Kauai Trip- days 2 & 3

June 26, 2009

We woke up really early Friday to go to Waimea Canyon.. the "Grand Canyon of the Pacific". It was about an hour drive to the bottom of the Canyon, on the west side of the island. There are two roads that go up to the State Park, and we took the more scenic route, stopping to take pictures along the way. The road up was very narrow and winding long the mountain side which made the drive like twice as long as it would take if the road was straight. There are supposedly goats, deer and wild boars in the canyon. We didn't see any, but we heard the goats. The main lookout is at 3400 ft up.. we got there just in time because after we were at the lookout for a while the clouds/rain started to come in.

We drove all the way along the canyon (from Waimea Canyon State Park into Koke'e State Park) to the end which overlooks the Na Pali coast.. where they filmed some shots for Jurassic Park. The views were so amazing, words can't describe it and the pictures don't do it justice. Matt and I definitely want to go back sometime and go camping & hiking in Koke'e. We stopped at the Koke'e lodge for lunch. Matt had a BLT sandwich with Portuguese sausage on it, and I had Portuguese bean soup and corn bread.. pretty good! After eating, Matt and I went outside and threw the frisbee and fed the chickens while we waited for grandma and my mom.

We drove back down from the canyon and stopped in Hanapepe to pick up a lilikoi chiffon pie. We stopped at the Fort Elizabeth State Park which was just ehh.. The most exciting thing was showing Matt the sleeping grass.. you touch the leaves and they close together. Then we stopped at the Salt Pond Beach Park. They actually still farm sea salt here. Although I'm not sure what they do with the salt. The guidebook we have said it has impurities so it can't be sold. We drove back home and ate dinner at a thai restaurant. Matt had the super spicy red curry, and I had the pineapple curry. It was really good; I love thai food! After dinner we drove to Koloa on the south side of the island to go to a Bon Dance (buddhist celebration kind of thing), but the info I saw online was wrong and we were like 2 weeks late. We drove back to our place and went to sleep.

June 27, 2009

We woke up around 8 am this day.. the latest on the trip. We drove to Princeville Ranch on the north side to go horseback riding. Matt's horse was named Big Blue, and mine was Lilo. The trail we went on went through pastures where they raise grass-fed cattle. We stopped at a couple lookout spots and took some pictures. The views were amazing and the horses were beautiful. Mine was very stubborn and didn't want to get too close to the other horses. Anyway, the horse ride was awesome!

Then we drove into Hanalei (toward the west along the north side) for lunch. Matt and I got burgers from Bubba Burgers which uses the meat from Princeville Ranch. The burgers were really good, although I couldn't really tell the difference between normal grain-fed and grass-fed meat. After lunch, we kept driving west to the end of the highway. The Kalalau Trail starts here at Ke'e Beach. The whole trail is 11 miles long, and goes along the Na Pali coast. We decided to only go 2 miles along this trail to a secluded beach, then 2 more miles on a trail up the Hanakapi'ai Valley to a waterfall. We started our hike around 1:45 pm, so it was pretty hot out but there was a strong breeze. The hike wasn't too hard and only took us an hour and fifteen minutes to get to the beach. We took a dip in a stream that discharges into the ocean there. Then we continued hiking to the waterfall which took about the same amount of time. We passed huge patches of bamboo and the remnants of an old coffee mill chimney. Some parts of the trail were more strenuous.. there were a few slippery parts from water trickling down the side of the mountains, and we criss-crossed over the stream a few times. Once we got to the waterfall, the 4 mile hike was totally worth it. It was the most amazing thing I've seen! The waterfall was 100 ft tall (according to a website I found, although it looked taller) and the water in the pool was freezing! maybe in the 60's. We swam some, ate a little snack and took lots of pictures.

After hanging out there for half an hour, we started the 4 mile hike back. The first 2 miles to the beach wasn't bad.. we checked out the beach when we got there. I think there were like 2 other people there at the time. On the trail just above the beach, there's a wooden sign that records the number of deaths at the beach below. I think the count was up to 82... The currents are pretty bad and there's no lifegaurd. Anyway, the last 2 miles was mostly uphill.. and very steep on the downhill parts.. pretty tough on the knees and ankles. We got back around 6:15pm, and wait a few minutes for my mom to get back to pick us up.

Then we drove back into Kapa'a and found something for dinner. Matt and I got fish tacos from Pau Hana (hawaiian for done with work) Bar & Grill. They came with a mango salsa and were really good! For dessert we had coconut water (the liquid inside a coconut) and some lilikoi chiffon pie. We were exhausted from the day! We packed up our things because we flew back to Oahu early the next morning.

Overall, the trip to Kauai was awesome! I planned a lot of things for us to do and everything went pretty smoothly. It's amazing how different Kauai is from Oahu.. much more rural and remote. I loved this island because it has a little of everything. The west side is dry and more like a desert with the canyon. And the east/north side is very lush and green. One of the mountain peaks receives the most rainfall in the world. I definitely want to go back and do some snorkling and check out the south side.!

Kauai Trip- day 1

June 25, 2009

We woke up pretty early for our 8:50 am flight. Sarah's uncle had to drop us off by 7:30 because he had to be at work around 8:15. Grandma, Mrs. Comstock, Tyler (Sarah's brother), Sarah and I checked in pretty easily. The flight to Kauai was only 20 minutes and we were out of the airport with the rental car at about 9:30. We had seen in magazines and website that chickens and roosters run rampant through the island. The first thing we saw outside the terminal was a rooster. Sarah's dad had mentioned of a place called Ma's Restaurant but we asked the Alamo gatekeeper and he said it closed down about a year ago. Our Plan B was Hamura saimin. Saimin is like Ramen noodles but way better.
We arrived at about 10:10 and the place was already packed with locals chowing down on Saimin (opens at 10) so we had to wait about 15 minutes.

From 062509

From 062509

I had the special and Sarah had the Regular. For a side Sarah and I got some skewered meats (2 chicken, 1 steak). I probably could have eaten 10 of them. For dessert, we got a lilikoi (Hawaiian Passion-fruit) chiffon pie. Overall, the entire meal was amazing!



After brunch, we made our way from the town of Lihue to the town of Kapaa (about 20 minutes) on a the main 'highway' of Kauai. Sarah found a 'cute' little vacation rental on the internet vacation rental websites but the pictures were nothing to what we drove up to. The place was dirty and the owner wasn't expecting us. Apparently Mrs. Comstock had a PayPal malfunction and the payment didn't go through. I ended up using my PayPal to pay for the rental but didn't mind since I get the WorldPoints. After that whole ordeal, Sarah myself and Tyler decided to explore the island and traveled to a not so advertised waterfall, Kipu waterfall.
We had to travel through this narrow dirt path that was surrounded by a long grass or sugar cane. Once we got to the waterfall, we took a few pictures and prepared to jump in. I started out by jumping out using the rope and then coerced Sarah to jump off too. Soon after, I jumped off the waterfall itself. It was quite a rush to jump from that height. Sarah was hesitant to jump from the cliff side but finally did it and actually enjoyed it more than the rope. Tyler had a sweet camera and took a sequence shot of one of my rope jumps which turned out great! He also got one of Sarah jumping off the waterfall!


After jumping off a few more times, we decided to head back to the vacation rental. I felt adventurous which I guess is a good thing when you want to stumble upon random things. We came across some mini horses that had a cool background so I decided to take a few pictures.

We ended up going by this old fishpond that was apparently created hundreds if not thousands of years ago by natives. They built up two breakwaters along this river and created a slit for water to flow through. They installed wooden planks and separated them enough so that small fish could get in. The slits allowed small fish to get through but the fish would grow and not be able to get out. Its a clever way to farm and simple yet effective. Once we got back to the 'resort' it was time to chow down. We walked to the main strip since it was a few blocks away and ended up eating at a Asian/Hawaiian style place. Sarah and I both had the Hawaiian style pig. The interesting thing about dinner was that it was across from a Hawaiian church and they were singing loudly in Hawaiian!

I'm off to bed, we are going to Pearl Harbor tomorrow early in the morning! More updates to come!

Commenting should work now...

I think I got commenting to work now so give it a try if you want to....big update coming up with info of our trip to Kauai...

Diamondhead Hike

From 062209

June 22, 2009

We woke up around 7:30am and my uncle dropped us off at Diamond Head. A lot of tourists go here, but the views are worth it. Winding up the inside of the crater, the path is a mixture of sidewalk, rocky stretches and stairs. There are parts where you actually climb through old military bunkers. We stopped several places along the trail to take pictures of the scenery; beautiful views of the mountains. Once we got to the top, there's an overlook area and you can see about half of the island. The weather was perfect for seeing the views.

We headed back down to the bottom, inside the crater. After filling up our water bottles, we headed out of Diamond Head crater and started our walk toward Waikiki. We passed by Diamond Cove Health Bar and stopped for some fresh fruit and vegetable juice. After our pit stop, we continued walking. We passed by Kapiolani Park, a nice little tree/flower garden, and the Honolulu Zoo. We stopped at Teddy's Bigger Burgers for lunch, then walked out on the Waikiki Pier to watch the surfers. It's crazy how crowded Waikiki is... less than a mile in either direction the beaches aren't crowded at all.

Anyway, we walked west along the beach toward Ala Moana Beach. We must have walked a total of 4 or 5 miles, including the hike. We did some swimming and sunning at Ala Moana, then went to the mall for a snack. There's finally a Jamba Juice here, and they have these fruit, yogurt, granola bowls. So we each have one of those, very refreshing after the walking and the beach. We also got some mochi (chewy rice cake); Matt really like the chocolate peanut butter ones, but I also got a few of the more traditional type filled with azuki beans (sweetened japanese red beans). Then we walked around the mall while we waited for my aunt to be done with work and pick us up. We went into Shirokiya, a Japanese store.. they have everything from clothes and nice dishes to pasteries. Matt got a chocolate banana flavored mochi ice cream (mochi filled with ice cream).

When we got back home, grandma already had dinner made.. long rice noodles, chicken, chinese cabbage.. she's such a good cook. She thought we would be coming home earlier, so she had also made somen (rice noodles) and a shitake mushroom & seaweed both. Anyway, we ate dinner and passed out pretty early, exhausted from all the walking.

June 23, 2009

This day was a very lazy day. We woke up around 8, ate breakfast- papaya, leftover chicken and steak from Sunday's Father's Day dinner. Then I did some laundry, while Matt passed out on the couch with one of the dogs. Then I took a short nap since Matt was still sleeping. We had the somen and soup my grandma made the day before for lunch. In the afternoon we borrowed my uncle's car and went to Ala Moana Beach for a couple hours. Threw the frisbee, got in trouble for throwing on the beach... the grass and water are ok, but not the sand... Then we came home, showered and met my mom and brother at the car rental place. Matt signed on so he can drive the car too. We headed back to the house and had a big spaghetti dinner with all the family members. Dinner was amazing, so were the desserts. Coco puffs, haupia (coconut pudding) cake, mmm!

June 24, 2009

So today my mom had to go to the dentist, emergency appointment.. She dropped us off at the beach before her appointment. It was low tide, so a lot more of the reef was exposed. Matt and I swam out to the reef and watched the surfers. He says he saw a baby shark, I didn't see it but I'm glad I didn't. I'd be afraid to swim out there again. After my mom picked us up, we headed to Chinatown to find something for lunch. We walked around, checking out the produce and taking in the atmosphere. We ended up eating at a Vietnamese place for lunch; Matt had spicy lemon grass chicken, I had wonton soup with saimin (like ramen noodles), and mom and Tyler had veggies with vermicelli (rice noodles). We got some pho- Vietnamese beef soup- for grandma.

Now it's about 4:40 pm.. Not sure what we're doing this evening, but we need to do some packing. We're going to Kauai tomorrow for 4 days. Not sure if we'll have internet access at our vacation rental.

Check out the slideshow below of our Diamond Head pictures. I'm not html savvy like Matt is..

3 Day Summary

So we finally have a little downtime to write about what we've done over the past 3 days.

June 20th, 2009

Being jet lagged, Sarah and myself had woken up at 5:00 am local time and decided to blog on our flight here. Immediately following that, we fell asleep for another 3 hours. After this power nap, Sarah's Aunty Pam made some delicious banana wheat pancakes, cut up some papaya (which we have every morning and is amazing), and Portuguese Sausage which tastes like a mix between Italian sausage and pepperoni. After breakfast, we waited for Sarah's Grandma to get ready and awaited our personal tour around the east side of the island. So the 5 of us jump into the early 90's Toyota 4Runner with manual transmission (My dream car to be honest). We drove down interstate H-1 (maybe that's why some people think you can drive to Hawaii...), hitting some Saturday traffic. We went to Ala Moana Shopping Center so Sarah's Uncle could get a new cable box for their new 46 inch Sony Bravia. The first thing I noticed while we walked around the mall was how tall I was. I have to be in the 99th percentile of tall people in this state!

We got the cable box and proceeded do a drive-by tour of the famous south shore beaches. We passed Ala Moana Beach which is the nearest beach to the house. Next we drove by tourist central aka Waikiki Beach. Its funny how touristy it is. It was packed and there really is'nt that much beach. After Waikiki we stopped at Diamondhead Lookout.A bunch of windsurfers were taking advantage of the onshore east winds.

Next, we drove through Kahala which is a very expensive area with many million dollar homes. We drove by Hanauna Bay (our blog background picture) and stopped at Lanai lookout. This was a very cool area. The rocks alone were beautiful.
On a clear day, you can see the islands of Lanai and Molokai across the horizon. On this day, we can barely make the islands out due to clouds and haziness.


We briefly stopped at the blowhole. Personally, I thought Lanai Lookout was way more beautiful and fun to look at. Next we traveled to Makapuu Lookout. After these lookouts we began to search for food. Driving along the highways, I was constantly awestruck by the views. To my right would be the water and beautiful beaches and immediately to my left would be high green mountains and cliffs with clouds on their tops. We ate at Maui Tacos and ate them at Kailua Park. This is a panoramic of the beach at Kailua park. Once again, another beautiful beach and I've noticed that there are plenty of beaches that aren't consumed with tourists. After out late lunch, we decided to call it a day and get back to the house. That night we drank some wine and had amazing grilled fish. It was moon fish and was a steak fish. I wish we had this in Florida because I'd probably eat it all the time. It isn't too fishy and has a wonderful taste.

June 21st, 2009

We decided to take a trip to the North Shore and to snorkel around Waimea Bay. Aunty Pam let us use her Volvo (which rides like any other Volvo, a tank) and we tried to leave early enough to miss the crowds. I was excited to see a famous surf break and didn't think much about the view crossing the island. I don't think there is a spot on this island that isn't beautiful. Even the pineapple fields are gorgeous with a pretty mountainous background.

Once we got to Waimea Bay, we had to park about 500 yards down the beach and walk. I didn't mind and we got to pass this cool Church that overlooks the bay.

From 062109

I'm sure we will go back to Waimea Bay so we'll be sure to take more pics of the church. We lathered up with sunscreen and proceeded to snorkel. Sarah had mentioned to me that she saw her very first sea turtle here but I was skeptical that I'd see one myself since I always thought they were rare to see. The water is crystal clear and you can see everything. Maybe next time I'll take my camera out to take pictures underwater so you can see what I mean. As we floated about, we saw Humuhumunukunukuapuaa, yeah, thats right, I didn't misspell it. It's the state fish. We saw a few clown fish, a crab or two, lots of parrot fish, unicorn fish, some needle fish (one big one) and one fish that stayed at eye level with us that looked like a barracuda. Upon seeing it, Sarah got scared and wanted to go back in. I decided I would stay out and look around more, not worried about the 'cuda. Upon turning around, and swimming back, Sarah started yelling to me. Thinking she had been attacked by a bear or aliens, I rushed to her side. With her snorkel still on she starts mumbling what sounded like sea turtle. She kept pointing and I saw nothing but she was persistent. Finally I could faintly make out the shape of something big and round. We swam like Phelps to a Bong to get closer to the Turtle. At this point I was quite mad I didn't bring my camera at this point.

From 062109

We followed it for about 5 minutes along the coast and just coasted with it. It's such a magnificent creature that seems to glide through the water and have a persona just like the turtles from Finding Nemo. It finally sped up and we decided to go back to the beach and talk about how awesome it was to swim with a live sea turtle!

From 062109

After a little more snorkeling and Sarah sun bathing, we decided to get lunch. Sarah's Uncle Brian recommended a place in Haleiwa called Grass skirt grill. We munched down a few Ahi burgers (tuna) that had a delicious sesame mayo that we used more for the fries than the burger. After that, we got shave ice at Aoki's which Sarah says is the best place on the island for shave ice. I got mine with ice cream and adzuki beans in the bottom. Sarah got mango and li hing mui flavors while I slurped on melona and lilikoi (passion fruit).

From 062109

From 062109

After getting home, we got ready to go over to Sarah's cousin's house for a Father's Day feast. The food was phenomenal and I ate more steak than I have in a long time.


Well, we are off to the beach so this summary of the past few days will have to be finished another time.

Snorkel at Waimea Bay!