Grace and Abe Go to Hawaii...Again (Part 1)

Back in December 2011 when Grace and I found out that I would be deploying to Afghanistan, we got excited because we knew we would get to go on a vacation when I got home.  After about five seconds, we both had decided we wanted to go back to Hawaii.  This gave us something fun to look forward to during the deployment (and gave me something to plan on boring days).  We decided to visit Kauai and Oahu this trip.  Here’s the rundown on our trip:

* As a warning, this will be a long (and two-part) post with lots of pictures (that you may or may not find interesting).

** As another warning, I won't be putting in the Okina (fancy word for apostrophe) into the names of the places...it takes too long to look up the proper way to spell each place, and I don't remember where it goes in half the names.

27 January 2013

I came home in mid December 2012, and we got to take block leave at the end of January.  Grace and I drove up to Denver on January 27^th and began our vacation by staying in a hotel for our early-morning flight on the 28^th.  We ate dinner in Denver at Tocabe (a restaurant we’d seen on Man vs. Food).  It’s an American Indian restaurant.  I would compare it to a place like Costa Vida or Café Rio.  You get to choose your Indian fry bread taco ingredients along an assembly-line layout.  Grace got the grilled chicken taco, and I got bison ribs.  The food was absolutely amazing.  We both loved this place and wished we had eaten here sooner.  This was a great way to kick off our vacation.

28 January 2013

We got up early and caught a 6:00 am flight to Lihue, Kauai.  The flight was uneventful until we got in site of Kauai.  As we came in to land, we passed by awesome red rock cliffs covered in greenery that dropped into the ocean.  This was definitely the most impressive landscape I’ve ever seen around an airport.  After getting our bags, we went and picked up our rental car.  We rented a Jeep Wrangler for our time on Kauai.

We named him Black Sheep

 

After picking up the Jeep, we were starved so we decided to head down near Poipu.  We went to a restaurant called The Beach House.  I got a hamburger, and Grace got a pulled pork sandwich.  My burger was just ok, but Grace's sandwich was pretty good.  Most importantly, the view was excellent.

 

The view from our table

 

After getting some food, we decided to head out to Spouting Horn.  Spouting Horn is a pretty cool blowhole on the south shore of Kauai.  There's really not much to see there, but it was a fun, quick stop.  We also happened to see some whales spouting off in the distance while we were down there, so our trip was off to a pretty good start.  After that, we began to head towards our hotel in Kapaa.  We stopped at a couple waterfalls on our way to the hotel. 

 

Wailua Falls

 



Opaekaa Falls

 

After we got checked into our hotel, we just walked around the grounds for a bit and enjoyed the beach.  We had to grab some groceries for the week, so we made a quick run to Safeway.  We weren't too hungry for dinner, so we went and grabbed some ice cream at Tropical Dreams Ice Cream right by the Safeway.  This company grows all of its own ingredients on the Big Island and is, hands down, the best ice cream we have ever had.  I got a chocolate coconut macadamia nut ice cream, and Grace got a blueberry cheesecake ice cream.  Both were absolutely awesome and we still dream about both flavors now.  After ice cream, we went back to the hotel and relaxed in the hot tub about 100 feet from the beach and listened to the waves crash.

 

29 January 2013

We started off today by getting up early and heading up to Kokee State Park.  Our first stop was at the very far end of the park at the Puu O Kila Lookout.  This looks out over the Kalalau Valley and offers amazing views of the Na Pali Coast.  The Na Pali Coast is one of the most breath-taking places we have ever seen.  The red dirt combined with the greenery and the bright blue of the ocean is awesome.  We took some pictures here and also did a short hike near the lookout.

 

 Kalalau Valley from the Puu O Kila Lookout

 

After our hike, we headed back down the road a little ways to the Awaawapuhi Trail.  This was a six-mile hike down to the edge of the cliffs of the Na Pali Coast and back.  Unfortunately, clouds had already moved in and covered up the view from the cliffs by the time we got there.  It was still a great hike, but the views weren't quite what we had hoped for and our pictures didn't turn out so great.

 

By the time we were done with our hike, we were starving, so we headed to the Kokee State Park Lodge to grab something to eat.  Grace got a grilled cheese sandwich, and I got a loco moco (white rice covered with a hamburger patty, eggs over easy, and brown gravy).  The food was just ok-not the best loco moco we've had, but it wasn't terrible.  Grace got some pineapple with her meal that was the best pineapple we've ever had, so it wasn't a total loss.

 

After getting some food in our gullets, we started our drive back out of the State Park.  We stopped at several pullouts and took pictures of Waimea Canyon ("The Grand Canyon of the Pacific" according to Mark Twain).  It's a beautiful canyon, but the lighting wasn't great, so our pictures of it don't do it justice.  We enjoyed looking at it and would love to go back and hike in it some more.

 

Waimea Canyon

 





After leaving the park, we headed to Polihale Beach.  This is the westernmost beach on Kauai and is ENORMOUS.  It's something like 12 miles long and it ends at the beginning of the Na Pali Coast.  It's a really secluded beach, and not too many people were there.  Unfortunately, the surf is extremely rough here and it was a really windy day, so we weren't able to stay long.  We laid down for a while but felt like we were getting hit with a sandblaster, so we packed up and headed towards Salt Pond Beach Park.  When we arrived, part of the beach was marked off for our friend, Slappy the Seal.  Slappy is a monk seal, an endangered species, so he gets preferential treatment when he's on the beach.  We took a couple pictures with Slappy and played in the water for a while. 

 

Grace and Slappy the Seal

 

After Grace's photo shoot, she was getting pretty hungry.  We headed over to Tortilla Republic for dinner.  It was a decent restaurant, but we weren't really wowed by it.  We got their salsa tasting appetizer and some guacamole to start things off.  The salsa tasting was pretty darn good, but the guacamole wasn't anything special.  For entrees, I got carne aside tacos, and Grace got the carnitas.  Both were decent entrees, but nothing extraordinary.  We did really like the atmosphere of the restaurant.  

 

Grace with our guacamole and salsa tasting at Tortilla Republic 

 

After dinner, we went to Costco and picked up some beach towels and Mauna Loa chocolate covered macadamia nuts.  The macadamia nuts are amazing, and we probably ate about 10 bags while we were in Hawaii.  After that, we called it a night.

 

30 January 2013

We started off today by heading in the opposite direction on the island to do another hike.  We followed the road to the north shore to hike the Okolehao Trail.  This was a really fun hike that was made a little more difficult from a really slick trail.  Grace didn't like the slick parts, but loved the rest of the hike.  The Okolehao Trail provides excellent overlooks for the north shore and Hanalei Bay.  We loved the views of the hike and hiking through the Cook pine trees (or maybe they're Norfolk pines...I don't know enough to tell the difference, and they look the exact same).

 

Abe on the Okolehao Trail

 

Grace and the undetermined pine trees

 

One of the Lookouts on the Trail

(The reason Grace is tanned and I'm not is that she fake-baked for the trip and I didn't.)

 

After we finished the hike, we were hungry again so we went and grabbed some tacos from Pat's Taqueria.  Pat's is a food truck parked at the eastern end of Hanalei Bay.  We tried the carne asada tacos and the kalua pork tacos.  The carne asada tacos were good.  The kalua pork tacos were amazing.  We definitely recommend anyone visiting Kauai stop by Pat's. 

 

Delicious kalua pork taco from Pat's Taqueria

 

After our lunch, we swam and relaxed at Hanalei Bay.  Hanalei Bay was probably Grace's favorite beach on Kauai.  This was definitely the beach with the most beautiful setting.  It's a huge crescent shaped bay surrounded by mountains that cascade waterfalls when it rains.  The sand was perfect and the water was clear.  We loved it here and, after we were done swimming, we took a long walk along the beach and through the town of Hanalei. 

 

Hanalei Bay

 

During our walk, we passed by the Waioli Huiia Church.  The church was built in 1912 on a mission that had been established in 1834.  The grounds were beautiful and had the old mission home and school. 

 

Waioli Huiia Church

 

After spending a little more time at the beach, we went back to Kapaa to get some dinner.  We grabbed takeout from Chicken in a Barrel, a little barbeque joint right on the beach.  We took our plates and sat on the beach to eat our dinner.  The barbeque here was really good.  Unfortunately, we didn't get any pictures of our food, but we did get a picture of the restaurant.

 

Chicken in a Barrel BBQ

 

After our dinner, we went back to Tropical Dreams and got some more ice cream.  I got the blueberry cheesecake this time, and Grace got the peanut butter Oreo.  Both were amazing, as usual.  After getting some sugar, we went back to the hotel and relaxed in the hot tub again.  A great way to end the night.

 

31 January 2013

We went south today to hit up some beaches on the south shore and to take a tour of the island.  We started off by visiting Poipu Beach.  We got there fairly early in the morning, so the water was a little chilly, but we really enjoyed it there.  We ran into a couple of Slappy the Seal's friends that were hanging out on the beach.  We also got in the water and saw a ton of fish swimming all around us and walked out to the tombolo and checked out the small tide pools.  This was another of our favorite beaches on Kauai.

 

Poipu Beach Tombolo

 

After hanging out at the beach for a bit, we headed over to Shipwreck Beach and did just a short little hike.  The water was crystal clear here, and we enjoyed our short hike.

 

Overlooking Shipwreck Beach

 

Next, we headed to Da Crack to get some lunch.  We got some chips and salsa that were amazing.  Grace also got a shrimp taco that was really good.  I got a kalua pork burrito that was above average, but not great.  We took our food back to Poipu Beach and had a picnic on the beach.

 

Da Crack

 

Chips and Salsa

 

The view from our picnic location

 

After eating lunch, we headed over to Wings Over Kauai for our guided airplane tour of Kauai.  We had a great time on the flight.  We saw breaching whales and beautiful aerial views of the entire island - including parts of the island that we couldn't have otherwise accessed.  Unfortunately, none of the pictures I took do the tour justice, so I'm not even going to attempt to post any.  Needless to say, it offered breathtaking views.

 

Following our tour, we went back to the hotel to clean up for our dinner at Keoki's Paradise.  We really liked our dinner here.  I got the Chef's Fresh Fish Duo and Grace got the Oven Baked Half Chicken.  Both were really good, but I can't remember what kind of fish I was served.  The best part of either was my coconut-crusted fish with Thai peanut sauce.  It was the best fish I've ever had.  After dinner, we called it a night.

 

01 February 2013

Today was probably the highlight of our trip for both of us.  We started our day off by following the road to the end of the north shore at Kee Beach.  From there, we started our hike along the Kalalau Trail to Hanakapiai Beach and then went inland to Hanakapiai Falls.  It was an eight mile hike that provided some of the best views (if not THE best) we've ever seen.  We loved hiking along the Na Pali Coast and heading back into Hanakapiai Valley.  The trail along the coast was a couple hundred feet above the ocean and we could still hear the giant waves crashing into the cliffs.  We can't even begin to describe how awesome the views were.  The hike back into the valley was great, and the waterfall was really cool.  I even got in the water for a little bit (I lasted about 10 seconds because the water was so cold).  Unfortunately, I didn't charge the battery on our nicer camera, so we mostly just have pictures from our phones from the hike.  The quality isn't as nice, but it's what we have.

 

The Kalalau Trail Trailhead

 

First views of the Na Pali Coast

 

The trail and the view

 

Another portion of the trail

 

And another portion

 

The sign before reaching Hanakapiai Beach

(It says 82 visitors to the beach have been killed by unseen currents.)

 

Hanakapiai Beach

(This would all be sand in the summer, but the high winter surf makes the beach disappear.)

 

At Hanakapiai Falls

 

Full view of the falls

 

After we finished the hike, we went for a swim at Kee Beach to cool off.  I really liked this beach and would love to come back when the surf is a little lower to explore more.

 

Kee Beach from the Kalalau Trail

 

Kee Beach Lifeguard Tower

 

Grace setting up our spot at Kee Beach

 

After our long hike and swim, Grace and I were starving, so we headed to North Shore Grindz.  North Shore Grindz is a little restaurant inside a gas station in Princeville on the north shore (who woulda guessed based on their name).  They were supposed to have awesome burgers, but I was extremely disappointed in them.  I got a bacon cheeseburger, and the meat was dry and not very flavorful.  This was probably my least favorite burger of the trip.  Grace got a bacon dog that was pretty good, so it wasn't a total loss. 

 

Disappointing hamburger...although it looks good

 

After our late lunch, we drove around the north shore for a while and just explored.  We really liked the whole north shore area and could spend a whole vacation just exploring that area of the island...although we felt the same way about the south shore.  We grabbed some more ice cream from Tropical Dreams, relaxed in the hot tub, and called it a night.

 

02 February 2013

We started today off with another hike.  This time, we headed inland for the Kuilau Trail.  This was another great hike with views of the interior of the island.  The terrain reminded me a lot of areas in the Philippines.  This was only like a three or four mile hike with a gradual incline, so it was a nice relaxing hike for us.

 

View from the trail

 

On the trail

 

Another section of the trail

 

And another section

 

After our hike, we headed over to Duane's Ono-Char Burger.  I was on a mission to find my favorite burger on Kauai and Oahu, so we ate quite a few burgers on our trip.  I really liked Duane's and would say it was my favorite burger on Kauai.  I forgot to get pictures of the food, so here's one of me finishing off my burger.

 

Finishing my burger

 

After we ate, we headed back to the north shore to Moloaa Bay.  It took us a while to find, but it was a really nice beach.  Unfortunately, it was starting to rain and the wind was picking up...plus we had a bathroom emergency, so we decided to leave after about five minutes.  We really want to go back to explore this beach some more on our next trip to Kauai.  We ended up heading back to the hotel and spent the afternoon reading on the beach.

 

Reading on the beach

 

Once we got bored of reading, we went to Scotty's Beachside BBQ for dinner.  I got a sampler of chicken, beef, and pork barbeque sandwiches.  Grace got the beef barbeque sandwich, I think.  The food there was average, but the view was great.

 

Our food

 

The view

 

Chicken in a Barrel is next door to this place, so we would recommend skipping Scotty's and just grabbing some food from Chicken in a Barrel and heading to the beach to get pretty much the same view.  After dinner, we went back to the hotel and read some more before calling it a night.

03 February 2013

As a 49ers fan, today was a big day for me: Super Bowl Sunday.  We had some time before the game started, so we started our day by grabbing some food from Joe's on the Green.  I got kalua pork and eggs, and Grace got French toast.  Both were really good, and we would definitely go back to Joe's. 

After our breakfast, we went for a hike along the Mahaulepu Trail and Mahaulepu Beach.  This was another beautiful hike along the southern coast.

 

Mahaulepu Beach

 

Grace exploring a blowhole

 

Hiking along the Mahaulepu Trail

 

Walking along Mahaulepu Beach

 

Not a bad place to live

 

After our hike, we headed to Duke's Barefoot Bar at Kalapaki Beach to watch the Super Bowl.  Unfortunately, Duke's didn't have the volume playing on the game, so we decided to go somewhere else to watch.  We ended up at Kalapaki Joe's without reservations, so we weren't expecting to get seated anytime soon.  Luckily, another couple agreed to let us share their table with them.  They were also San Francisco fans, so it worked out well for us.  Unfortunately, the Niners got robbed and the game didn't end the way we had hoped.

 

Before the Niners get robbed

 

After the Niners got robbed

(Grace doesn't take losses as bad as I do)

 

After the disappointing ending, we walked along Kalapaki Beach to drown our sorrows watching hula dancers and the sunset.

 

The Hula Dancer

 

The Sunset

 

We even checked the weather

 

We also tried to chase away our sorrows with more ice cream from Tropical Dreams, but they were closed.  We settled for Lappert's Ice Cream.  I got coconut macadamia nut, and Grace got caramel macadamia nut.  They were pretty good, but they were no Tropical Dreams.

 

This ended up being a pretty disappointing way to end our stay on Kauai, but we still had an awesome time.  We can't wait to go back and explore some more.  We loved the small town feel of Kauai and loved all the hiking and beaches.  We'll definitely be back at some point.

 

This concludes part one of our trip to Hawaii. Stay tuned for the Oahu leg of our trip.