Kauai

On Friday, October 26 we flew from a frosty, 24 degree Coralville (only 22 minutes from home to the airport) to Kauai under sunny skies and 81.  The 6:12 am flight to Chicago, then to LA and then to Lihue, Kauai was an easy three leg journey.   We will spend a week in Kauai at The Cliffs and a week in Maui.

Our "home" for the week in Kauai

SATURDAY, Oct 16
The Iowa football game got Don up early (6 AM game time here in Kauai) but he didn't manage to log in and watch until half-time.  What a game!  Iowa won in OT 17-10.  We packed a lunch and headed to Hanalei Bay Resort to park and walk to the beach there for the afternoon.  A bit overcast today but nice to relax there.  After the beach we land in our pool and hot tub before getting ready for supper.  Tonight we head to Hanalei to the Blue Dolphin.  Don had ono and I had mahi mahi.  YUM.

Don watching the Iowa FB game

Then off to Hanalei Beach down the path from
Halanei Bay Resort

Beach, then pool, then hot tub!

SUNDAY, Oct 27
We've committed to walking every morning and with the time difference of 5 hours we seem to get up early here.  Our walk involves parking the packed-for-the-day-at-the-beach car in the small lot for Hideaways Beach.  What a beautiful 7 AM walk we had.

7 AM and 74 degrees we are out for a walk!

We parked the car at the small lot for Hideaways Beach
and walk back to The Cliffs.

Beautiful morning!

Back to the condo for a breakfast of omelets.

The trail begins to Hideaways Beach

And down and down and down we go

Down the steep jungle environment

To the beautiful beach!

Back at our pool after beach time.

MONDAY, Oct 28
Tunnels Beach is our destination for today.  We rented snorkel gear but didn't use it as the warnings were out for high surf and the water was choppy.  Oh, well.  We enjoyed the sunny beach day reading and relaxing looking back at the start of the Napali coast.  The lane of parking was full so Don dropped me off with all the beach gear and parked further down at the state beach.  Supper down in Hanalei at The Kalypso.  I had hula hula chicken and Don had mahi mahi fish and chips.

The entrance to Tunnels Beach.

Lots of beach and not very many people.

The waves further out were huge!
Many surfers were trying them out.

The beauty of the mountains.

TUESDAY, Oct 30
Ke'e Beach, one of our favorite Kauai beaches, was our destination today.  So we were on the road by 10:00.  The drive to the end of the road crosses many one way bridges and through curves of the road.  We lucked out and got a parking place and put on our hiking shoes.  What a beautiful hike - probably about 3/4 mile each way.  After about 1 1/2 hours of hiking we relaxed on Ke'e Beach.  NO snorkeling again today due to the high surf.  Oh, well.

The hiking begins!

Ke'e Beach view

NaPali Coast view

Ke'e Beach

Shave ice at the Wishing Well

WEDNESDAY, Oct 30
Off for our morning walk and I turned my ankle!  But that didn't keep us from finding Anini Beach and enjoying the afternoon there.
Since it is our last evening in the Princeville area we went back to the Blue Dolphin for supper.  Don enjoyed pink snapper and I had shrimp.  With stuffed mushrooms first then a big bowl of their salad and we were very satisfied.

THURSDAY, Oct 31
We are moving today from The Cliff's to the Marriott at Lihue.  It truly is one of our favorite places to stay.  We fly to Maui tomorrow so we'll have just one night here and we'll spend the entire afternoon at this gorgeous pool!

View from our top floor room.

The view from our pool chairs!

An afternoon at the pool!