Kauai Trip
Recap of our trip to Kauai, HI from 2025-02-05 to 2025-02-12.⌗
2025-02-05:
Landed after a 7 hour flight due to a strong head wind, but we had the middle seat open! It was raining as we walked over to Avis to pick up the rental car, but it was that nice Hawaii mist rain so it felt good.
Guy at Avis tells us there are no small sedans left (what we rented) so instead we get a 2023 Ford F-150 XLT…
We immediately drove to Dukes #America and had mediocre burgers on the beach. After Dukes, we drove to Costco in some semblance of an attempt to spend less then $1000 on food in Hawaii (things are expensive). I got some tuna jerky (which was very good).
After Costco, we did our 65 minute drive up to Princeville and unpacked at our place.
2025-02-06:
First full day, we had big plans of doing the Jurassic park trail. We drove down a small road, clipping tree-branches with the truck, and parked at the arboretum. We saw some cool Rainbow eucalyptus trees by the stream.
As we started to hike towards the trail a construction worker told us it was closed that day, so we pivoted and did the Powerline trail instead. The Powerline trail had incredible views, we did a good amount of it and turned around as it started to get a bit muggy.
We drove back towards Princeville and stopped in Kapaʻa to walk around. We bought some over priced Mango and Eggfruit and ate it on the beach. Made it back home, cooked dinner and watched the sunset.
2025-02-07:
Woke up early, made smoothie bowls, and watched the sunrise. We drove to the Kilauea lighthouse and saw whales, birds and some big waves. I was chased by a Brown Booby who was protecting its little chicks! After the light house we stopped by the agriculture center and got a big avocado and a roast beef sandwich, both were excellent.
We drove to Anini beach and found a nice spot a short walk down the beach underneath a large tree.
We snorkeled a bit and relaxed for the afternoon. We left Anini and drove to Hanalei to get some shaved ice. The sharp left turn as you follow the road down into Hanalei gives an incredible view of the mountains and beach. We cooked dinner at home and watched a bit of The Prestige
2025-02-08:
We couldn’t get enough of Hanalei, so I found the Okolehao trail which seemed to give great views of Hanalei… it did not disappoint. We only went up 3.6 miles, but it took 2 hours due to how steep and slippery the trail is. It’s very muddy after the fist viewpoint and the trail is overgrown with steep drops on either side. It continues to go on further, but it only gets steeper and muddier so we decided to turn around. I would probably not do this one (passed the first viewpoint) if it was raining or if it had just rained a lot.
After making it back to the car and changing into swim suits, we had some PB&J sandwiches, that we made earlier int he day, in town as well as some more shaved ice. We spent the afternoon at Hanalei beach. We were looking for rocks and Ally said “Oh there’s a pink one” and grabbed my big toe thinking it was a rock.
We drove back to our place and cooked up some steak sandwiches. One of the neighboring resorts over looked the ocean from some cliffs, so we brought our sandwiches over to a picnic bench and watched the ocean while having dinner and saw a whale.
That night we slept with the windows open to keep things cool, and some guy in the up stairs unit started snoring soooo loud we couldn’t believe it. We ended up switching bedrooms which gave us some reprieve. The moon was really bright this night, but I didn’t take a picture.
2025-02-09:
We decided to have an easy day because we are getting up early tomorrow. We went back to our spot at Anini and snorkeled. It was kind of cold and I wasn’t sure I wanted to snorkel, as Ally started to go out by herself, I said screw it and put on my stuff and got in. I was lucky I did, as not 5 minutes later we came across two sea turtles and got to watch/swim with them for a while! It was awesome. I got really cold and had to go back in though after ~30 minutes. Ally realized she forgot her medication, so I drove back and got that for her.
We cooked up salmon for dinner and went to bed early.
2025-02-10:
We woke up really early and went kayaking up the Wailea river and then hiked to a waterfall. It was pretty crowded as different guides shuttled hundreds of tourists to and from the waterfall each day. Leaving early was definitely a good idea, as it was quite hot on the way back. It was nice to meet some of the other people on the tour, and it was something I’m glad to have done once.
After kayaking, we drove south to the Koloa Fish Market and got poke (The tuna was really goog) and a smoothie. We continued our journey to Waimea canyon and did the hike to Waipo’o falls that I had done three years ago. There was not a ton of water flowing, but you can’t beat the views and there was still a small water fall at the end. Going later in the day, we saw very few people on the trail except for this couple that were absolutely struggling to get back up the climb to the parking lot. The drive to and from the canyon, it made the F-150 feel like a Porsche.
We then drove the two hours back to Princeville and cooked up the last of our food and watched some of the hunting party RIP Gene Hackman.
This was a huge day, but definitely worth it. If we had more time I would probably have split it up.
2025-02-11:
We got packed up and threw everything in the truck. With a red-eye not until 10pm we planned on driving around doing various activities on our last day. We went to Holey Grail Donuts in Hanalei which were really good, I also purchased a shirt from them.
After donuts, we navigated single lane bridges on our way to the Limahuli gardens. The gardens are beautiful, surrounded by steep mountains and jungle. After walking around for a bit one of the ladies asked if Ally and I were married and said we were glowing (May have just been from how pale we are hahaha).
We drove all the way back to Lihue and ate pad Thai at Big Monster 7.2/10 and talked to our server from Thailand named Tom (Very nice guy!).
Then we went back to Old Koloa town and got a smoothie from the same smoothie place. She was out of mangos, so we walked over to a guy selling produce and bought three mangos and give them to her. Ally has been using her recipes at home to make some excellent smoothies.
We then drove to shipwreck beach and hiked along the coast. We saw a lady get proposed to. Then we sat overlooking the ocean, I pointed out to the ocean to make ally think there was a whale as a joke… but then there actually was a whale that breached right as I pointed! Ally was not as impressed by this, but I still can’t believe this happened… I mean what are the chances.
Then we drove to Poipu beach and saw the turtles, the place I stayed at 3 years ago on my last visit, and a seal. We watched the sunset and then had a good meal at Kenji burger before filling up gas at Costco. Kenji burger was excellent, we will be stopping there instead of Duke’s for quick bite next time.
Last but not least, I managed to average 19.7 mpg in the f-150! I think this is a huge accomplishment.