The week that we left was pretty busy at work. Busy where I'd come home and almost immediately fall into bed I was so exhausted. Luckily, I'd begun packing the week before, so I didn't end up forgetting too much. I did forget to print this "master" itinerary that I'd cooked up that had phone numbers, flight numbers, activities, itinerary by day, restaurants to try...and we didn't realize it until we were almost in Grand Junction the night before we left. But...we sucked it up, saved the gas back home and just went with it. As it turns out, I had most of it memorized anyways and any phone numbers we needed were accessible in my email, so wasn't so big a deal. We dropped the dogs off at the boarders night before and headed to Grand Junction to spend the night, since our flight was fairly early. Lucky we did, since it was snowing! That's CO for ya...60 degrees one day, snow, then 60 degrees again. Fortunately, our flight wasn't delayed at all and we set off on time for our grand Hawaiian adventure, from Grand Junction to a VERY short layover in Phoenix (love those short layovers that you don't miss the connecting flight!) and then straight to Lihue, the biggest city on Kauai.
People had been telling me that stepping off the plane in Hawaii was their best memory and that it was one to remember. Well, for me it felt like stepping into OK in July, so I wasn't impressed, just really hot and sticky, since I was still wearing cold weather gear. I did think it was pretty cool that most of the airport is outdoors, taking advantage of the tradewinds that the Hawaiians seem to love so much. We collected our rental car and headed off to Poipu, where we were staying the first few nights.
We rented a suite in a house that was located right off beach next to the Hyatt from a website called airbnb.com. We used this when we went to England and felt like giving it another shot, since it seemed a lot more affordable than the hotels I was seeing to stay in. The suite in Koloa was great; private entrance, refrigerator, coffee maker (essential!), and with easy access to this place:
Shipwreck Beach
Our flight arrived around 2 in the afternoon and after doing the necessary run to Costco, etc, and checking in at the suite, we headed straight to the beach. Little did we know, it would be one of the few sunny days we had in Kauai! Luckily, we soaked it up (with sunscreen, of course). We were both sort of intimidated of the waves after watching the warning videos at the airport that essentially tell you to never get in the water, so we didn't get in these waves. Instead, we just did this:
Please note, we were both this pale...and yet, we were asked a couple times if we were from the area. Like somebody told us, the migratory two legged white tailed buck quickly becomes unrecognizable when they shed their winter coats and become the two legged red tail buck... :)
Then we headed out for tapas at Josselin's, which was good but we had better food other places on the island. However, it was still fun and beautiful. We crashed early every night we were in HI since the 4 hour time difference and definitely got some great rest that night...after all, day 2 and Waimea Canyon was next!
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