we headed north as well. Usually these bridges only allow one car at a time.
Roadside scenery.

Opeka falls


Don't worry, we just drove over it.

A "dry cave" formed from the ocean splashing against the rock.

Anne and I, trying to figure out how to work our cameras in this dark, dark, cave.


In Hawaii, I've always found a rainbow after the rain.


-At a favorite dining place of ours in Kauai - Dukes Canoe Club. Poor Spencer keeps getting told to stand up straight...I'm one to talk!

Anne and Travis
The view from Dukes restaurant (thanks again, Anne)

And that ended our first full day on the island.



Day 3:
Monday, May 18th

By far, my favorite part of the trip was the ATV tour we took this day. It was fabulous! Anne

found this online and it had tons of great reviews. I give it two thumbs up! It was so fun driving through the woods of Kauai, feeding wild pigs, swinging on vines, and finally making it to the amazing view at the end of the adventure.

I'm blogging January 2010, so most of this blog is taken from the memory of an Elephant...my friend, Anne, is a genius and can remember any bit of information - no matter how long it's been. She did her blog before mine, and thanks to her, I'm just now catching up by reading her blog. The tour guides at Kipu ranch were amazing. their names were Randon and Kimo. They were both born and raised on Kauai and were funny, informative, and just really nice guys.


We are so excited for our first ride on a Rhino.



Our first view from the atv loading area. I'm impressed already!

These little birds were so pretty and were everywhere.


Just some wild pigs curious to see if there was food.


These pigs were hilarious. Shy at first, but they soon warmed up after one of our tour guides fed them a cookie. One of the tour guides would try to grab them as they came close for food, and they ran around squealing and hollering, but kept coming back for more.



Some of us crazy ones got off the rhinos to see the pigs up closer (p.s. right before the swine flu hit)


Waiting to get this show on the road!

This is the mountain made famous from "jurassic park" and "mighty joe young." Other movies filmed on kauai include, "Six days seven nights," "Hook," "South pacific" and the Hilary Duff Sweet 16 birthday special.


Some pretty views along the way.


Our tour guide took a few minutes to train our drivers how to get down this steep hill safely. It doesn't look steep from the picture, but it was treacherous.



Anne and Travis braving the slinging mud.



A post about Kauai would not be complete without a mention of the chickens and roosters. They are everywhere. There is a gigantic population of birds on the island, due to the fact that there are no natural predators like snakes or mongooses. so the birds are on every corner, sidewalk, lawn, clearing, you name it. I wanted to try and catch a baby one.



One of my favorite parts of the tour: Our "Raiders of the Lost Arc" impersonations. Apparently, this is where Indiana Jones swings to safety after being chased by spear-throwing natives.


Our goofy tour guides telling us about the Indiana Jones movie...as well as educating us on the allergies that some people have to Mangos and all about the Mango trees we were about to swing on. Of course, I developed a rash like poison ivy after swinging on this vine.

An invitation to any one crazy enough to swing across the water and do their best Indiana Jones impression.


Guess who the first crazy tourist is! Now I know alligators don't live in Kauai, but I have a healthy fear of dark water where alligators are known to hide. I just don't like water that is not clear. I put my fears aside, and swung!


Jeron couldn't be shown up by a girl. Most everyone took a swing. It was actually really fun. No one fell in the water, but an older gentleman knocked his leg pretty hard on the bank on his way back and formed a pretty good sized knot.


Our final destination. One interesting tidbits we learned is that in Hawaii, all beaches are public. No one can kick you off the beach and tell you they own it. You can own the land that accesses that particular stretch but nothing prevents someone from getting there by boat and being on the sand. So in the above photo, the land surrounding this beach is privately owned and therefore land access is extremely limited unless someone wants to take a nice, long swim.

Jeron, giving me "stink eye" after a fun, but long day.

Since we were right there anyway, we decided to head on over to Kipu falls after our tour ended. Because we were fully clothed, we just took photos and didn't cliff jump or rope swing. Now, we had been to Kipu falls on our trip in 2007 with my sister, Jessica and her husband, Charlie. So, we were once brave enough to swing off the rope plunging into the beautiful water, which is not clear...and you know how I feel about that! I swam as fast as I could to reach the slimy vines which are used as a ladder to climb out. Yuck! This truly is one of the most beautiful scenes I've ever seen in Hawaii.


There is a small hike down to the falls through what appears to be a corn field.



A sneak peak of what is to come through the trees and corn.



One of my favorite places on earth: Kipu Falls. People pay to take this tour, but if you get the right directions, it's free and fabulous!!!


Jeron observing all the crazy people cliff jumping and swinging off the rope.




After a long day, we headed back to the hotel/beach to relax. We later had dinner at a local restaurant and watched Wolverine at the theater (which was pretty outdated) - a relaxing end to our adventure-filled day.



Day 4:
Tuesday, May


Travis and Jeron went early to play some golf. Anne and I had ourselves another fabulous breakfast and headed out to do some exploring of our own. We ended up down the road a few miles at one of the few 5 star hotels on the island. It was extraordinary! The Grand Hyatt did not disappoint and appeared to live up to its reputation and then some. Right when we arrived, we were greeted at the front entrance by a hotel employee that offered us beautiful leis. Of course, we couldn't refuse them. It has been a dream of mine to receive a lei while in Hawaii and they don't usually just give them away like you see in the movies. They sell them for about $5 or $10. This picture is taken at the entrance, with the magnificent view of the ocean behind us. It was a truly beautiful day.

Anne and I have known each other since Travis and Anne were engaged. The summer they were engaged and got married, we lived in Georgia, so we didn't hang out much until after they were married. Anne is a genuine, beautiful person. I love her - not to mention, she is the best cook in the world! And she doesn't get mad when you pretty much copy her blog :) This day, we hung out and walked the grounds of the Hyatt, fantasized about our 20 year anniversary & our stay at the Hyatt, and later moved on to shopping.


Right outside the entrance to the Hyatt.

When you walk in the Hyatt, it opens up to a deck and the beach outside. Here is one view.



Anne, being a good sport.

The pools were dreamy.



Sorry I startled you Anne, but I love this picture.

man-made lagoon adjacent (but not connected to) the hotel pool and beach


Me, being a good sport.


When the boys were done golfing, we ate lunch at Keoki's Paradise, where we ate dinner the first night we landed. It was another fine meal and sister restaurant to Duke's. After lunch we did a little shopping where we got a little crazy.


Next stop: Wimea Canyon a.k.a. the mini grand canyon of the pacific and although smaller than the real grand canyon in Arizona, at 10 miles long and 1 mile wide, its is the largest canyon in the pacific ocean (my reference here is Anne). Our trip two years before yielded too much rain to see anything except for the beautiful, but windy drive up to the top. This day was perfect!


Still, one of my favorite shots of Wimea Canyon.


On the way back from Wimea Canyon, I remember being so exhausted from our long day, but we couldn't drive right past the "blow hole" that we kept hearing about. This is the blow hole on Poi'pu beach named the Spouting Horn. Supposedly, this natural wonder occurs because water rushes under a lava shelf and bursts through a small opening at the surface. Every wave produces another spray. Spouting Horn frequently spurts salt water 50 feet into the air.
There is also another blow-hole right there that is air only. It makes this low, growling sound. Another fun day!



Day 5:
Wednesday, May 20th


No, this is not my photo. But this photo and ones like it, inspired Jeron and I to finally take the Napali Coast tour. Yes, it is AMAZINGLY beautifully, but highly inaccessible. The majority of the island is inaccessible by car or by foot. The real way to tour is by air or by boat. I was too chicken to do the helicopter tour. We did a raft expedition that included snorkeling. Travis and Anne opted not to take this tour and did their own exploring. The raft was definitely bumpier than we would have liked (some times of the year, the water is smooth like glass), but it was truly breathtaking. The water was pretty bumpy that day, as well as cold, so I decided to sit while everyone else went snorkeling. One poor kid, was hovered over the boat puking most of the time, but luckily, neither Jeron or I got sick. We first had to wade about waist deep in water to get to the boat...and it was cold! This wasn't exactly the warm day we were hoping for, but the views lived up to their expectation.


Look at the color of the water!!


Some of our friends that kept visiting and giving their Seaworld dolphin friends a run for their money. They kept jumping up and spinning around the boat.

My cute hubby...sweating when it's freezing cold outside.


As the water was throwing us around, we were told that passengers are usually driven through this cave, but luckily, we did not attempt it.



This was our last adventure on the island of Kauaii. We had already checked out of our hotel, so we changed somewhere along the way to the mall (where we met Anne and Travis for one last Coldstone trip). We headed back to the airport and back to the reality that awaited us....sigh. Thank you mom for making this trip possible!