Kauai or Bust! Daily Breakdown

I'm posting this now. I'm sure you've figured that out, since I've just posted it. I wanted to include some excellent pictures for your viewing pleasure, but I haven't even uploaded them yet and it's been almost a month since our trip! Unacceptable. I know. Read on, reader!

Day 1: We had a super early flight and were taxied to the airport by one very selfless Ted. The guy sitting next to us was an opinionated talker, so we didn't nap or get much reading done. We arrived in Kauai and saw our first of an endless supply of roosters at Costco! We bought some food, then headed to our condo in Poipu on the south shore. We Skyped with the girls. We watched the sunset from a little beach, appropriately named Baby Beach, and (by following some chickens and a sign reading "PLEASE DO NOT FEED FERAL CATS OR CHICKENS") accidentally happened upon Spouting Horn--a fun lookout where water is forced through lava tubes and shot into the air. Cool.

Day 2: Mike and I ate breakfast on the lanai. Mike made some phone calls for our house. We hit up a little shopping center in Poipu and got Puka Dogs for lunch and bought a hat for me, then headed out for some adventuring and had a video chat with Sky and Harp from the top of Weimea Canyon via Google Hangout. Oh, technology! After that, we hiked around the canyon for a few hours, took some pictures in front of a little waterfall, got attacked by mosquitoes and hiked back to our car. Before heading back to the condo, we watched the sun set on the Na Pali Coast from a cool spot at Kalalau Lookout, at the end of the highway on the northernmost tip of Kauai's west coast. We saw our first of many rainbows and thought of Sky. :)

Day 3: Mike made some phone calls for the house. We stopped back at the Puka Dogs shopping center to get some incredible gelato. We headed back to Costco and bought snorkel gear and cinnamon rolls, then stopped at Hilo Hattie to play that pick an oyster game. I picked an oyster with two black pearls inside! Then I picked a coupon for 50% off my pearls. Double bonus!!! Mike and I drove back to the condo to practice snorkeling in the pool, because one of us has had issues snorkeling in the past. It was a successful pool snorkeling extravaganza, so we hit the open sea at Poipu Beach. I'm happy to report that both parties snorkeled and many fish were viewed in their happy ocean world! We bought a tiny pineapple from a farmers market stand and ate at Bubba Burgers for dinner. It wasn't as good as In-N-Out.

Day 4: We ate Costco cinnamon rolls for breakfast and cut up the tiny pineapple. The cinnamon rolls were a mistake and the pineapple was yummy, but weirdly buttery tasting. Mike made some phone calls for our house. We got some shave ice and headed to Port Allen for a 4-hour sunset catamaran tour of the Na Pali Coast! We met a chatty parrot and texted a picture for the girls to see. Sky thought it was an astronaut. Our little cruise was great! We saw a pod of spinner dolphins with adorable babies! We also saw flying fish, rainbows, beachy caves and gorgeous scenery. Mike fed the fish 3 times.

Day 5: Mike and I headed up to the north side of the island for some sight-seeing. We took a short hike along the Kalalau Trail, looked at some beaches from afar and checked out a house for my parents. We also wandered around at a little shopping center called Ching Young Village and wished the pizza shop hadn't been closed. I had a stomach ache from lack of pizza, so we drove back toward Poipu. We stopped at a little roadside stand and bought some homemade mango bread. After some lunch and an episode of Cupcake Wars, we snorkeled again at Poipu Beach.

Day 6: Bright and early trip to the airport for a private helicopter tour with our old friend Evan! We haven't seen Evan since our wedding on Oahu seven years ago and we were thrilled to see him and have him show us the island in such an awesome way! We took the rear helicopter doors off, which--for future reference--was freaking freezing, but very cool. I got some killer pictures of Kauai with nothing blocking my view! Evan took us to his favorite spot: a secluded waterfall in the middle of the island. We got to walk around a beautiful spot where very few people have ever been. It was truly incredible! We took Evan to breakfast at The Feral Pig afterward and I had the most gigantic pancakes known to man. Mike and I went to a timeshare presentation, which did not end well (Mike may have said, "I really don't like your approach and I don't want to talk to you any more.") We Redboxed The Vow. I was not happy with the suggestive ending, but felt fine about the movie overall.

Day 7: Mike made some phone calls for the house. I watched HGTV. I didn't know I missed real TV so much since we canceled our cable subscription last year! In the afternoon we headed to Lihue to do some ziplining with Kauai Backcountry Adventures! Our guides were Tim and "Bundy" and they were awesome. Tim picked us some wild guava, which was delish. Ziplining was a lot of fun--our group was great. There was another 20s couple on their honeymoon, a middle-aged couple, and two older couples in their 60s-70s. The oldest guy wanted to be the first on every run. He was hilarious. That night we tried to go to Barking Sands Beach, but couldn't get there in our non-4WD vehicle. We settled on a long walk along what we are pretending was the very beginning of Barking Sands Beach and watched another lovely sunset.

Day 8: Flew home to see our babies! We said goodbye to Kauai. Goodbye, Tree Tunnel. Goodbye, rainbows. Goodbye chickens (and good riddance, roosters--the little bastards woke us up all night, every night!), and goodbye fantastic vacation! Our return flight was not full, so we had an empty seat in our row and no one to chat our ears off. We read our books and--wait for it--watched the sun set over the Pacific from our plane window!