December 19 to 26 2018
Getting There
This might be too much information but I had hernia surgery a month before vacation so I was still restricted on what I could lift. Karen lifted our bags out of her trunk and off the luggage carousel at the airport. She wanted to put my backpack into the overhead on the plane but I drew the line there. I was glad that she was able to lift our luggage because I didn’t want to go through surgery again.
We had an 11:30 am flight to LAX where we had a four hour layover followed by our flight that would get us into Kauai about 10:30 pm local time.
I had flow into LAX for work many times so I was familiar with the airport, or so I thought. When I flew into LAX for work, I was always in a newer terminal. For Kauai, we flew into terminal 2, what must have been one of the original terminals. It was small, old, the ceilings are low and there wasn’t much for food.
We had to take a bus to the international terminal, terminal B, to get dinner. The international terminal it beautiful. There were huge screens advertising different products and many nice restaurants. There was a Russian caviar restaurant and other restaurants we were not familiar with. We didn’t feel adventurous so we ate at PF Chang’s. We usually like PF Chang’s but this was not the best meal we have had from them. What can I say, airport food.
We arrived at the Lihue airport on time. It is a very nice open-air airport. We grabbed our bags and went to retrieve our rental car and then drove to our hotel.
We thought it would be a good idea to get a hotel near the airport rather than drive two hours to our hotel. We would not get to our hotel until 1:30 am local time or 5:30 am Minneapolis time which meant we would have been up for close to twenty four hours. I didn’t want to drive in the dark on unfamiliar roads when I was that tired.
We stayed at the Kauai Palms which was a short drive from the airport. We let the management know we were coming in late so they gave us our room number and left the door unlocked.
The Kauai Palms we nice enough for a night. It is an old motor lodge type hotel with exterior doors. The room was small but well kept up.
Our plan to get a good night’s rest didn’t work out very well. We were unaware that Kauai is full of wild roosters and those roosters crowed outside our window all night. For some reason, garbage trucks drove by our room starting very early in the morning. We could hear the people in the room above ours and someone was talking outside our room in the early morning. It was not a good night for sleeping.
We got up the following morning and I checked Trip Advisor for recommended breakfast restaurants. Ha Coffee Bar was several blocks away. We had a good Hawaiian breakfast, it was a bowl filled with bananas, granola and asci. The asci tasted like sherbet. Nothing like ice cream for breakfast.
Karen had the good idea to explore the south end of the island since we were already there. We drove up Waimea canyon to the falls. It was beautiful. Then on to Princeville. We stopped for tacos along the way. We got to experience rush hour traffic on the way.
Our Hotel- Westin Princeville
We checked in and unpacked. I got a great deal on our stay, it was cheap enough that they were probably going to try to sell us a time share but we were told we would not have to attend any meetings.
The property was beautiful. It had a store, restaurants, pools, spa, and a gym. The room was large. It had a jacuzzi tub, large screen TV, full kitchen and lanai. The resort was located on a cliff but there was a trail leading to the ocean and a small river.
The Weather
Our brother in-law is from Hawaii and when we told him we were going to Princeville over Christmas he was quick to pointed out that it was rainy season there. We were a little worried but we were not going to let rain ruin our vacation.
It usually only rained at night and the few times it rained when we were out during the day we were eating or doing something inside.
The times we went to Hanalei it was misting on the mountain ride of the road and the clouds were hanging low over the mountains. It just added to the ambiance of the little hippie town.
The rain only caused issues twice. Once when we were trying to hike. We could have hiked in the mist but the trails were so slippery that we turned around. One morning we were woken by a flood warnings on our phones but by the time we showered and left it quit raining.
The odd thing that happened was we were having lunch at the restaurant near the pool, it was open air. It were “tarps” over tables. I looked to one side of the restaurant and it was raining but it was not on the other side. I expected the rain to move over the restaurant but it neve did. It only rained on one side.
The nice thing about the rain is an abundance of rainbows, even double rainbows.
If you come to the north side of Kauai during the rainy season you are probably going to experience some rain but not enough to ruin your vacation.
Princeville
This is a beautiful little town that was a short drive from the Westin. There were many good restaurants. It had a Foodland Grocery store. All of us Midwesterners were up early and getting coffee at the Foodland most every morning. Of course we also bought food and liquor there.
There were great walking trails near our hotel that we took advantage of. If you are in the area you have to eat at the Princeville Resort. It overlooks the bay and views are spectacular. You can also watch the surfers.
There were a fair number of restaurants on Ka Haku road but we always went into Princeville to eat.
We ate at Piazza twice, our first night there and Christmas Eve. It was great both nights. We had pizza and salad the first night and caprese salad, pasta and tiramisu.
We had dinner at Tiki Iniki. The ambiance is really nice it is an old tiki bar with kitsch everywhere. The food was fine but it wasn’t as good as the ambiance.
Our last day we had lunch at Princeville Resort, formerly the St Regis. We went there because our neighbors told us the view was spectacular and it was. The hotel is on top of a cliff that overlooks Hanalei Bay. The view is pure Hawaii, with the blue ocean, Hanalei beach in the distance, the mountains in the background and surfers catching waves below the restaurant.
Unfortunately, the food was mediocre, the service was terrible, I had to find the waitress and request a menu.
Hanalei- One of the Coolest Little Towns I’ve Been to
Hanalei is a short drive from Princeville. You drive down a steep hill as you exit town and then come to a single lane bridge. You have to wait for a green light to cross because there could be oncoming traffic.
We went to Hanalei several times during our stay, including Christmas Eve mass and Christmas Day dinner.
The beach is absolutely beautiful and there is parking at the beach. The beach is a flat and sandy with waves breaking out in the bay. There were a lot of surfers. You can hike west on the beach to a river and if you cross the river it looked like you could continue hiking for a while.
We ran into a looney local who started telling us about making energy babies and other things but he also talked about the song Puff the Magic Dragon and pointed out the outline of a dragon in the cliffs. Can you see it below?
I did see the dragon in the outline of the hills but when I got back to the room I Googled the song’s connection to Hanalei. The lyric in the song says Hohah Lee, sounds alike but isn’t the same. There is no proof that any members of the trio were ever in Hanalei so his idea about what appears to be Puff the Magic Dragon in the outline of the hills is a coincidence and just as crazy as his energy babies.
We had some great meals in Hanalei. There are food trucks on the right as you enter town. Christmas Eve day Karen and I had one of our best meals here. For lunch, I had the best coconut shrimp I ever had and Karen had a tuna bomb which was great.
The Best Coconut Shrimp in the World 
Food Truck Row
We had lunch at Kalypso. The food was good, and it had great ambiance.
We had dinner on Christmas Day at Tahiti Nui. It was one of the few restaurants that was open so we had to wait about forty minutes for a table. It was down pouring from time to time so we didn’t have much of an option and the food was great.
Christmas Eve mass was amazing. We drove past Waioli Huiia Church and thought it would be nice for Christmas Eve mass. The church was built in 1843 and is perfect condition.
We are very familiar with crowded churches on Christmas Eve so we arrived early. By the start of mass, the pews were full along with folding chairs that lined the interior of the church.
There was an older man that sat next to me. His clothes were muddy. He donated when the basket came around. I know the roads north of town were washed out, cars could not get through. My thought was that he walked from his home north of town just to get to church by himself. Anyway, it was just a reminder to not judge people. To steal a phrase, that the cracks in life are what let the light in.
It was a really nice mass, in a beautiful church, in a beautiful town, in Hawaii.
Ka Paa
My wife found a coffee shop called Imua located in Ka Paa just south of Princeville for us to grab a latte and croissant several mornings. It is hard to find because it is hidden in a strip mall and it was usualy busy because of the hotel next door.
There was a large ABC Store near Imua. We stopped there to buy some souvenirs. I usually don’t buy souvenirs from a gas station or convenience store but they had really nice T-shirts and hats. Come to think of it I did buy some T-shirts at an ABC store when I was in Las Vegas… and also in Kona.
From their shop it was a short walk to the beach where we met the boat. The boat motored up the Na Poli coast. We saw waterfalls, the boat brought us into to a cave where a video had been shot. I don’t remember which artist, I must have never seen video but the cave was beautiful.
The trip is worthwhile. The hills and waterfalls are beautiful from the ocean. The most interesting thing that we saw was while cruising the coast was the captain pointed out that we were moving out of the rainy area of the island to the dry area. You could see the lush green cliffs and no more than 300 yards down the coast the cliffs were brown. It is amazing that the water changed so much in such a short area.
On the way back we stopped to snorkel. Karen and I are used to the Caribbean where the water is 81 degrees. The water this time of year in Hawaii is 72 degrees which sounds warm enough for air but after twenty minutes snorkeling in water that cold we had had enough.
The snorkeling was good. There were at least a dozen turtles that were clearly used to seeing people. I could swim up to them and they would just ignore me.
Hiking
There was hiking near our hotel. There was a very muddy and steep hike just to the east of our hotel which brought is down to the ocean. I fell down a coupled of times going up and down but the hill but the hike was worth it.
We drove to the Moalepe trail in Ka Paa. It was misting when we arrived but not hard enough that we would not hike in it. However, about fifteen minutes into the hike we realized that the trail was wet and muddy enough that we would have been covered in mud from our knees down by we probably would have slipped more than a few times. We opted not to bring hiking shoes because they take up too much room in the luggage.
On our way to the Moalepe trail we had noticed a trail that runs along the ocean in Ka Paa. We decided to hike that trail instead. There were beautiful ocean views. It was a very nice hike.
We hiked the same trail on our last day in Princeville, only we did a much longer hike. It was beautiful, we watched surfers and enjoyed the views.
Other Things we did During Our Trip
We stopped at Makauwahi Cave Reserve. There was a lot of interesting fossils, a nice trail to hike to the beach and they also had tortises.
We went to a beach on the south end of the island and encountered a sleeping Monk Seal.
We toured Kauai coffee and Koloa Rum Company. Unfortunately the coffee isn’t nearly as good at Kona coffee but it was an interesting tour. We thought the Koloa rum was great but we have several friends that know rum and they didn’t care for it. The way I see it, if you are a rum novice you will like Koloa rum but if you are used to Caribbean rum you won’t like it.
Kauai (and the rest of Hawaii) is the land of waterfalls. I gave up counting all of the water falls we saw.
Our Return Trip
On our final day we checked out and left our bags at the front desk. We drove to the Princeville Resort to have lunch and to enjoy the view. Lunch wasn’t bad but everything else we had on vacation was better. So it was our worst meal but the bar was set very high by all of the other restaurants. Unfortunately, my burger cost $25.The service was terrible, after waiting fifteen minutes I had to go find a server so we could order.
After lunch we went back to the hotel to pick up our luggage. I pulled up to the hotel and gave my claims to the valet who went to get our luggage. My wife went into the hotel while I waited for the luggage. The valets brought our bags out and dropped them at the car and disappeared after I tipped them.
I told you about my hernia surgery earlier. There were other cars that were pulling up to the hotel. I decided that I would chance it and load the bags into the car myself. Our bags were about forty pounds each. I definitely felt it after I threw the bags in the trunk.
We stopped to hike in Ka Paa on the way back to the airport.
The picture below is of one of the Ka Paa bays we saw on our hike. The bay is so large that there are people on the beach but they look like specks, and surfers in the water.
We decided to book a day room at the Kauai Palms. It was here that I learned how smart the roosters are. While we were trying to nap a rooster was crowing outside our door. I opened the door to our room and the rooster looked at me and ran across the street. I could have swore he looked both ways before crossing too.
We gave up trying to nap and went to get dinner. I checked Trip Advisor and Kauai Brewing was only a few block away and had good reviews.
I love beer but I think tap rooms are overdone. A lot of the beers brewed at the tap rooms are very similar and not that good. I like a good amount of tap rooms in Minneapolis but there a many more that aren’t worth the gas to get there.
However, Kauai Beer Company was excellent. The food was good, the service was good, the beer was good and the t-shirts were good enough that my wife bought one.
We showered, packed, and returned our rental car. There was a partial government shut down during our flight home and that might be why it took so long to clear security. We have TSA Precheck and the Precheck lane was open but for no reason they closed it and made us go to the back of the regular security line.
I had gotten Silver Medallion after the flight to Kauai so both Karen and I were upgraded to Comfort Plus for the flight to Seattle. We had the entire row to our self. We folded up the arm rests so Karen could lay down.
We didn’t get much sleep before we landed in Seattle. My wife is very health conscious and would never eat at Mc Donald’s. I don’t like Mc Donald’s that much but I will eat there from time to time. However, I do like the sausage egg Mc Muffin when I am traveling. It is the perfect combination of protein, fat and carbs and it tastes good. I wouldn’t eat it every morning but it works when I am traveling. I talked my wife into trying one and she actually liked it too. We have traveled early morning since then and Karen chose to have a Mc Muffin without any prodding from me.
Our flight into MSP was simple. We were very tired when we got home but we managed to stay up until 8 pm before going to bed which helped us get back on Central time.
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