BLISS! AMAZEMENT! BEAUTY! FLOWERS! OCEAN! MOUNTAINS! SHORTS AND T-SHIRTS! Yep...completely fabulous to be wearing flip flops and shorts while exploring the hotel at which we arrived after dark. I really wished that we'd been able to fly in during the daylight hours to "get the lay of the land", but, because of a three hour delay in Los Angeles, it wasn't meant to be.
We checked in (after getting lost several times trying to find the hotel), took showers, and went right to bed. Except for the roosters crowing ALL NIGHT LONG, it was a great first sleep in Lihue.
Our first day involved buying souvenirs, and exploring close to home. We had coffee and toast by the pool (not a very luxurious breakfast spread, but enough to get us started). The Kauai Inn is a quaint, "vintage" hotel (it's been around for a very long time). Nothing posh, but the rooms were clean, the staff was amazingly helpful and friendly, and the grounds were beautiful.
Jezebel, the hotel cat (one of them)
We started off by driving up a winding road outside the hotel to find a place that we'd discovered online while researching Kauai..."The Right Slice". All I can say is...YUM! More about this amazing pie shop later, but we had to figure out where it was, right from the start, so we could get there as soon as they opened.
After scoping out the pie place, we headed to Long's Drugstore at the Kukui Grove Center on Kaumualii Highway. A friend recommended buying all of our souvenirs there, and ($124.00 later) we're so glad she did! Great selection of Kona coffee, and macadamia nuts, and trinkets, and coconut shell bikini tops, and shells, and calendars, and grass skirts, and tacky magnets (yes Davey, I bought one for you!).
Super friendly staff, very helpful clerks...we spent an hour and half there!!!
After Long's we went to Hilo Hattie's to look for more souvenirs, and to Wal-Mart (we heard they ALSO had a great selection of souvenirs), and bought MORE stuff to cram in our suitcases (without, really, seeing ANY PART OF THE ISLAND YET!!!).
After shopping for most of the morning, we headed to "The Feral Pig" for lunch. "The Feral Pig is a great little restaurant/bar in the Harbor Mall, just down from Kalapaki Park.
As previously mentioned, chickens are a big part of the "experience" on Kauai. They are EVERYWHERE as a result of the hurricane in 1992, which, apparently, set free a flock of domesticated chickens. There don't seem to be any natural predators to these birds because you see them all over the island...on beaches...in parking lots...along the roads...in the mountains...and...occasionally, in restaurants...
They also don't know how to tell time, and, except for an occasional break from 1 a.m. to 3 a.m., crow...constantly...all night long.
After lunch we headed across the street to experience "shave ice" for the first time. I'd heard people talk about it, and, as a Hawaiian "newbie", mistakenly compared it to a sno-cone. Boy was I wrong! Number 1...the ice is shaved (hence the name), so it's light and fluffy...more like snow than the pedestrian ice chunkes spit out by sno-cone makers. Number 2...the flavors (and there are MANY) are much more flavorful, and colorful, and tasty!
Of the three shave ice places that we tried on the island, I have to say that this was my favorite (and the only one we went back to).
Our first "combo" was mango/coconut/papaya, and it was delightful...
After shave ice, we headed to "The Right Slice" to pick up a few pieces of pie. We'd been waiting to go to this place since February, when we found the website. It was DEFINITELY worth the wait.
To say that a slice of "Island Lime" or "Chocolate Macaroon" was "good" would be a GROSS understatement. To say that it was "delicious" would be an INSULT. To say it was one of the most AMAZING pie experiences of my entire life would start to approach it. WOW! WOW! WOW!
The staff was very helpful and nice, and we kind of got to know them in the THREE times we went there while on the island (plus "stalking" the owner at an outdoor gourmet food market, but you'll have to wait until the post for Wednesday, March 27th to hear more about that...).
After inhaling both pieces of pie (no worries...we bought extra to take back to the hotel!), we drove to Kuilau Ridge Trail and took a 2 1/2 hour hike up through the rainforest. UNFORTUNATELY, as we were getting ready to hike, it started to sprinkle. We decided that RAIN in Hawaii was MUCH better than SNOW in Minnesota, so continued to hike. The sprinkles turned to rain, and the rain, eventually, turned to a downpour. We got DRENCHED...
Opaekaa Falls, on the way to Kuilau Ridge Trail
It EVENTUALLY stopped raining (as we were coming down), and, as the clouds occasionally parted, we saw some BEAUTIFUL scenery...
After the hike, and a PIE PIG OUT (we still had some in the trunk of the car), we headed back toward Lihue, and made a LOVELY stop at Lydgate State Beach Park...our first beach/ocean time on Kauai!!!
SHAMEFUL ADMISSION NUMBER ONE: After hanging out on the beach for awhile, we went back to Wal-Mart for more supplies/souvenirs, then had dinner at Pizza Hut.
IN OUR OWN DEFENSE, the one near us in Eagan CLOSED, and we were craving pizza, and we knew it would be good. Even though they DIDN'T have any green olives, it was still one of the BEST Pizza Hut pizzas I've ever had. Don't judge...
A busy, wet, fun, CRAZY first day on Kauai...!!!!!
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