The Hawaiian Epic, part 2: Last days on Kauai
Day 4, Thursday
Thursday was a little more low key and not planned so much. On Monday, we made reservations to do a Luau that night, so we were limited in what else we could do. Surprisingly, I wasn't so hung over from the night before. Probably because I drank a lot of water before I went to bed. In trying to figure out what to do that day, I looked over my map that I had bought the day before at Waimea canyon, and found a close by hiking trail that it looked like we could do in a few hours. It would go all the way up a mountain and give us some pretty good views of Hanalei bay and possibly even where we were staying. So all of us geared up to do this. We put all the waters in my backpack, and drove to the spot. At the beginning of the trail, there were some walking sticks that we all grabbed. The hike was a good workout, and just what I needed to work of my dinner the previous night. Not much else to say about this hike. We didn't know exactly where the trail ended, but we stopped at the point where you would have to use a rope ladder to get down. My dad and myself were willing to press on, but my Aunt wasn't having any of that, so we turned back. In retrospect, I think the trail might have ended even earlier than that, so I'm not entirely sure what was going on at that point. After getting back, doing a little laundry, and showering, I hung out by the pool resting up.
That night we had a luau. I wasn't expecting great things from my research on the luaus. They were kind of touristy things to do, where the food wouldn't be that great. I guess that put me in a sour mood. The Luau itself ended up being all right, but having experienced it once, I don't think I'd want to do another. The food was good, and there was plenty of it. They also had free beer too, the same thing I drank last night, but I wasn't in the mood to drink a lot. I ended up downing some coffee before the end. As for the show, it was okay too. It was "small world" kind of culture. I really can't honestly appreciate it because it felt somewhat exploitive to me. The Luau was owned by a family operation which were native, but still… it was clearly not my thing. Also, I wish I could have continued drinking through out the show. Maybe I would have liked it better!
Day 5, Friday
This day, I finally got to break away from my companions for a bit. They were going horse riding in the morning, so I could do whatever I wanted. I kind of wanted to hit up a kaiten sushi place, but I needed to kill some time before that. I thought about renting a biking, but the path for it wasn't very long, and biking to the sushi place would be a little perilous Plus, I need to pick my companions up by 12:30. I also thought about visiting a local museum, but I wanted to work up an appetite, so I thought about walking along the beach path. In the ended, I decided to hike up a mountain called Nounou Mountain, which translates to "sleeping giant", because the mountain looks like a dude sleeping in profile. I originally decided to only do the east trail and come back, but halfway up, I decided to go all the way to the top if I could. So I did, and it was breathtaking, if a little perilous. Some of the trails had small rock faces I literally had to climb up, but at least this trail was dry. That took a little longer to get up, so I wan't able to eat anything before I picked my companions up after their 3 hour ride. We wanted to visit the Kileau light house, which is the northern most point of all the Hawaiian islands. It was a tall pensisula were you could view the ocean, and where they used to have a lighthouse to prevent shipwrecks. So on the way there, we stopped at an upscale fish market, and I got this fish burrito thing. It was good, but there was a lot of it, and it started to get messy after a while. The lighthouse provided some good views of the ocean. Supposedly you could also see whales from it, but I didn't see any.
After we got back, my dad and I ventured down a trail to a beach to see what it was like. The trail was next to the resort, but it was really steep so it ended up being quiet the hike. When we got to the beach and set down, we were going to share some Sand Creek Hard Lemonade I brought from Wiscsonin. But I forgot the bottle opener back in our room, so we only shared one, after forcing it open with a car key. We sat on the beach for a while watching a cruse ship go by. After a while, I waded a little into the ocean. It looked okay but I still don't have much experience swimming in the ocean, and there was no lifeguard present, so I didn't want to chance it. after we made the long trek back up the hill, I decided to use our in room jacuzzi to see what it was like. it was nice, but a little loud.
Day 6, Saturday
This was our last full day on Kauai, and would probably be the last low key day. Afterwards, it will be rushed trying to do everything in Honalulu. So even though our vacation wasn't ended, it kind of feels like it was. Anyway, since I didn't get the opportunity to the previous day, I was determined to try kaiten sushi. Only problem was the place that did it was on the south side, and we were on the north. I also wanted to tour this coffee plantation because I like coffee and thought it would be neat, but it was even farther. But we ended up going, and I am glad we did. The coffee making process was really neat, and we learned a bunch. We also got to sample their different varieties, and I even bought some. Afterwards, we drove to the kaiten sushi joint, called Genki Sushi. I'd never been to one in Japan, so I think I might have over indulged a little. The sushi, while not the best I've ever had, was still good, and it was fun to eat off a conveyor belt. I even got my companions to try some sushi, and they had a limited pallet and thought sushi was just raw fish. Afterwards, we took a look at a local Walmart, because that's where my aunt works, and she wanted to check it out. After that, we just cruised around in the rental car, and I navigated the way to two different waterfalls. Then we made our way back here, and have spent the rest of the day relaxing and packing up. Overall, I liked Kauai, and I think I wold definitely comeback, because I know I haven't seen anything yet. But if this were the end of our vacation, I would be completely satisfied. However, tomorrow, we will get to the Honalulu, where I plan to eat a great deal more Japanese food. But it turned out to be so much more...
Day 7, Sunday
We were all ready to go by 9am in the morning, and the car wasn't due back until noon (and the flight was later than that), so we had some time to kill, but there wasn't a whole lot we could do in a couple hours. In the end, I pulled into a scenic overlook of the ocean, and we watched it for a while. Saw a couple whales (not like the show we got on Wednesday, just some spouts, but it was still cool. We still had more time to kill afterwards, so I decided to try something called saimin. This is a ramen-like dish found only in Hawaii. It was okay, but it wasn't as ramen-like as I was expecting. Still, glad I tried it. Afterwards, I tried to find some shaved ice, but after two tries (and pissing off other drivers), I decided to give up and drive to the airport. We ended up spending more time at the airport than the length of the flight.I got one last cup of Kauai Coffee (until I start brewing my own), and bought a picture book (as in history book with old pictures) and some more postcards.
I originally planned to do this in 2 parts, but it's getting long again, so I'm going to split this into three parts. Come back next week to find out the epic conclusion, and to find out what yosakoi is.
Thursday was a little more low key and not planned so much. On Monday, we made reservations to do a Luau that night, so we were limited in what else we could do. Surprisingly, I wasn't so hung over from the night before. Probably because I drank a lot of water before I went to bed. In trying to figure out what to do that day, I looked over my map that I had bought the day before at Waimea canyon, and found a close by hiking trail that it looked like we could do in a few hours. It would go all the way up a mountain and give us some pretty good views of Hanalei bay and possibly even where we were staying. So all of us geared up to do this. We put all the waters in my backpack, and drove to the spot. At the beginning of the trail, there were some walking sticks that we all grabbed. The hike was a good workout, and just what I needed to work of my dinner the previous night. Not much else to say about this hike. We didn't know exactly where the trail ended, but we stopped at the point where you would have to use a rope ladder to get down. My dad and myself were willing to press on, but my Aunt wasn't having any of that, so we turned back. In retrospect, I think the trail might have ended even earlier than that, so I'm not entirely sure what was going on at that point. After getting back, doing a little laundry, and showering, I hung out by the pool resting up.
That night we had a luau. I wasn't expecting great things from my research on the luaus. They were kind of touristy things to do, where the food wouldn't be that great. I guess that put me in a sour mood. The Luau itself ended up being all right, but having experienced it once, I don't think I'd want to do another. The food was good, and there was plenty of it. They also had free beer too, the same thing I drank last night, but I wasn't in the mood to drink a lot. I ended up downing some coffee before the end. As for the show, it was okay too. It was "small world" kind of culture. I really can't honestly appreciate it because it felt somewhat exploitive to me. The Luau was owned by a family operation which were native, but still… it was clearly not my thing. Also, I wish I could have continued drinking through out the show. Maybe I would have liked it better!
Day 5, Friday
This day, I finally got to break away from my companions for a bit. They were going horse riding in the morning, so I could do whatever I wanted. I kind of wanted to hit up a kaiten sushi place, but I needed to kill some time before that. I thought about renting a biking, but the path for it wasn't very long, and biking to the sushi place would be a little perilous Plus, I need to pick my companions up by 12:30. I also thought about visiting a local museum, but I wanted to work up an appetite, so I thought about walking along the beach path. In the ended, I decided to hike up a mountain called Nounou Mountain, which translates to "sleeping giant", because the mountain looks like a dude sleeping in profile. I originally decided to only do the east trail and come back, but halfway up, I decided to go all the way to the top if I could. So I did, and it was breathtaking, if a little perilous. Some of the trails had small rock faces I literally had to climb up, but at least this trail was dry. That took a little longer to get up, so I wan't able to eat anything before I picked my companions up after their 3 hour ride. We wanted to visit the Kileau light house, which is the northern most point of all the Hawaiian islands. It was a tall pensisula were you could view the ocean, and where they used to have a lighthouse to prevent shipwrecks. So on the way there, we stopped at an upscale fish market, and I got this fish burrito thing. It was good, but there was a lot of it, and it started to get messy after a while. The lighthouse provided some good views of the ocean. Supposedly you could also see whales from it, but I didn't see any.
After we got back, my dad and I ventured down a trail to a beach to see what it was like. The trail was next to the resort, but it was really steep so it ended up being quiet the hike. When we got to the beach and set down, we were going to share some Sand Creek Hard Lemonade I brought from Wiscsonin. But I forgot the bottle opener back in our room, so we only shared one, after forcing it open with a car key. We sat on the beach for a while watching a cruse ship go by. After a while, I waded a little into the ocean. It looked okay but I still don't have much experience swimming in the ocean, and there was no lifeguard present, so I didn't want to chance it. after we made the long trek back up the hill, I decided to use our in room jacuzzi to see what it was like. it was nice, but a little loud.
Day 6, Saturday
This was our last full day on Kauai, and would probably be the last low key day. Afterwards, it will be rushed trying to do everything in Honalulu. So even though our vacation wasn't ended, it kind of feels like it was. Anyway, since I didn't get the opportunity to the previous day, I was determined to try kaiten sushi. Only problem was the place that did it was on the south side, and we were on the north. I also wanted to tour this coffee plantation because I like coffee and thought it would be neat, but it was even farther. But we ended up going, and I am glad we did. The coffee making process was really neat, and we learned a bunch. We also got to sample their different varieties, and I even bought some. Afterwards, we drove to the kaiten sushi joint, called Genki Sushi. I'd never been to one in Japan, so I think I might have over indulged a little. The sushi, while not the best I've ever had, was still good, and it was fun to eat off a conveyor belt. I even got my companions to try some sushi, and they had a limited pallet and thought sushi was just raw fish. Afterwards, we took a look at a local Walmart, because that's where my aunt works, and she wanted to check it out. After that, we just cruised around in the rental car, and I navigated the way to two different waterfalls. Then we made our way back here, and have spent the rest of the day relaxing and packing up. Overall, I liked Kauai, and I think I wold definitely comeback, because I know I haven't seen anything yet. But if this were the end of our vacation, I would be completely satisfied. However, tomorrow, we will get to the Honalulu, where I plan to eat a great deal more Japanese food. But it turned out to be so much more...
Day 7, Sunday
We were all ready to go by 9am in the morning, and the car wasn't due back until noon (and the flight was later than that), so we had some time to kill, but there wasn't a whole lot we could do in a couple hours. In the end, I pulled into a scenic overlook of the ocean, and we watched it for a while. Saw a couple whales (not like the show we got on Wednesday, just some spouts, but it was still cool. We still had more time to kill afterwards, so I decided to try something called saimin. This is a ramen-like dish found only in Hawaii. It was okay, but it wasn't as ramen-like as I was expecting. Still, glad I tried it. Afterwards, I tried to find some shaved ice, but after two tries (and pissing off other drivers), I decided to give up and drive to the airport. We ended up spending more time at the airport than the length of the flight.I got one last cup of Kauai Coffee (until I start brewing my own), and bought a picture book (as in history book with old pictures) and some more postcards.
I originally planned to do this in 2 parts, but it's getting long again, so I'm going to split this into three parts. Come back next week to find out the epic conclusion, and to find out what yosakoi is.