CajunStorm's Nov 04 Kauai Trip Report
Jan 13th, 2005, 07:52 AM
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CajunStorm's Nov 04 Kauai Trip Report
WED, OCT 27 (DAY 1):
We left the house at 8am and got to DFW around 9am (thinking we had lots of time). AA.com showed our gate as C2 so we drove into terminal C and “attempted” to find a parking spot. After 10 minutes of aimless searching we realized that we’d have to park at another terminal. So Joe helped me bring the luggage into the ticketing area and took off to park. After another 15 minutes he finally arrived in a taxi – he had parked at terminal A! So we go to the check in counter and find out that our gate has changed to A29!!??!! I was furious! We checked our luggage and ran out to another taxi. The security line was long so it took another 10 minutes to get through it. By the time we got to our gate it was 9:40am and everyone but us had already boarded! We got on board and collapsed into our first class seats (2A & B). I immediately drank 2 glasses of champagne and we were off to Hawaii. Yeay!!!!
My first class meal was Mahi Mahi with rice and spinach. The fish was dry but tasty. Joe had barbequed chicken which was much better and he seemed to like it. As I write this I’m waiting for my ice cream sundae and for “Stepford Wives” to start on the movie screen. The sundae turned out to be ok but the movie was pretty dumb. I even caught some cat naps during the movie. After reading more of Stephen King’s “Wolves of the Calla: The Dark Tower V” and seeing “The Terminal” it seemed like we were getting ready to land in no time at all. We did notice that the ride seemed much bumpier than usual during the entire ride.
We landed about 1pm. This time we found the Wiki Wiki shuttle to Hawaiian Air with no problem. We had plenty of time – our flight didn’t board until 2:40pm. So it was nice to be able to leisurely walk around Honolulu airport. It’s even pretty there – lots of gardens. Since we were there so early we were lucky enough to be the 2nd set of people to stand in the open seating line and snag great seats on the plane (left side by a window).
When we landed on Kauai it took so long to get the terminal walk-up thing lined up to the aircraft that our bags were already at the baggage claim area. Great! We rushed over to the Hertz shuttle. We got a little stressed because the driver didn’t have my name on his list. But it was actually on the Gold board at the Hertz office. So we got dropped off at our Ford 4wd (Explorer, I think).
It was now 4pm and it took about 30 minutes to get to the Hyatt. It was so exciting to see the views and go through the Eucalyptus Tree tunnel on the way. At check in we were told about a huge sale on room upgrades. We got very excited because it sounded so great. Here were the upgrade prices (per night):
Ocean View Suite - $250
Deluxe Ocean View Suite - $350
Presidential Suite - $1,000
Joe actually contemplated the Presidential Suite but it sounded like the Ocean View Suite would be fantastic enough for us. So we got our room assignment – 5008 – and the bellhop showed us the way. It was quite a walk but we were SOOO excited when we saw the room! It was absolutely gorgeous and HUGE! There were 2 areas, Jacuzzi tub, and a huge lanai opening into both rooms facing the ocean.
We cleaned up a little and went downstairs along the beach to see when Tidepools opened for dinner – 5:30pm. It was 5pm so we went up to the lobby terrace and had drinks – Miller Lite for Joe and Lava Flow for me. This was my first Lava Flow – now I know what the fuss is all about! Totally yummy!
We went back to Tidepools and scored an awesome table by the koi pond. The restaurant got a little crowded and service seemed slow but we still enjoyed it – we were in Kauai for goodness sake! We had some bread (which was just ok), Ahi Sashimi (delicious), Seafood Mixed Grill for Joe (excellent) and Kauai Spiced Opah for me (just ok – too rich and not what I remembered from our last visit). We got 2 vanilla smoothies to go and headed back to our fabulous room.
It was 7pm so I was able to watch Lost as usual. Joe fell asleep during the show while I did some unpacking and got ready for bed. Good night!
THURS, OCT 28 (DAY 2):
I woke up at 4am. I wrote in this journal and watched tv in the separate living room. Joe got up around 5:25am. We watched the sunrise and got ready for breakfast. We got downstairs around 7:05am and went to Ilima Terrace (which was closed on our last visit). Joe noticed a spider hanging down from a chandelier in the dining area. We sat down and had some things from the buffet: potatoes, scrambled eggs, bacon, pancakes, juices (OJ and guava) and milk (which I think tastes funny in Hawaii). We tried a couple of pastries. The food was ok but not exciting.
After eating we checked out Lamont’s Gift shop and went to our room. We got our stuff together and headed out. I’m not sure what the time was when we left our room. We stopped at Big Save in Waimea for snacks and water.
Then we headed up the Canyon. It was a nice, sunny day this time (it had rained on the canyon on our last trip). On the way up we saw a spectacular view of Waipoo Falls (hike we did last year along Canyon Trail). We made a stop at the canyon lookout next – pretty but the sun wasn’t quite high enough to light up all the valleys. We stopped at the Kokee Museum next. The old lady at the counter was a little gruff with us because we didn’t know how long we wanted to hike so she could tell us which hike to take. She told us that Pihea Trail (at top of Canyon) would be very wet. So we left and headed that way anyway.
We stopped at the last lookout (about 10am) and got ready to hike. As we checked out the lookout it was sunny but starting to mist. As we stood there an amazing rainbow appeared in the valley below! We were THRILLED! We got lots of photos of this phenomenal event.
The rainbow continued to be in the valley and became more brilliant as we started the hike. At first the trail went downhill and was sort of smooth and rocky at the same time. The slightly wet smoothness made it very slippery. Then the trail got muddy. Sometime after the half mile marker (took at least 30 minutes to get there) we ran into a German couple coming towards us. They were saying that the trail got worse. Then an American couple came and told us they didn’t make it to the lookout since it was so bad. But we continued on anyway (bad decision). Well, we had at least 3 obstacles along the way that should’ve made us turn around but we didn’t (yet). First some spots were so muddy that it was likely ankle-deep with mud. Then there were parts that started going upward and there were hardly any trees or anything to grab onto (totally slippery by now). Plus it started raining instead of misting and we put our disposable ponchos on (they had been stowed in our handy backpack). We turned around when Joe saw that the trail started to become almost completely vertical. Disappointed, we started our hike back to the car through the “mess”.
As we walked across the parking lot to get to our car Joe swears he saw Bill Nye the Science Guy. It was around noon when we got to the car. We were starved, of course. So we decided to head down and eat at Waimea Brewing Co.
There were several other people already at the restaurant but we still managed to get a nice window seat. The breeze here was awesome and felt wonderful. Joe saw a lizard at our window immediately. The food took forever but tasted great: Plantation Nachos and Ahi Poke Wrap. We shared them which was perfect since they were huge. A stray cat came up to our table (I had forgotten that there were a ton of cats on this plantation) and I gave him some of my fish. I suspected a lot of customers did this since he slinked off to another table when it looked like we were out of food!
It was around 2pm by now and we went back to the Hyatt. We went up to the room, slathered on sunscreen and headed to the pools. After finding towels and water slide wristbands, we put our stuff on some chairs and rode the waterslide a few times (50 foot long) – very fun! Then we swam around in one of the huge lagoons (part was sandy – like kitty litter though – and then dropped off deeper with rocks and gardens surroundings – beautiful. It had been raining off and on when we first got out there but the rain had stopped while we were at the waterslide. After swimming around we decided to find beach chairs. First we stopped at the beach bar to pick up drinks – vanilla smoothie for Joe and Lava Flow for me. My drink was great but poor Joe said his drink tasted like “rancid milk”. He dejectedly threw it away. The beach was crowded but luckily a couple moved from a shaded set of lounged chairs to ones in a sunny spot. It was very nice because this was one of those green, padded chairs with the adjustable cover. Perfect! Well, the water was quite rough so there were a ton of people right there surfing and boogey-boarding (or trying to). It was quite the show!
Sometime around 5pm we headed upstairs to clean up and rest. Joe didn’t feel very well. We ended up staying in and ordering room service: Seeded Ahi Sashimi, 2 Mahi sandwiches, Cheesecake, Mousse Cake and a bottle of champagne (which was a free gift from the Hyatt). The Sashimi was great. The sandwiches were pretty good. I liked the cheesecake but not the mousse cake. This was perfect since it was reverse for Joe with the desserts. We watched Survivor (Vanuatu) and The Apprentice and went to sleep.
FRI, OCT 29 (DAY 3):
Once again I woke up at 4am. I turned on a living room light near the lanai so I could sit outside to write in the journal again (how else could I find time to write down the trip memories).
We went to the breakfast buffet around 6:15am. After we ate and cleaned up we left to go to the North side of Kauai. We got to Hanalei and stopped at Kayak Kauai to rent some snorkel fins ($4 each per day).
Then we found one of the dirt roads leading to Tunnels Beach. It was a short, dirt road so I can see why parking would be a problem but it was not trouble at all for us around 9am. It was very overcast though. There were only about 3 other couples there at first. We weren’t sure about where exactly to snorkel. A lifeguard came out and said it was safe with a slight current to the left. We went to the right a little bit and decided to try it even though one man said it was murky water. There was quite a bit of wave action and it was quite shallow. But we weren’t very comfortable and quit trying after a short time. Both us of had gotten minor coral scrapes. As we headed back to the car it started raining. We returned our snorkel gear and headed to Kilauea.
We went to the Lighthouse next. It was still overcast outside. There was some kind of photo shoot with a model going on there. It looked like it was for handbags and backpacks (possibly Roxy). Weird. We saw a ton of birds (refuge area). There were even these cute birds nesting in holes in the ground and walls. Nene’s were running around and we saw one chase another Nene away.
We left the lighthouse and checked out the menu at the Lighthouse Bistro. Unfortunately the lunch items listed didn’t appeal to us. We drove on and randomly stopped at a place called Kauai Hardwoods. There was a wooden sign on the side of the road and you had to drive down a dirt road past a bunch of residential houses before you got to a barn-like building with the sign on it. It was a little strange – no one was around but a “showroom” of strange (some cool) wood carvings was open.
After leaving the Hardwood shop we stopped in Kapaa for the Kauai Products Fair. Joe really liked these photographs that had been blown up onto canvas by Makana Aloha Photography. The large ones were $725 with free shipping to the mainland but we didn’t make a purchase. But I was disappointed that there were no puzzle boxes in the “trailer” at the fair like on our last trip. The saleslady there said to check out “Elephant Walk” at Coconuts Marketplace.
Our next stop was Jim Saylor’s Jewelry (also in Kapaa). We were starved by now (almost 2pm). We stopped a little further down the road at Kauai shopping village to find A Pacific Café. Alas, it was only open for dinner! We looked at the dinner menu – it looked good but not much different from Tidepools. We decided to skip lunch and get some ice cream. We went to Coconuts Marketplace and finally tried Lappert’s Ice Cream: Joe had Mint Chip and I had Turtle Cashew Cluster – both extremely yummy! I now vow to get Lappert’s every chance I get in the future (even at the airports). We visited a few shops and found some neat items and headed to the Hyatt. (The puzzle boxes at “Elephant Walk” were not as nice as I remembered from our previous trip)
We cleaned up and went downstairs to the shops. I found a beautiful mother of pearl necklace and earring set at Na Hoku Jewelry. Joe bought the set for me! Lucky me! It’s gorgeous! We went out to the Seaview Terrace for a Miller Lite and a Lava Flow. The sunset was quite beautiful and our seats were great. About 5:50pm we headed to Tidepools for our 6pm reservation. We had a decent but not so great table near the koi pond. While waiting for our waiter we noticed a lizard on the wall near a light overhead just steadily catching bugs. It rained off and on all evening. Our waiter came and took our order but forgot to bring our drinks. We even got our appetizer – Sweet Shrimp Stack – before getting the drinks. The food seemed to come much faster this night than the previous night. But the service wasn’t so great (empty water glass, etc). Joe loved his Seafood Mixed Grill (again) and I also enjoyed the filet and Alaskan Crab dinner. The crab was huge. For dessert Joe got his usual – vanilla smoothie. I got chocolate cake – warmed and much better than the one from room service.
As we headed down to the room Joe talked about getting turn down service but I remembered that you had to request it by 3pm. But – guess what – our room had been “turned down”! That morning we had left a $20 tip for housekeeping – apparently it paid off! The bed sheets were all folded over nicely and chocolates were on the bed (very nice). So we got ready for bed – our last night on Kauai .
SAT, OCT 30 (LAST DAY):
I got up at 4am (as usual) and took a shower. When Joe got up, I looked out the window and noticed that it was unusually dark (cloudier than usual). At 6am we went to the Ilima Terrace for the breakfast buffet. We could tell that it had rained. Clouds seemed to roll in and out as we ate breakfast.
When we were done we walked down to the beach and found an open swing. We found a towel to dry it off and watched the waves during the sunrise (not visible due to clouds – still a little bit of blue sky though). We hung out blissfully watching the beach until around 8:15am. Then we went up to the room to pack.
After packing we decided to go to Spouting Horn nearby. As we left we noticed more storm clouds in the distance. When we got to Spouting Horn it was “spouting” tremendously! What a show (probably due to the distant storms)! We saw the rain approaching and walked under the tents of the shops just in time – it poured down really hard for at least 10 minutes. After finding some cool things the rain finally let up. We got in the car and drove to Poipu Beach park. We weren’t impressed and it started raining again as we got in the car.
We returned to the Hyatt. Joe got a vanilla smoothie at the Espresso bar near the Seaview Terrace. They don’t serve alcohol before 4pm at the Seaview Terrace so we had to go down to the Ilima Terrace for my Lava Flow. The Ilima was very crowded and it took at least 5 minutes to get my drink. We went up to the room and enjoyed our spacious lanai as it rained off and on (quite a dreary last day).
At 11am we called for the bellhop who didn’t show up till 11:30am (good thing we had plenty of time). We headed over to Kilohana Plantation. We got there around 11:50am. We checked out the shops first. Grande’s Gems (upstairs) had some gorgeous jewelry.
We went down to Gaylords for lunch. We were seated near the center of the courtyard. This time Joe didn’t see any lizards – only chickens and birds. Our appetizer – Tiger Prawns in Wontons – was yummy. But our main courses were awesome – Ahi Teriyaki Sandwich and Blue Nosed Seabass. The service was pretty slow though – empty water glass again. Oh well – at least the food was good. It continued to be overcast the entire time. When we were done eating we checked out the rest of the shops and found some cool things at Clayworks (shop).
Now we had to go to the airport and it was still raining! We made it there with no problem and our trip back to Dallas went just fine. (We even landed in terminal A near where we parked). I already miss Kauai!
Anyway here are some photos (be sure to copy both lines and delete spaces when pasting link). Let me know if it doesn’t work!...
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/txcaju...torm/my_photos
We left the house at 8am and got to DFW around 9am (thinking we had lots of time). AA.com showed our gate as C2 so we drove into terminal C and “attempted” to find a parking spot. After 10 minutes of aimless searching we realized that we’d have to park at another terminal. So Joe helped me bring the luggage into the ticketing area and took off to park. After another 15 minutes he finally arrived in a taxi – he had parked at terminal A! So we go to the check in counter and find out that our gate has changed to A29!!??!! I was furious! We checked our luggage and ran out to another taxi. The security line was long so it took another 10 minutes to get through it. By the time we got to our gate it was 9:40am and everyone but us had already boarded! We got on board and collapsed into our first class seats (2A & B). I immediately drank 2 glasses of champagne and we were off to Hawaii. Yeay!!!!
My first class meal was Mahi Mahi with rice and spinach. The fish was dry but tasty. Joe had barbequed chicken which was much better and he seemed to like it. As I write this I’m waiting for my ice cream sundae and for “Stepford Wives” to start on the movie screen. The sundae turned out to be ok but the movie was pretty dumb. I even caught some cat naps during the movie. After reading more of Stephen King’s “Wolves of the Calla: The Dark Tower V” and seeing “The Terminal” it seemed like we were getting ready to land in no time at all. We did notice that the ride seemed much bumpier than usual during the entire ride.
We landed about 1pm. This time we found the Wiki Wiki shuttle to Hawaiian Air with no problem. We had plenty of time – our flight didn’t board until 2:40pm. So it was nice to be able to leisurely walk around Honolulu airport. It’s even pretty there – lots of gardens. Since we were there so early we were lucky enough to be the 2nd set of people to stand in the open seating line and snag great seats on the plane (left side by a window).
When we landed on Kauai it took so long to get the terminal walk-up thing lined up to the aircraft that our bags were already at the baggage claim area. Great! We rushed over to the Hertz shuttle. We got a little stressed because the driver didn’t have my name on his list. But it was actually on the Gold board at the Hertz office. So we got dropped off at our Ford 4wd (Explorer, I think).
It was now 4pm and it took about 30 minutes to get to the Hyatt. It was so exciting to see the views and go through the Eucalyptus Tree tunnel on the way. At check in we were told about a huge sale on room upgrades. We got very excited because it sounded so great. Here were the upgrade prices (per night):
Ocean View Suite - $250
Deluxe Ocean View Suite - $350
Presidential Suite - $1,000
Joe actually contemplated the Presidential Suite but it sounded like the Ocean View Suite would be fantastic enough for us. So we got our room assignment – 5008 – and the bellhop showed us the way. It was quite a walk but we were SOOO excited when we saw the room! It was absolutely gorgeous and HUGE! There were 2 areas, Jacuzzi tub, and a huge lanai opening into both rooms facing the ocean.
We cleaned up a little and went downstairs along the beach to see when Tidepools opened for dinner – 5:30pm. It was 5pm so we went up to the lobby terrace and had drinks – Miller Lite for Joe and Lava Flow for me. This was my first Lava Flow – now I know what the fuss is all about! Totally yummy!
We went back to Tidepools and scored an awesome table by the koi pond. The restaurant got a little crowded and service seemed slow but we still enjoyed it – we were in Kauai for goodness sake! We had some bread (which was just ok), Ahi Sashimi (delicious), Seafood Mixed Grill for Joe (excellent) and Kauai Spiced Opah for me (just ok – too rich and not what I remembered from our last visit). We got 2 vanilla smoothies to go and headed back to our fabulous room.
It was 7pm so I was able to watch Lost as usual. Joe fell asleep during the show while I did some unpacking and got ready for bed. Good night!
THURS, OCT 28 (DAY 2):
I woke up at 4am. I wrote in this journal and watched tv in the separate living room. Joe got up around 5:25am. We watched the sunrise and got ready for breakfast. We got downstairs around 7:05am and went to Ilima Terrace (which was closed on our last visit). Joe noticed a spider hanging down from a chandelier in the dining area. We sat down and had some things from the buffet: potatoes, scrambled eggs, bacon, pancakes, juices (OJ and guava) and milk (which I think tastes funny in Hawaii). We tried a couple of pastries. The food was ok but not exciting.
After eating we checked out Lamont’s Gift shop and went to our room. We got our stuff together and headed out. I’m not sure what the time was when we left our room. We stopped at Big Save in Waimea for snacks and water.
Then we headed up the Canyon. It was a nice, sunny day this time (it had rained on the canyon on our last trip). On the way up we saw a spectacular view of Waipoo Falls (hike we did last year along Canyon Trail). We made a stop at the canyon lookout next – pretty but the sun wasn’t quite high enough to light up all the valleys. We stopped at the Kokee Museum next. The old lady at the counter was a little gruff with us because we didn’t know how long we wanted to hike so she could tell us which hike to take. She told us that Pihea Trail (at top of Canyon) would be very wet. So we left and headed that way anyway.
We stopped at the last lookout (about 10am) and got ready to hike. As we checked out the lookout it was sunny but starting to mist. As we stood there an amazing rainbow appeared in the valley below! We were THRILLED! We got lots of photos of this phenomenal event.
The rainbow continued to be in the valley and became more brilliant as we started the hike. At first the trail went downhill and was sort of smooth and rocky at the same time. The slightly wet smoothness made it very slippery. Then the trail got muddy. Sometime after the half mile marker (took at least 30 minutes to get there) we ran into a German couple coming towards us. They were saying that the trail got worse. Then an American couple came and told us they didn’t make it to the lookout since it was so bad. But we continued on anyway (bad decision). Well, we had at least 3 obstacles along the way that should’ve made us turn around but we didn’t (yet). First some spots were so muddy that it was likely ankle-deep with mud. Then there were parts that started going upward and there were hardly any trees or anything to grab onto (totally slippery by now). Plus it started raining instead of misting and we put our disposable ponchos on (they had been stowed in our handy backpack). We turned around when Joe saw that the trail started to become almost completely vertical. Disappointed, we started our hike back to the car through the “mess”.
As we walked across the parking lot to get to our car Joe swears he saw Bill Nye the Science Guy. It was around noon when we got to the car. We were starved, of course. So we decided to head down and eat at Waimea Brewing Co.
There were several other people already at the restaurant but we still managed to get a nice window seat. The breeze here was awesome and felt wonderful. Joe saw a lizard at our window immediately. The food took forever but tasted great: Plantation Nachos and Ahi Poke Wrap. We shared them which was perfect since they were huge. A stray cat came up to our table (I had forgotten that there were a ton of cats on this plantation) and I gave him some of my fish. I suspected a lot of customers did this since he slinked off to another table when it looked like we were out of food!
It was around 2pm by now and we went back to the Hyatt. We went up to the room, slathered on sunscreen and headed to the pools. After finding towels and water slide wristbands, we put our stuff on some chairs and rode the waterslide a few times (50 foot long) – very fun! Then we swam around in one of the huge lagoons (part was sandy – like kitty litter though – and then dropped off deeper with rocks and gardens surroundings – beautiful. It had been raining off and on when we first got out there but the rain had stopped while we were at the waterslide. After swimming around we decided to find beach chairs. First we stopped at the beach bar to pick up drinks – vanilla smoothie for Joe and Lava Flow for me. My drink was great but poor Joe said his drink tasted like “rancid milk”. He dejectedly threw it away. The beach was crowded but luckily a couple moved from a shaded set of lounged chairs to ones in a sunny spot. It was very nice because this was one of those green, padded chairs with the adjustable cover. Perfect! Well, the water was quite rough so there were a ton of people right there surfing and boogey-boarding (or trying to). It was quite the show!
Sometime around 5pm we headed upstairs to clean up and rest. Joe didn’t feel very well. We ended up staying in and ordering room service: Seeded Ahi Sashimi, 2 Mahi sandwiches, Cheesecake, Mousse Cake and a bottle of champagne (which was a free gift from the Hyatt). The Sashimi was great. The sandwiches were pretty good. I liked the cheesecake but not the mousse cake. This was perfect since it was reverse for Joe with the desserts. We watched Survivor (Vanuatu) and The Apprentice and went to sleep.
FRI, OCT 29 (DAY 3):
Once again I woke up at 4am. I turned on a living room light near the lanai so I could sit outside to write in the journal again (how else could I find time to write down the trip memories).
We went to the breakfast buffet around 6:15am. After we ate and cleaned up we left to go to the North side of Kauai. We got to Hanalei and stopped at Kayak Kauai to rent some snorkel fins ($4 each per day).
Then we found one of the dirt roads leading to Tunnels Beach. It was a short, dirt road so I can see why parking would be a problem but it was not trouble at all for us around 9am. It was very overcast though. There were only about 3 other couples there at first. We weren’t sure about where exactly to snorkel. A lifeguard came out and said it was safe with a slight current to the left. We went to the right a little bit and decided to try it even though one man said it was murky water. There was quite a bit of wave action and it was quite shallow. But we weren’t very comfortable and quit trying after a short time. Both us of had gotten minor coral scrapes. As we headed back to the car it started raining. We returned our snorkel gear and headed to Kilauea.
We went to the Lighthouse next. It was still overcast outside. There was some kind of photo shoot with a model going on there. It looked like it was for handbags and backpacks (possibly Roxy). Weird. We saw a ton of birds (refuge area). There were even these cute birds nesting in holes in the ground and walls. Nene’s were running around and we saw one chase another Nene away.
We left the lighthouse and checked out the menu at the Lighthouse Bistro. Unfortunately the lunch items listed didn’t appeal to us. We drove on and randomly stopped at a place called Kauai Hardwoods. There was a wooden sign on the side of the road and you had to drive down a dirt road past a bunch of residential houses before you got to a barn-like building with the sign on it. It was a little strange – no one was around but a “showroom” of strange (some cool) wood carvings was open.
After leaving the Hardwood shop we stopped in Kapaa for the Kauai Products Fair. Joe really liked these photographs that had been blown up onto canvas by Makana Aloha Photography. The large ones were $725 with free shipping to the mainland but we didn’t make a purchase. But I was disappointed that there were no puzzle boxes in the “trailer” at the fair like on our last trip. The saleslady there said to check out “Elephant Walk” at Coconuts Marketplace.
Our next stop was Jim Saylor’s Jewelry (also in Kapaa). We were starved by now (almost 2pm). We stopped a little further down the road at Kauai shopping village to find A Pacific Café. Alas, it was only open for dinner! We looked at the dinner menu – it looked good but not much different from Tidepools. We decided to skip lunch and get some ice cream. We went to Coconuts Marketplace and finally tried Lappert’s Ice Cream: Joe had Mint Chip and I had Turtle Cashew Cluster – both extremely yummy! I now vow to get Lappert’s every chance I get in the future (even at the airports). We visited a few shops and found some neat items and headed to the Hyatt. (The puzzle boxes at “Elephant Walk” were not as nice as I remembered from our previous trip)
We cleaned up and went downstairs to the shops. I found a beautiful mother of pearl necklace and earring set at Na Hoku Jewelry. Joe bought the set for me! Lucky me! It’s gorgeous! We went out to the Seaview Terrace for a Miller Lite and a Lava Flow. The sunset was quite beautiful and our seats were great. About 5:50pm we headed to Tidepools for our 6pm reservation. We had a decent but not so great table near the koi pond. While waiting for our waiter we noticed a lizard on the wall near a light overhead just steadily catching bugs. It rained off and on all evening. Our waiter came and took our order but forgot to bring our drinks. We even got our appetizer – Sweet Shrimp Stack – before getting the drinks. The food seemed to come much faster this night than the previous night. But the service wasn’t so great (empty water glass, etc). Joe loved his Seafood Mixed Grill (again) and I also enjoyed the filet and Alaskan Crab dinner. The crab was huge. For dessert Joe got his usual – vanilla smoothie. I got chocolate cake – warmed and much better than the one from room service.
As we headed down to the room Joe talked about getting turn down service but I remembered that you had to request it by 3pm. But – guess what – our room had been “turned down”! That morning we had left a $20 tip for housekeeping – apparently it paid off! The bed sheets were all folded over nicely and chocolates were on the bed (very nice). So we got ready for bed – our last night on Kauai .
SAT, OCT 30 (LAST DAY):
I got up at 4am (as usual) and took a shower. When Joe got up, I looked out the window and noticed that it was unusually dark (cloudier than usual). At 6am we went to the Ilima Terrace for the breakfast buffet. We could tell that it had rained. Clouds seemed to roll in and out as we ate breakfast.
When we were done we walked down to the beach and found an open swing. We found a towel to dry it off and watched the waves during the sunrise (not visible due to clouds – still a little bit of blue sky though). We hung out blissfully watching the beach until around 8:15am. Then we went up to the room to pack.
After packing we decided to go to Spouting Horn nearby. As we left we noticed more storm clouds in the distance. When we got to Spouting Horn it was “spouting” tremendously! What a show (probably due to the distant storms)! We saw the rain approaching and walked under the tents of the shops just in time – it poured down really hard for at least 10 minutes. After finding some cool things the rain finally let up. We got in the car and drove to Poipu Beach park. We weren’t impressed and it started raining again as we got in the car.
We returned to the Hyatt. Joe got a vanilla smoothie at the Espresso bar near the Seaview Terrace. They don’t serve alcohol before 4pm at the Seaview Terrace so we had to go down to the Ilima Terrace for my Lava Flow. The Ilima was very crowded and it took at least 5 minutes to get my drink. We went up to the room and enjoyed our spacious lanai as it rained off and on (quite a dreary last day).
At 11am we called for the bellhop who didn’t show up till 11:30am (good thing we had plenty of time). We headed over to Kilohana Plantation. We got there around 11:50am. We checked out the shops first. Grande’s Gems (upstairs) had some gorgeous jewelry.
We went down to Gaylords for lunch. We were seated near the center of the courtyard. This time Joe didn’t see any lizards – only chickens and birds. Our appetizer – Tiger Prawns in Wontons – was yummy. But our main courses were awesome – Ahi Teriyaki Sandwich and Blue Nosed Seabass. The service was pretty slow though – empty water glass again. Oh well – at least the food was good. It continued to be overcast the entire time. When we were done eating we checked out the rest of the shops and found some cool things at Clayworks (shop).
Now we had to go to the airport and it was still raining! We made it there with no problem and our trip back to Dallas went just fine. (We even landed in terminal A near where we parked). I already miss Kauai!
Anyway here are some photos (be sure to copy both lines and delete spaces when pasting link). Let me know if it doesn’t work!...
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/txcaju...torm/my_photos
link:-< though
Jan 13th, 2005, 07:59 PM
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Great photos and trip report. Brings back lovely memories of Kauai, and the Hyatt . $250 total for a SUITE!! ??? Lucky! What a sale! We paid more than that for just a garden view with partial ocean view last summer.
Mahalo for taking the time to share.
Mahalo for taking the time to share.
Jan 13th, 2005, 09:32 PM
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loved your photos CajunStorm, and the rainbow pics..gorgeous! Boy I'm wishing I was there right now (the rainbows didn't come out for us 
) We checked out the Hyatt on a trip to Princeville last summer and couldn't stop gawking over the setting. Your suite looked wonderful..what a way to travel. Thanks for sharing!
) We checked out the Hyatt on a trip to Princeville last summer and couldn't stop gawking over the setting. Your suite looked wonderful..what a way to travel. Thanks for sharing!
Jan 14th, 2005, 04:59 AM
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Thanks everyone for the compliments on the photos. Since I'm a scrapbooker I always look for great photo ops almost every moment on a trip. I've even got Joe looking for them with me!
cawhite - how funny that you remembered my report about Woody! But he lives in Maui so I kind of guessed he wouldn't take a flight to Honolulu and puddle jump to Kauai like we did.
So no stars on this trip.
cawhite - how funny that you remembered my report about Woody! But he lives in Maui so I kind of guessed he wouldn't take a flight to Honolulu and puddle jump to Kauai like we did.
So no stars on this trip.
Jan 14th, 2005, 05:02 AM
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Oh! I almost forgot...
CaliNurse - I have to apologize for not being clear about the upgrade "sale" costs. The costs that I wrote down were per night on TOP of your booked rate (which was a military rate for me so it was still pretty cheap).
CaliNurse - I have to apologize for not being clear about the upgrade "sale" costs. The costs that I wrote down were per night on TOP of your booked rate (which was a military rate for me so it was still pretty cheap).
Jan 14th, 2005, 09:48 AM
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Aloha Lisa
Great trip report and beautiful pictures. It made me miss Kauai all over again so I got out my pictures from last Oct. to look at. I didn't know you were going back right after we got back. I am saving now and earning air miles to go back in a couple of years.
Kay in Dallas
Great trip report and beautiful pictures. It made me miss Kauai all over again so I got out my pictures from last Oct. to look at. I didn't know you were going back right after we got back. I am saving now and earning air miles to go back in a couple of years.
Kay in Dallas
Jan 15th, 2005, 08:27 AM
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Your trip report has me thinking of our upcoming trip this July. Thank you!
The Pihea trail is on our agenda for sure.
Too bad that the snorkeling was lousy at Tunnels. Oh well...you'll just have to go back and try again!
Mahalo.
-Bill
The Pihea trail is on our agenda for sure.
Too bad that the snorkeling was lousy at Tunnels. Oh well...you'll just have to go back and try again!
Mahalo.
-Bill
Jan 23rd, 2005, 04:40 PM
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Thanks everyone for the compliments! Don't feel bad - I have the Hawaiian Flu too!
Kay - I don't know how I even missed the fact that our trips were close together either! How funny! Must send you email again soon!
Kay - I don't know how I even missed the fact that our trips were close together either! How funny! Must send you email again soon!
Jan 24th, 2005, 12:39 AM
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Cajun: Thanks for the great report!
BTW your comments about milk in Hawaii are right on target. Between the constant heat and high humidity, "fresh" milk is often either bad, or well on the way to going bad. It's as true for coconut milk as it is for cow's milk. Like Joe, more than once we've had to take back or throw away spoiled Lava Flows, and on our last trip, our hotel (4-star) had Yoplait yogurt at their breakfast buffet that was absolutely rancid. We've learned to stick with ice cream and other alternatives to fresh milk in Hawaii.
BTW your comments about milk in Hawaii are right on target. Between the constant heat and high humidity, "fresh" milk is often either bad, or well on the way to going bad. It's as true for coconut milk as it is for cow's milk. Like Joe, more than once we've had to take back or throw away spoiled Lava Flows, and on our last trip, our hotel (4-star) had Yoplait yogurt at their breakfast buffet that was absolutely rancid. We've learned to stick with ice cream and other alternatives to fresh milk in Hawaii.
Feb 18th, 2005, 06:54 AM
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fdecarlo - I like your ice cream alternative! (could use some Lapperts right now)
kinglet - Thanks for telling me about your Bill Nye sighting. That made Joe happy knowing that he wasn't the only one.
kinglet - Thanks for telling me about your Bill Nye sighting. That made Joe happy knowing that he wasn't the only one.
Feb 18th, 2005, 07:21 AM
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I love your trip report, thanks for sharing. funny thing, i too took out my pictures to maui last summer and as I was looking at it, i felt really sad that I"m not there right now. I really wish I can go back. Hawaii is the best. I'm so envious of those ppl that get to go every year.
Aug 16th, 2007, 03:20 AM
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