Thursday Feb 15

Today was da y to explore the north side of the island, driving all the way to the end of the road at Ha'ena State Park. We started out with a great breakfast of macadamia pancakes at  the Kountry Cafe in Kapa'a. Our first beach stop was at Haena Point. Beautiful beach with waves large enough for surfing. Supposedly, this beach is 17 miles long! We walked quite a ways splashing in the water and looking for shells. We could feel the sunburn! It was delicious!

After a light lunch if cheese and crackers and mango juice, we continued down the road to the state park toward the end of the road and came upon the Limahuli Gardens. It was a very interesting "hike" through the amazingly varied vegetation. We learned that most of the vegatation one sees on the island is not native, it was brought from elsewhere and took over. Some of the trees, the beautiful African Tulip tree for example, are invasive and  a pest! But so pretty! A hot and humid walk up and down lots of stairs but well worth the effort! Also views of the Na'pali Coast.

On the return, we stopped in Hanalei for some exploring among the tourist shops and a snack. Got a hot deal on some official Hawaiian shirts. We checked out the beautiful old UCC church.

By the time back to civilization it was dinner time so we stopped at Lemongrass Seafood for an excellent dinner of sea bass and scallops.

African Tulip Trees are everywhere

The Na"Pali Coast

Buffalo?

Limahuli Gardens

Red Crested Cardinal

Bread Fruit

UCC Church

Friday Feb 16

Yesterday we drove all the way to the end of the road heading north, today we drove the entire southern route all the way to top of the Waimea Canyon Road to an elevation of 5,100 feet!

Another beautiful sunny day this morning. Temps hold in the mid to upper 70s all the time. Breakfast at a McDonald's inside Wal Mart (OMG! Who'd have figured that?) But it was quick and cheap!

This is the "dry side" of the island. By the time you get to Waimea the land is flat with lots of irrigated agriculture going on - we saw corn, sunflower, taro etc. The little town of Waimea is quite attractive...neat and tidy with some great beaches and county parks. Before heading up the canyon we drove a bit further through the Pacific Missile Range Facility. No idea what goes on there - its a secret.

The road up the canyon is a 15 mile, windy trip with several outstanding viewpoints. Coolest feature you can see is the Waipoo Falls on the far side. As we approached the top we went into a cloud and the temperature dropped to 58. Nevertheless, we went all the way to the end so we could say we did!  As the sign says, its one of the wettest places on the planet with 500 inches of rain per year.

Heading back down, back into the sunshine, stop for picnic lunch at the Kokee Lodge, and back into Waimea.  Stop at the $10 T-shirt store for Dirt Shirts. We left the main road at Kiloa and worked our way down to Poipu and Makahuena Point. Lovely resort area with great beaches, a spectacular PGA golf course, five star hotel and several county parks, including one that was just right for kids to learn to surf. Also in that area was St. Raphael Catholic church, the oldest catholic church on the island dating back to 1841. Beautiful!

There were a few other things in that area that we might have seen but we ran out of time. Getting back to Lihue about 6:00PM we had a fried shrimp dinner at this funny little place called "Shrimp Station".

Tonight we'll do a load of laundry and pack up our stuff. We have to be out of here by noon tomorrow and we fly over to Honolulu at about 5:00.

Our stay at Kauai Shores Resort has been just fine. We would recommend it.

What island is that?

View of Waimea

They're everywhere!

Kids learning to surf at Poipu

Makawehi Lithified cliffs (what does Lithified mean?)

Saturday Feb 17 To Honolulu

Not much to write about today. We had to be out of our hotel room by noon and work our way back to the Lihue airport by about 5:00 for our flight to Honolulu.

After a swim in the hotel pool and a few minutes in the hot tub, we packed our stuff and put it in the car. Then we had a great lunch at the hotel's Lava Lava Beach Club. With a couple of hours to kill, we plopped down and read our books on the beach in the shade. On the way to the airport, we stpped at Hilo Hattie's, a favorite store for authentic Hawaiian clkothing.

We had uneventful 30 minute flight on Hawaiian Airlines over to Honolulu. After a rare issue with Uber we took the city bus to our hotel, The Queen Kapiolani (cost $1.00, but took an hour)' Late dinner at LuLu's upstairs over Starbucks right down the block.

We stayed at The Queen four years ago and really enjoyed it. We knew that it was currently under a major renovation, but we liked the location that we could overlook that. Its right across the street from the zoo and Botanical gardens and a block from Waikiki Beach.

We'll try for church in the morning!