An Island to Remember

We returned from our trip to Hawaii. It was so beautiful on the island where we visited, simply gorgeous. In fact, it seems amazing that such places truly exist. I would love to return to Kauai again someday and explore far more than we were able to do in just about a week. Next time we'll stay a few more days, at least.

I like to relax a lot while visiting somewhere, so that precludes a maddening schedule of too many activities. I really don't like to stay too busy at all on vacation. We've never traveled much at all, so I chose to stay at a place that was very beautiful since we'd waited so long to travel. Like I said, I don't like adventure too much so I wanted the surroundings to be really pretty where we stayed. We got that, and more. It was delightful!

The flight there was long, I won't mince words on that one. As we flew towards the islands we knew that there was a threat of a hurricane, so needless to say I was very concerned about that possibility. Fortunately the hurricane downgraded but while we were there we did experience a lot of clouds and wind the first two days. We didn't see the sun shine at all until we'd been there a few days, but it was still beautiful.

We were greeted with leis at the airport, and also at the hotel where we were staying. That was a real fun thrill to me, as it's something I've seen in movies for years.

Here's what we saw when we walked into our hotel lobby.

View from our lanai off our "Mountain View" room. It was surprisingly private and shaded by trees, and there were walls on the side so you couldn't see any 'neighbors':


The room was large for a hotel room, and the bathroom was great. It even had a glass container with cotton balls, Q-tips, double vanity, and oodles of wonderful bath products each day. The bed was plush and cozy. We slept each night with the slider door open so we could hear the tradewinds and the ocean waves.

The resort was gorgeous, and I'd definitely go there again. Every morning we ate a huge buffet breakfast at a beautiful terrace that overlooked a pond with swans and koi fish, with a waterfall off to the side and the ocean in front of us to enjoy. This picture was taken on our first morning, and that was one of those cloudy, windy days I mentioned earlier. Here's a view from our table, enjoyed while we heard soft, live guitar music:


In the evening we had drinks almost each evening at an outdoor terraced bar that was located beyond the great big doorway shown in the top photo. Here's what we saw:
Looking left it was:


We walked around the hotel grounds the next morning, and I really love how this photo turned out.


The photo above is a view from below where we were sitting the night before. Isn't that lovely?

I think this is where they hold some luaus and wedding receptions. The ocean is behind it, and it's too cloudy to enjoy here:



I took this one on that same cloudy day, and it shows where we did a lot of swimming. The lagoon was sandy on the bottom, and full of saltwater. We also swam a lot in the upper pools that had a channel with a soft currents, but we didn't get a picture of that. It also had waterfalls with little secret caves for hiding.



A lovely hammock on which to relax, taken on a different day:


Here are a few of the sights we saw on our drives around Kauai. I wish that photos conveyed the depth of colors and textures one sees, but they just don't quite cut it.

Ke'e Beach, on the north shore:


Lawai Beach, taken on our Allerton garden tour:


Tree used in Jurassic Park where dinosaur eggs were found:


Moloa'a Beach:


Hanalei Valley Overlook, with taro fields:


We drove up to see Hanalei Bay the first day we were there, as for years I'd wanted to see the mountain (Bali Hai, but there's a real Hawaiian name for it, too) used in "South Pacific". That was the cloudy day though, but here's an idea of that one. We did return there again, but I didn't take a picture. Shame on me!


The last full day we were there we drove up to Waimea Canyon and beyond to the various overlooks that show the Pacific and the valleys around the Na'poli cliffs. This was stunning to me, to say the very least. If I ever have to picture a beautiful place in my mind, this will be it:





Here's one of Waimea Canyon, known as the Grand Canyon of the Pacific:


We went to the luau at the Hyatt and had a great time! The food was delicious, and the drinks flowed like water.

Luau action:

Here's a photo showing a bit of the Kauai sky at sunset, taken from that same spot on the Seaview Terrace Lounge at the hotel. Sigh.
If you want to see some more photos of Kauai, just click on any of these photos and you'll go to the Flickr page that has that collection. I could go on and on here, but I realize that's not practical nor interesting, really.

Vacations are wonderful, but it's always great to come home. I am a homebody at heart, that's for sure.