Kauai

view from our hotel

We arrived at our hotel about 12pm but unfortunately our room was far from ready. Luckily we had the arrival day scheduled as a pool day so we dug out our bathing suits & books from the luggage in the car and plopped down on the lounge chairs for the afternoon. It really was late afternoon until the room was ready; we loved the sun, loved the view, and loved the tropical pool and cheerful bar maid but a 4 hour wait? To be fair, regular check-in is at 4pm but we had requested an early arrival... The front desk was very apologetic and offered us coupons for the pool bar that more than covered our lunch & libations!

aaah, sunset from balcony

Our hotel is a timeshare property and our room is a suite with a full kitchen and washer/dryer!! We upgraded to an oceanfront room for only $20 more per night and so we are lulled into slumber each evening by the crashing waves and all we can see from our balcony is ocean, grass and trees!

Our first scheduled activity was a sightseeing helicopter ride early Sunday morning. Mom and I definitely rubbed the right rabbit's foot as we scored front row seats right beside the pilot!!

mom played co-pilot, keeping a close eye on all the gauges!

Kauai opened up before us as we flew clockwise around the island: Waimea Canyon (Grand Canyon of the Pacific) dropped away at our feet, we soared along the Na Pali coast, and hovered in a towering extinct crater. As a special treat, the pilot got permission from air traffic control to swing out over the ocean and we circled around a momma whale that had just that instant given birth to a new baby humpback!

fly-by over the Na Pali coast

we flew right into this crater!

Our afternoon plans were to hike in Waimea Canyon but the clouds had rolled in and the dry side of the island was in fact wet, so we had to satisfy ourselves with driving up the rim road to various misty outlooks, then back down again.

our usual view

but the mist lifted just as we were leaving = fantastic!!

Today we ventured to the wet side of the island (which, of course, was dry), and drove until we could drive no more. We ended at Ke'e Beach, the start of the strenuous cliff-side 11-mile Kalalau Trail. We hiked 4 miles of it, 2 miles in and 2 miles out, and were thrilled by the experience. It was steep, rocky, muddy, slippery, hot, humid, and magnificent. The waves were crashing, birds chirping, and people sweating. We passed several hearty souls with big backpacks who were out to do the whole trail, most over several days - didn't they see it was forecast to rain the next two days? All power to them.

Thanks, Allison
Sent from my iPhone