We are home again!
We got to FaceTime with Brooke when we landed in Vegas!
And stopped for food…. I sure missed my fish tacos.
Oh this felt so good.
Time to share all of the details of our trip. We had our trip all planned out and then a few days before we were to leave, our babysitting plans fell through. We were starting to cancel everything when my oldest brother told us to have the littles stay with them. We didn’t ask him or anything, he just offered without even thinking twice. They spoiled Beck and Skye and had the best time. I felt so lucky that they got to know my brother and his family better too!
My other brother gave us quite a deal on plane tickets too… every time you get on a southwest flight, look to see if my brother is your pilot!
We stayed at the Hanalei Bay Resort and we cannot recommend it enough. The views were amazing, the room was so comfortable, the views were spectacular and it was very close to everything we wanted to do. Our room was less than $200 a night which seemed like a great deal compared to everything else. And maybe it was this cheap because we scheduled so last second. It also had a pathway to its own beach (where I saw Kourtney Kardashian bc her hotel also connected there).
We would definitely stay here again. It is in Princeville and there were some random rainstorms each day but they were so refreshing. The restaurant at the resort was so good and we loved the pools.
Now I’ll tell you each and every thing we did. The most expensive part was the food. We found so many restaurants where we were in heaven because the food was so good but when we bring our kids back, we will be going to the grocery store when we land to stock up on food ha. Our bill for the 2 of us to eat was equivalent of our bills for all 6 of us at to eat out at home in Utah!
We flew into Kauai on Friday at around noon. It was a very easy airport and car rental setup to navigate.
We drove straight to Bubba’s to grab a chicken caesar salad, onion rings and burger with chili to share.
Next up-> Wishing Well. The pina colada shaved ice is something I’ll dream about forever.
We then checked into the resort, walked around and down to the beach (Puu Poa) to see the sunset!
We had dinner at the resort that night-> fish tacos and a side of fries.
One of the first things we noticed was how chickens are just everywhere. Our kids will love this!
Saturday:
We woke up early to head over to Kekaha Small Boat Harbor for our tour of the Na Pali Coast with Na Pali Experience. We loved this company!
On our drive to the boat tour we saw Island Crave and had to stop. The macadamia nut maple donut was amazing and so was the glazed. We went a few days later too and the cinnamon roll and maple bar were next level.
The boat tour went from 8-1. It was worth every penny. I took medicine before to avoid sea sickness and it kept me feeling good the whole time besides the very end. We saw one week old dolphins! They were the size of a football and they were swimming around with the matriarch dolphins. We also saw sea turtles, monk seals, amazing caves and the coast that felt like it was too amazing to really be a part of this world. We swam in the water and our guide cut up pineapple for us to have along with juice. There were 6 passengers on the boat and all of our jaws were dropped while viewing this coast.
When we got off the boat we went to Tiki tacos for fish and shrimp tacos that were great.
Next we drove Waimea canyon and stopped along the way at different viewing points. It was crazy to go from the coast to this canyon because of how different the landscapes were from one another. We drove to the top and did the Kaluapuhi Trail which was pretty challenging at about 3.8 miles round trip. It was crazy muddy but the views were insane. I cannot recommend it enough.
Next up (after a shower at the beach and a change of clothes) we had dinner at the Beach House and walked Po’ipu beach. I had the beet salad and macadamia nut encrusted fish and loved every bite.
We went to Lappert’s ice cream on the way back for macadamia nut ice cream.
Sunday:
I started the day with an 8 mile run around Princeville. The humidity was difficult for me but the elevation and lack of allergies here made it perfect. It would randomly rain which also brought out gorgeous rainbows
Wake Up Delicious Hanalei was where we went for breakfast ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ Heavenly. I had the pineapple mango orange juice and we shared the breakfast burrito and churro French toast and then we walked around Hanalei and rented snorkels.
Next stop was Tunnel beach for snorkeling, naps in the shade (perfect shade next to ocean) and such a nice breeze at the prettiest beach ever. It was my favorite beach that we went to. We loved that there was no cell phone reception… such an escape!
We also explored the massive tunnel under the mountain across the street.
Wishing well again for more shaved ice.
Queens Bath was next on our list… wear hiking shoes to get there. It was a shortish hike but I was sliding all over the place in my sandals. Jump in from the rocks into the bath, it was so fun and a huge highlight for me. This is a must!
Next up we stopped at the small Hanaelai farmers market to look around and then had fish tacos at the resort for dinner.
Monday:
We started with a 5 mile run and then went to the Wishing Well Coffee and Tea for açaí bowls. These were so good.
From there, we drove over to Secret Beach! This one also required a small hike to get to so if you can, wear good shoes. This beach was empty. It was stunning. I was too nervous to go farther than my waist in the water but Andrew played in the waves.
We then went to Kilauea Bakery for a piece of macadamia nut chocolate pie to share and then had two rolls from Sushi Girl. Fish in Hawaii > fish in Utah ha. We then walked around the area where we were eating for a while.
Hanalei Poke was a few hours later and we loved it so much we went back the next day… we wanted to eat as much fish as possible.
We finished up the day with snorkeling at Puu Poa beach. There were so many fish and sea turtles everywhere.
Tuesday:
Early wake up to make it to jump on our shuttle (we reserved our spot and got our permit about one week in advance… we felt lucky to get it with such a short notice) to get to Kalalau Trail and Hanakapi’ai Falls. This was the best run of my life. I don’t even have words for this experience. Please do this if you go! It took us 2.5 hours of moving time.
The hike/run was the grande finale for us and then we relaxed the rest of the day on the beach and flew home the next morning with a stop for Island Crave Kauai for one last delicious treat:
few random thoughts from the trip:
My plantar fasciitis flares up when I’m walking on the sand without shoes.
It felt so weird not planning our days around Beck’s nap.
This post, this post, this post and this post have a lot more pictures from all of these activities and food stops if you want to see more! Oh, and my swimsuits are in this post.
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Prettiest place you have ever visited?
Those of you that have had plantar fasciitis… what flares it up for you?
On the plane… are you a talker with the people next to you?
