Back from Roosterville

We had a fantastic time in Kauai, HI. View the pictures here.

- Our hotel room/condo at the Hideaway Cove was amazing! It must be one of the best places to stay in Kauai. We loved the location, the landscaping, the furnishings, the kitchen, the bathroom, the decor, and most of all the helpful and attentive staff, Dianne and Susie, who were always available to make sure we knew the best places to go and things to do. It was so great to be able to make our own breakfast and lunch to avoid that icky feeling one gets from eating out for 3 meals a day. The snorkel gear they rented to us was very high tech and prevented us from inhaling the usual several gallons of salt water.



- The Kauai Hyatt is a stunning resort. While we wouldn't have wanted to stay there longer than a couple of nights since it's very touristy, the grounds were breathtaking and it had by far the coolest pool I've ever seen. They greeted us with beautiful leis made of real flowers and kukui nut necklaces which I made the man wear long enough to get a picture. There were parrots, doves, art galleries and gorgeous gardens inside the main lobby. The poolside par served the most amazing, decadent blended drinks like bananas with raspberries, chocolate and macadamia nuts.

- Snorkeling at secluded Tunnels Beach on the North Shore was incredible. There was a huge reef very close to shore which meant we could just swim out a few feet and start seeing the beautiful fish. The scenery was truly picturesque and the neatest looking birds kept coming up to us when we were sitting on the beach. At one point two boys went out with harpoon guns which made us a touch nervous but fortunately they didn't hurt anyone.

- We went on two kayak/hike tours. One was with Outfitters Kauai and took us through the Wailua river up to a beautiful waterfall where we had lunch and went swimming. The other was with Princeville Ranch Adventures which took us down a stream with a thick tree canopy, then on a short hike to ziplines which we crossed twice, then ended at another waterfall. We were fascinated by the Walking tree, called the Hula tree, since it gradually makes its way toward water over the course of its lifetime.

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- We also took a sunset catamaran dinner cruise (with Blue Dolphin Tours) around the island to see the Na'pali coast, which is very inaccessible, and saw dolphins, sea turtles, and a mountain goat. They told us to take Dramamine beforehand, which we did reluctantly since I didn't think we'd get motion sickness, but we were very glad that we did because the ride was incredibly bumpy! The scenery was awesome and we saw the biggest, fullest rainbow we've ever seen. At one point the crew started to play "My Heart Will Go On" from Titanic and encouraged everyone to take pictures at the part of the boat the juts out into the water (think "I'm King of the world!!!"). While we thought that was really cheesy we still went ahead and got a picture.



- I don't think pictures can do Waimea Canyon justice. I could easily spend a week just hiking there!



- On our last night we stumbled upon fantastic, fresh Italian food at a hidden gem of a restaurant called Pomodoro.

- You'd think that at least one of the travel guides on Kauai would mention the fact that the island is overrun by a tropical blend of wild rooster birds. I call them rooster birds because these chickens are disproportionately male, seem to have bred with other tropical fowl, are Technicolor, can be found perched in trees, and sound their cock-a-doodle-doos alllllll day long starting at around 4:00 am. We snapped photos of some in a tree next to where we were eating dinner at the Waimea Brewing Company (along with a couple of kitties) and at the side of the road on our way to Waimea canyon.



- Another Kauai mystery is their strange taste in desserts, starting with the prevalence of bizarrely flavored sawdust discs manufactured by the Kauai Kookie Company. It seemed as though everyone wanted to feed these to us despite their obvious lack of flavor (i.e. chocolate). They love their Lappert's ice cream which we found to be so-so (though I'm not sure if I'm a credible source given that I love Baskin Robbins!) and a huge thing over there is shave ice over a scoop of vanilla or chocolate ice cream, which is actually quite tasty.

The trip was a huge success and I'd recommend Kauai to anyone looking to getaway to a beautiful and quiet place.