WHERE DID WE STAY?

We spent the past week (President's weekend/week) on Kauai, with a half-day layover on Oahu on the way home. Stayed at the Radisson Kauai Beach Resort for the week, and had a fine time staying there. No complaints about service or staff, but their drinks do seem a bit over-priced ($7 for an average Mai Tai). I called the front desk three times for maintenance staff, and each time the response was prompt, reliable, and friendly. The first time was immediately upon arrival to the room because the air-conditioning did not work (operator error -- the air won't work with the patio door opened, or slightly pulled away from the jam, make sure the door is tight against the jam). The second time, the next day, was because neither the TV remote nor the in-room safe was working (staff quickly replaced battery in safe, and it was not a bad remote so they replaced TV while we were out during the day). The third time was at ~10pm when the Internet over TV locked up and I couldn't get it unlocked even after turning the TV off (slight operator error -- go back to MENU and wait ~1 min. before trying again, I wasn't waiting long enough). In response to something I read, I will say that one can understand the use of fluorescent bulbs in standard lamps to save electricity + replacement cost, and they aren't that bad (especially if you have some at home), but the hotel should look for the type that are more in the red spectrum rather than in the blue (it would be a softer more natural light). I agree the large vertical ones in the bathroom are a little "funky" at best. We had a 3rd floor *garden view* room with two double beds, and there was enough room for our youngest to sleep on the camping cot we brought with us (children <18 stay free with adults). Our view out the balcony consisted of some of the front entryway and the pond/fountain off to the side. We found the hotel to be reasonably quiet despite all the activity, and airport/planes NOT any issue for concern.

Our children certainly enjoyed the many hotel swimming pools and Jacuzzi. The ~1ft. deep sand pool is only really good for toddlers, but it does lend a nice ambience to lounging and there's a separate outdoor bar and a grill near the pools. At least four of the evenings during our stay, we made it to the complimentary drink hour (5 pm - 6 pm nightly, featuring sodas, draft beer, wine, or weak Mai Tai's) and torch lighting ceremony (~ 6pm - 7 pm nightly). The nightly show demonstrates *native* dancing and the lighting of all the hotel's gas tiki torches, while the second half is all in fun for guests and performers alike. The last half of the torch lighting ceremony is the most amusing and varies nightly with the change in guests/audience; this is where the various "native" performers choose audience members to join in the "warriors" dance of seduction (about 6 male & female performers choose audience members of the opposite sex). My wife was chosen twice by the Warrior Prince (the second time only because another lady refused -- which is considered an insult to a warrior, especially to the Prince Warrior, so we speculate he made his second choice for someone he knew was a good sport), all those chosen each evening receive a shell necklace as a nice little souvenir. Photos during and after the show are free for the taking, but a tip/contribution is welcomed.

WHERE DID WE EAT?

Where else? For our entire stay, our eating habits were non-existent and sporadic, mostly "lunches" and on-the-go type meals. In Lihue, McDonald's was so-so and Taco Bell was pretty good; Bubba's Burger's at the north shore across from the well-advertised shopping market was nothing to write home about; we will never grace Eggbert's in Kapaa with our personage again (at least, that's my wife's opinion on over-priced poorly made food -- yes, and that's compared to McDonald's along with other places; at the other end of Coconut Marketplace from Eggbert's in Kapaa, The Hula Girl restaurant has good food (although well-done my steak was still tender, and my wife enjoyed her Scampi very much, but the rice was so-so) and I recommend trying a Volcano drink; The Shack, a steakhouse just opened in Kapaa, is certainly good for afternoon sandwiches and a "bottomless" soda, we did not make it to this steakhouse for dinner; in Waimea on the west-side there is a steakhouse that has great Calzone and BIG sandwiches for about $5 to $6, didn't get the name but it is a brown building on the left of the main hi-way when going north before the canyon turn-off (we ate here before the disappointing Eggbert's and my wife considers there to be NO comparison to price/quality); Brennecke's restaurant was good after a day on the beach (my wife recommends the great clam chowder and a Pink Panther smoothie), our son and I thought the hamburgers were so-so, daughter liked her shrimp; dinners at the Radisson were quite good, but more expensive and drinks are pricey. My wife and I spent an evening in the hotel lounge while the kids swam, we danced a little (the only ones), the entertainment was okay (it varies nightly) with a guy singing and playing guitar, but on a following evening the guy at the Hula Girl was better and drinks were cheaper/better. Near Sunset/Waimea on Oahu, from ignorance of area and out of hunger we ate at a "tent" place called "Paradise" or something, and although the chicken was plentiful, the salad was too "hippy-retro" for my taste and smoothies were way over-priced ($4), overall I wouldn't go back; ate at the Subway Sandwich in Honolulu, near the rental return, and it was as good as old Jared says of Subway gt;); had dinner on the over-night plane ride home from Honolulu (won't discuss that).

FINAL THOUGHTS?

We drove around the entire island and did some condo/hotel spotting, and despite what some people say regarding the north shore, I really think I preferred staying in the Lihue area due to its convenience. The Radisson is a nice friendly place to stay for the money, and centrally located, but just don't get stuck paying the hotel's advertised rate. For some reason, in the space of seven days, we just didn't have the time (or money for 4) for a lot of things such as helicopter/boat rides, kayaking trips, or other such attractions. The Smith's luau was our one splurge along these lines (we didn't care to waste time or save money by attending a timeshare tour gt;)), and we also spent a lot of time (not uselessly however) driving around and getting acquainted with the island. Were we to return (without children and before the mind goes), there are now a lot of basics with which we could dispense and thus focus on other activities. On Oahu, we only had half a day and so just got in the car and drove with nothing planned. We first went up to the North Shore and watched some very large waves and a few surfers, ate, and drove through a few "historic" towns, then we drove down to Waikiki. Now Oahu's west side may be better, I didn't see it, but I would certainly NOT stay here over Kauai. A humorous *ignorant* tourist note: we parked on Montserrat (sp) Drive and went to the beach/park to get some photos of Waikiki and Diamond Head. My wife immediately began to comment on all the guys wearing "euro" style bathing trunks. After awhile, I noticed there were few women here (some) and mostly pairs or groups of guys laying on the beach -- and pointed this out to my wife. The light bulb went on in her head and she began laughing, and our young daughter naively was pointing out the same thing ("see mommy, this is just a guy's beach"). I later noticed on a map that this was not exactly Waikiki Beach, but *Queens Beach* (we had a few rental car maps and only a small inset on one happened to note this name to this portion of the beach). However, in the park across the street and looking at Diamond Head, I did find three palm trees that formed a "W" and so we have this on tape and will always see it as Waikiki Beach.

Hmmmmm, don't seem to be able to post the WHAT DID WE SEE? section of this.

WHAT DID WE SEE?

Oh, boy! Well we saw no bugs, except for the occasional fly, weather was overcast to sunny and trades typically 15-25 mph with some calm times, a little rain but it was warm and no bother at all. Pool/beach water was always slightly cold at first touch, but jump in and no problem after ~10 seconds. Up in the morning to get the rental car (Radisson has a complimentary shuttle to/from airport), then south to Poipu (overcast in Lihue, sunny in Poipu). Good, reasonably calm snorkeling at Brennecke's Beach; saw seals laying around with yellow rope cordoning-off the immediate area (like an open-air hotel, with "Please do not disturb" signs). Swam out to where it was about 10-12 ft deep, and it was like being in an aquarium -- highly recommended -- we went to this beach on two separate occasions. Second day drove up to the north shore and the end of the road; stopped at the lighthouse along the way and both the dry and wet caves; did some shopping; stopped at some parks/beaches. On the way back turned off a side road and found a nice beach near a river, but couldn't get across the river to the nice beach. Our son noticed a road coming down the hillside on the other side, so figured we had to go back to the hi-way and get across the river first, before turning off the road. Yep, made it down to where the river met the sea with a nice sandy beach and some good surfing. Didn't have a board, but caught some good 3-4 ft. waves body-surfing. We later noticed this beach/cove was just northwest of the lighthouse. Went to Lydegate park one afternoon and the sea pool is interesting (4ft. deep max), as others have noted it's especially nice for children as a first exposure to snorkeling and being in the water with *live* fish (our daughter played in the water at Brennecke's the first time, after Lydegate Park she was actually interested in snorkeling and seeing *real* fish at Brennecke's. Lydegate Park also has facilities, and a unique playground area for non-swimming times. On Friday night went to Smith's Luau and enjoyed the food (all you can eat, but not really enough time allotted for seconds and chit-chat if you want to get a good seat for the show), but we sat second row and quite enjoyed the show (music is interesting and entertaining, including some older American tunes, but done in jazzed-up Hawaiian for which I recognized the melody but for the life of me could not remember the title or words). IMO, once visited you really needn't go again, although a woman tourist my wife met was there for the third time in the past year). In no particular order; drove up to Wailua (sp) Falls twice, once during the day, then once at night to look at the stars; on Saturday we drove up to Waimea Canyon, and the extra 10 miles or so to the lookout (Koloa maybe?), and just caught a glimpse and got a few photos of the Na Pali before it was closed-out by huge fog settling in on the coast, I felt sorry for us, but even more so for those who arrived a few minutes later after that long drive. Waimea Town was having a town celebration that Saturday and we stopped on our way back. It was hot, and the celebration pretty dull, so we walked a couple of blocks to the black sand beach and visited the pier (not much there but it was cooler, and we hadn't seen it before), there were some condo's for rent in this area that I had seen on the internet and the condo's are the nicest thing in this immediate are, but the area appears to be somewhat sketchy. We also stopped to visit the remains of a Russian Fort, a great 5-minute adventure. We twice visited the Spouting Horn (or La Bufadora if I recall my Baja days correctly), once to see the blowhole and the second visit necessitated by the great need of one family member to buy more *inexpensive* pearl jewelry.

Thanx for the report. It's always nice to see the stories after people return. We stayed on Kauai in 2000 at the hotel directly behind Lydgate Park (it was a Holiday Inn Sunspree, then). We loved our trip, and can't wait to return!

DB, thanks for the detailed travel report. Am currently working on planning our next trip--thinking about the aquarium-like snorkeling inspires me!

A couple corrections & an annecdote:

The drink at the Hula Girl in Kapaa is a Lava Flow, so definitely try one if you like strawberry. Also, I make it sound as though Spouting Horn is on the west side or near Waimea. It is not, it is just a short drive along the Poipu south shore -- but you know that.

I was chatting with one of the activity coordinators at the hotel, and I was telling her that we had been down to Poipu and Brennecke's Beach. I mentioned to her that I was laying on the beach when they came and put up this yellow rope all around me. She says, "Why would they do that?" But within 10 seconds, she was trying hard to stifle her laughter.