Road Trip to Kauai!

During the first few days in Hawaii, Amy and I were trying to figure out if we could island hop for a day.  If the price was right, then we were going to road trip through an island.  Well, the price was right and we got Kauai!  We spent the entire day in Kauai, and by entire day I mean sunrise to sunset.

Amy and I got to Honolulu airport at 4:30 in the morning to board our plane to take us to Kauai.  We were on the road by 6:15!  The sun hadn't even risen yet, so driving along the coast we were able to see the sun rise.  We drove North, so we could hike the Na Pali Coast.  We took a little detour before getting to the Na Pali Coast where we saw goats just roaming the roads.  Once back on track, we made it to Kalalau Trailhead in Ha'ena State Park.  We hiked 2 miles to Hanakapi'ai Beach and an additional 2 miles to a 300 foot waterfall.  The hike was a lot of work, but the views were totally worth it!

Kauai Sunrise!

Driving around the bend you wouldn't expect to see this guy...

View from trail

View of the coastline from the trail

2 miles in and we made it to Hanakap'ai Beach

The trail was muddy and rocky!

4 miles later, we made it to the Waterfall!

After our 4 hour hike to the waterfall and back for a grande total of 8 miles, Amy and I quickly changed and headed to Hanalei Town.  We grabbed lunch and walked around the town's stores for a bit.  Once on the road again, we headed to Kilauea Lighthouse.  It is located on a wildlife sanctuary, which ended up being closed for the week.  We looked for whales since it was a spot for whale watching, but we didn't find any.  From the lighthouse, we headed to Poipu where we could find Spouting Horn, a blowhole.

Kailauea Lighthouse

Spouting Horn

Our last stop of the day was to see the Waimea Canyon.  We drove through the Waimea Canyon, which is known as "the Pacific Grand Canyon."  It was a scenic drive around sunset.  We drove through the entire canyon, and when we got to the end we kind of freaked out.  We realized that we had driven the entire island in one day!  We went from one end of the Na Pali Coast to the other.

Not as grand as the Grand Canyon

You can see the "Forbidden" Hawaiian island, Niihau, in the distance!

Road Trip around Kauai!

As we left the Waimea Canyon, we stopped to take sunset pictures on the beach.  It was so cool to think that we have seen the sunrise and sunset on both Oahu and Kauai!  Heading back towards the airport, we grabbed dinner at a local place called Dukes.  It had great bar food.  From there we headed back to the airport to get home.  Being awake for 20 hours was totally worth the day trip to Kauai!

Sunset in Kauai

Birthday in Hawaii!

Today I woke up to tons of birthday text and facebook messages.  I absolutely love all my friends and family, and I am so excited to have been able to spend the day in Hawaii!  Amy and I headed to Waikiki where we met up with our tour for Pearl Harbor and the Historic Sites.  As I said yesterday, there was a little ordeal with getting tickets.  However, while we were laying on the beach yesterday we found a LivingSocial Deal with Polynesian Tours where we were able to get a bus that took us to Pearl Harbor and the USS Arizona, and afterwards we took the bus through all the historic sites that included Iolani Palace, Punchbowl, National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, King Kamehameha Statue, and the state department buildings.  It was a lot to see in the nice weather.

To end the night, the girls and I went out for sushi at a local place.  All in all, it was a great way to spend the birthday!

Diamond Head and Beach!

Amy and I became true tourists on Monday.  While Katie worked, Amy and I got in our car rental and headed to Pearl Harbor.  We wanted to see some specific things such as the USS Arizona and the aviation museum.  When we arrived, we found out the tickets were already sold out for the day.  After asking questions, we found out we had to get to Pearl Harbor by 7am in order to claim tickets since they go so fast.  We decided to postpone Pearl Harbor to another day, so we made our way to Diamond Head.

Amy and I got to Diamond Head, and it was a little bit of an ordeal.  Trying to find it was a little difficult, but there was a beautiful view along the coast that we were able to enjoy.  The car lot was full at the entrance way, so we had to find parking at a different location.  After finding parking we headed up to the entranceway.  The trail takes you through the crater to one of its high points where you could see the ocean and Waikiki.  The trail was paved and easy to walk at first, but there were so many people.  We kept having to zigzag to get past people.  Once we finished the paved part, that was when the stair climbing ensued.  The stairs were ridiculous!! At the top was a lovely view.  On our way down we met an Australian couple who were on holiday.  Amy and I pretty much decided that we our next stop will be Australia.

Entrance to Diamond Head

The scary stairs after the paved trail ended... we took a different route up

Lookout over the crater

The crater

After finishing our walk, we looked up some beaches on google.  We decided to head to a nearby beach.  It was a secluded beach near some beautiful million dollar homes that were apparently having an ugly statue contest in their yards.  We had our brown bag lunch on the beach and relaxed for a few hours.  The sky was off and on cloudy, and after awhile we decided we should check out the beach near Katie's house in Kailua.  On our way back we saw signs for Pali lookout, so we decided to check it out.  The sight overlooked Kailua and it's beaches, and it gave some historical references to islands kings and battles.  We also got to see a lot of roosters and chicks while at the Pali lookout.

Our private beach

Pali lookout

me at the Pali lookout

Amy at the Pali lookout

The roosters/chickens/chicks

Kailua Beach Park

The beach in Kailua was extremely windy, and the sand was flying everywhere.  We lasted about 20 minutes on the beach, when we decided it was time to call it a day.  Katie, Amy, and I had a low key evening which consisted of grabbing food from Champa Thai (our now loved local Thai food place) and watching TV.

Easter Weekend

Today Amy, Katie, and I headed to the football stadium.  Every Saturday vendors come out to sell their goods.  People had tents set up to sell souvenirs, food, art, and clothing.  The vendors set up around the perimeter of the stadium, so we walked the entire way around the stadium.  It was really neat to see all the different things that were being sold.  As we walked around there were blue skies, but all of a sudden dark clouds came and it began to monsoon.  It was the most torrential downpour I have ever experienced.  Everyone waited under tents for the rain to let up.  It actually really didn't let up, so we decided that we would just take our chances and try to get back to the car.  After awhile the rain stopped, but that's when the laughter began.  Katie's cabriolet is a true Hawaiian car.  The kind of car you see locals in the movies have.  To get in the car Amy gets to jump over the side of the car because the seats don't really move forward or backward.  The passenger window is slightly broken in that it doesn't go up or down, and it is currently stuck halfway up.  The convertible top definitely works though, and that is the best part about the car.  Being able to cruise around on a sunny day with the top down is amazing.  The reason for laughter is because we could only imagine what the cabriolet would look like after the monsoon.  When we got to it, the seats were wet and the inside windows were completely fogged up.  The only way for it to dry out was to sit in the sun with top down.

After the swap meet, we went to lunch at Dixie Grill.  It was the best meal of the day.  After our meal, Katie took us to get our rental car for the week.  We got a Ford Cruz.  We will be cruzin around the island this week :)  For the rest of the day, we went to Ko Olina Beach, which is the home of the Disney and Marriott Resort.  We laid on the beach and soaked in the sun before we got to watch the sunset.

On the other side of sunset, we have sunrise.  At 5:45 on Easter morning, Amy, Katie, and I got up and hiked up the Pill Box Hike on Kailua to see the sunrise.  It was a crazy uphill hike, but it was worth it!

After the sunrise and breakfast, Katie and I headed to church while Amy slaved away in the kitchen.  Amy put together guacamole, meatballs,  and a cheese plate.  After talking with family members we headed to Katie's friend's house (Sarah's), where we had mimosas.

Yes, the mimosas were easter egg colored.  We had tons of fun drinking, eating, and talking throughout  the day.  Let the tourism begin tomorrow!