Day Eight (Sept 30)
We literally did nothing but relax all day. We only left the condo to watch the sunset and take the trash out! It was a very nice day though. We sat around, listened to the waves, watched some TV shows, organized pictures, updated the blog, and made dinner together. A nice day of nothing specific with our special someone.
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| Beautiful sunset from the lawn in front of our condo. |
Day Nine (Oct 1)
- David took a surf lesson at Poipu Beach. We had talked about taking a surfing lesson together, but in the end I decided I'd rather read on the beach and take pictures of David's efforts. I had taken a lesson once before in California. I enjoyed it, but was happier to stay on the beach. David did pretty well and was lucky enough to have one-on-one instruction even though he paid the group rate! While tired and sore afterwards, he had a great time and can't wait to try it again sometime.
- Walked around the cliffs at Mahaulepu Beach. This beach (or set of beaches actually) had a beautiful shoreline with great views of the ocean. The sandstone cliffs were really neat.
- Uncle's Shave Ice. This shave ice place was really close to our condo and was recommended by our friends. It was good (huge serving sizes!) but not as good as Hee Fat. I tried something called "Shave Snow" which had milk, sugar, and flavoring in the ice. It seemed like a great idea, but my choice of root beer flavor was questionable.
- Shopping for gifts and souvenirs to take home. We sought out as many shops with Kauai-made goodies as we could find. We didn't buy much, but are excited by our finds :)
- Dinner @ Merriman's Gourmet Pizza and Burgers. We picked this place because it had good reviews, was in a nice shopping center with outdoor seating, and they had truffle fries. The truffle fries weren't as good as Harvard Garden's (where we ate often while Christine was at MGH), but they were tasty. Nice cocktails, salads, and burgers too. David was excited to see his surf teacher there with is daughter (6, already in surf competitions).
- Ice cream from Lappert's. We bought a pint of vanilla and a cup of hot fudge from this ice cream shop earlier in the week to enjoy at home. It was delicious. I was in love with the hot fudge. So we went back. Still delicious, though David tried their cookie dough ice cream and it was pretty gross - some weird tasting cookie dough.
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| David surfing at Poipu Beach |
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| Panorama of Mahaulepu Beach |
Day Ten (Oct 2)
- More shopping on the way to Waimea. We bought a tile that says "Hawaiian Style: Please Remove Your Shoes. Mahalo!" We'd been looking for one of these because they were all over the condo complex and we thought they were a neat way to ask guests to remove the shoes. We think the tradition is prevalent in Hawaii because of the red dirt. We also bought a ceramic tile clock with the traditional Hawaiian bread fruit pattern on it, some Alaea salt, and Auntie Lilikoi's passion fruit jelly.
- Lunch at Island Taco and Waimea. We had heard great things about this place. It was a cute shop with outdoor seating. David was reasonably happy with his "classic taco" but I was very disappointed with my teri chicken taco - it was much too sweet.
- Dessert at Kaua'i Granola and Sugar Cane Snax. This was right next door to Island Taco. Delicious macadamia nut shortbread cookies, generous sample offerings, and frozen chocolate dipped cheese cake. Yum.
- Driving through Waimea Canyon and Koke'e State Parks. It was unfortunately raining most of the drive so our views were very misty and limited. We were able to get the general idea and see the beautiful red dirt mountains, waterfalls, and numerous valleys. We tried going down a paved ridge road, only to discover that it ended in a missile facility of some kind. Whoops (didn't say don't go down!). We turned around and went back up without getting to appreciate much of the scenery at the bottom of the ridge road. We drove part way down the 4WD Miloli'i Ridge Trail recommended by our guidebook, but it said not to pass a certain point in the rain so we didn't make it the whole way. I was on the third day of a head cold as well, so wasn't really feeling up to much adventuring. I had a Kleenex box strapped to my body.
- Shave Ice from Jo Jo's in Waimea. We shared one this time, we were starting to learn how big these things are. It was very tasty, though the mac nut ice cream wasn't as good as at Hee Fat. David still thinks Hee Fat has the best shave ice, but I really liked how Jo Jo's shave ice melted as soon as it hit your tongue - it made it very flavorful and refreshing.
- Farmer's market @ "the shops at Kakui'ula". We bought lots of fruits and veggies, a brie and starfruit croissant for the morning, and a taco type thing that was what I had hoped Island Taco would be like. Really nice farmer's market.
- A swim and dinner at the condo. After a dip in the pool we made grilled chicken and pineapple, salad, and sourdough bread with butter. Delicious!
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| Waimea Canyon |
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| Sunset view from our lanai |
Day Eleven (Oct 3)
- Breakfast on the patio. We enjoyed our fruit and pastry from the farmer's market while drinking tea and watching the ocean.
- Hung around the condo reading and relaxing. Enough said.
- Snorkeling, swimming, and reading at Salt Pond Beach. David really wanted to find another nice snorkeling spot so after some research we decided this beach sounded like a nice one to try. It was secluded, quiet, and had a good swimming spot. However, the water was really murky for some reason so he wasn't able to see much. So we defaulted to reading and swimming. As we were leaving the beach we realized we had a flat tire! Boo. David changed it pretty quickly (luckily Jeep's have a full size spare) and we went to a local auto service station to repair the tire - there was a nail in it.
- Pre-dinner at the house. Wine and salad, to use up some things from the fridge.
- Dinner at Brick Oven Pizza in Kalaheo. We sat at the bar and ordered a homemade sausage and onion pizza. This pizza place had gotten great reviews as the best pizza on Kauai. I ate one piece and couldn't taste a thing because my nose was so stuffy - I was very sad! My nose cleared some by the second piece and I was able to enjoy the delicious pizza. I proceeded to out-eat David, as expected. (She said the first piece didn't count because she couldn't taste it; doesn't explain 5 vs. 3 slices though :) - D)
- Sundaes from Lappert's ice cream. Brownie, hot fudge, and vanilla ice cream for me. Mac nut ice cream, hot fudge, and caramel for David.
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| Breakfast on the patio |
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| Salt Pond Beach |
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| Sundaes from Lappert's Ice Cream |
Day Twelve (Oct 4)
We ate breakfast on the patio, packed up, and headed to the Lihue airport! While eating breakfast we were lucky enough to spot a sea turtle and catch some pictures of it. I had been watching the ocean all week, hoping to see SOMETHING, so this totally made my day. Our travel home was nice, with lots of food and movie watching. The timing of our flights was entirely off making it so that we didn't sleep much on the journey. We arrived home tired but happy to see the doggies - and our chauffeur Katie. Katie had dressed the dogs in their leis for the occasion! They were very happy to see us.
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| Hubby and wifey enjoying cold stone at the Honolulu airport |
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