Kauai Trip - Part 2

Part 1 is here

The rest of our trip was spent mostly sight seeing. The kids did very well in the car, and because it takes awhile to get from one part of the island to the other, they were in the car a lot.

One of our many "road" pictures.

One of the first things we went to see was the Kilauea Lighthouse. Fritter has been fascinated with lighthouses since we did a short unit on them from the Brightly Beaming Preparatory Curriculum. A common phrase for him is, "A beacon is a signal." So we couldn't miss this. It was worth the drive, and the view was awesome.

The unused lighthouse.

The now used boring beacon.

On some of the days that my dear husband had to work in paradise, we went shopping. Outside the Hawaiian Trading Post was one of those touristy photo ops. Hey, we were tourists, and I wasn't going to miss our chance. ;-)

Hang ten, Fritter!

Hmmm....what's in there?

Probably the coolest playground I've ever seen was at Lydgate Park on the East side of the island. That's where we first met up with my husband's friend, from when he was in the Navy, and his family (The "A" Family). They are currently stationed on Oahu, so it was a short flight over for them and they stayed for a few days. Fritter loved playing with their kids and did his best to follow them around. ;-)


The only issue we had in the car was when we decided to go to Waimea Canyon. Waimea Canyon is called the Grand Canyon of the Pacific and is truly spectacular. To get there, though, you have to drive up winding mountain roads. And Fritter gets carsick. So about every 10 minutes or so, we had to pull over and let him have fresh air and walk around a bit. We actually went there twice. Once when the "A" family was visiting.

Waimea Canyon.

There are helicopter rides that will take you through the Canyon, but I wouldn't be caught on one. ;-)

The second time we went further up the canyon, because my hubby wanted to give me a great surprise. After a small hike, we were able to see part of the Na Pali coast. The only way to see the whole coast is either by boat or by helicopter. There is not a road that goes completely around the island. As such, it is a truly untouched piece of Earth. And an amazing one at that.

The last trip we made was to the very lush North side of the island to Hanalei Bay. This was perhaps the prettiest spot I'd ever seen, and maybe the best beach as well. The sand is soft powder, and the beach slopes very gradually into the ocean. Out beyond the bay, we could make out some surfers and some very big waves.

If you could see the picture above bigger, you would see about five waterfalls coming off the mountains. When it rains there are many more. I could have stayed at that beach forever.

Our camera batteries were basically dead by this point, so I'm amazed we even got this picture. We had to turn the camera on and point and click as fast as we could. The picture below is the result of that. I did bring the docking charger, but for some reason it's not working. ;-(

If you ever get a chance to visit Kauai, I highly recommend buying The Ultimate Kauai Guidebook.* It was such a help to us, and fun to read as well. You will be happy you spent the money on it.

*I did not get reimbursement of any kind for recommending this book.*