We started the day with breakfast at "The Feral Pig" (third day, and we were already repeating stuff...!). I had an AMAZING banana bread french toast, with bacon (of course!), and HAD to buy a "Feral Pig" coffee mug. It now sits on my desk at work to REMIND ME that I was relaxed...once...a long time ago...
After "The Feral Pig" we went to Big K to buy supplies and MORE souvenirs. They had an even BETTER variety than Long's Drug, and I found some COOL STUFF!!!
We then headed BACK to "The Right Slice" for more pie (what can I say...we like pie!), then drove to Koloa Old Town to look around. We had a slice of AWESOME pizza at Pizzetta, looked around the main street, and poked around the ruins of an old sugar mill...
We also found a cool sculpture that explained the history of sugar production on the island...
We then drove to a nearby Japanese cemetary. Many of the people buried there were born in the mid 1800's, and died in the early to mid 1900's. Very interesting...
After the cemetary we drove to Poi'pu and went to the Spouting Horn blowhole (an underground lava tube in which the tide rushes, and shoots out of an opening in the surface of the rock). It wasn't particularly "energetic" while we were there (low tide?), so we dubbed it the "Spitting Horn"... We DID see a sea turtle swimming near the shore, so THAT was cool at least!!!
After the "Spitting Horn" we went back to Poi'pu and headed to the Poi'pu Public Beach. Of all the beaches we visited on Kauai...this was one of our favorites (and one to which we returned about FOUR times...!). It's a LOVELY little stretch of beach, complete with a tombolo (sand bar) that led to a reef. You can see the tombolo (and reef) on a webcam located here.
After some time on the beach (which was FABULOUS!!!), we headed to a local institution...Brennecke's...to have beverages. Brennecke's has been around since the 80's, and is noted for it's wide open windows, and gorgeous view of the ocean. It was lovely...
After Brennecke's, we went BACK to the "Spouting Horn" to see if it was a little more "enthusiastic" (it wasn't), then headed to a shopping center (Kukui'Ula) at which we saw a sign for a "Gourmet Food Market". It did NOT disappoint.
LOTS of cool island foods...AND our pie lady, Sandy, was there selling her AMAZING pies (I had the coconut cream instead of the chocolate coconut macaroon, and it did NOT disappoint!). The line for Sandy's pies was VERY long, and I originally intended to stand in it just to tell her how AWESOME I thought her pie was, but, as we got closer, I got hungry...what can I say...??!!
I THINK we officially became PIE STALKERS with this move, but...who cares??!! It was like meeting the president...or Mick Jagger (or Justin Bieber for those of you reading this who are MUCH newer to the planet...)...
Me and Sandy...the pie ROCK STAR!!!!
After the "Gourmet Food Market" (and that AWESOME pie!!!) we headed to the Glass Beach.
MUCH of what we did on our trip was at the recommendation of our neighbor Vickie, who lived on Kauai...the rest was based on what we read in our AWESOME guide book "The Ultimate Kauai Guidebook; Kauai Revealed" by Andrew Doughty. BOTH recommended checking this beach out.
What's interesting about this beach is that you have to drive into an industrial park, navigate a crappy dirt road, park along a grass embankment, and then walk the rest of the way down to the beach. What makes it even MORE interesting is that the beach doesn't really have sand on it...it has sea glass. Tons and tons of tiny, sea-polished glass "specks" from the nearby dump that's been washed out to sea, and polished by the surf, over time.
The guidebook didn't recommend swimming in the water OR lounging on the beach, but we found it MAGICAL! Even though the sun was setting, it was still reflecting off the glass...making the beach practically GLOW!
After glass beach, we drove through Hanapepe...a town that the guidebook described as "an old chair". Some would find it comfortable...others would find it needing repairs and reupholstering. We found it the latter. It was originally settled by Chinese immigrants, and contained the islands share of opium dens. Sad...
After Hanapepe, we headed back to Lihue. We stopped at a grocery store near Long's Drug and found stuff to cook for dinner in our hotel room. I found an AWESOME Japanese frozen food section and discovered YAKINIKU-DON!!! I'm SOOOOOOOOO going to try to find it here in the continental U.S.!!!!
After chowing down, I called my friend Kimberly's mom, Pat (who lives in Lihue), to set up dinner for Friday (two days following...more on that later...), and collapsed into bed (to await the nightly rooster crowing...).
No comments:
Post a Comment