***As usual more photos to come. ***

Sunday was supposed to be our spa day. We did some last minute rearrangement and decided that it made more sense to go to the spa on our last day when we would no longer have our house and a shower. (thinking ahead) The plan was now to do the first two miles of the Kalalau Trail on Sunday during the day. We knew we would need the whole day. So we pushed our breakfast reservations up to 9am.

Everything started out fairly well. Ok. I was on the phone with my mom at 8:10 (in my pj's) when I realized the time. It was almost an hour drive to breakfast we were guessing because by now we assume everything is an hour drive that isn't on the north shore. Josh and I got ready super fast and were in the car in about 3 minutes. Of course the one morning we weren't up at 5:30 was the morning we needed to be out the door at a set time.

We got to Gaylord's a few minutes late but they didn't care at all. The restaurant is on an old plantation and we both commented that our son would love the train that goes through their huge property. We walked in and were taken out to the courtyard. Tge setting is pretty perfect. I could just imagine how magical at night it would be with some twinkle lights. Perfect for a wedding. They had live music that started at 11 but we were gone by then. I heard dinner is good but on Sunday they have a pretty amazing brunch. Josh says it was his favorite meal of the trip. A pretty gourmet buffet. The waffles with your choice of fresh macadamia nut, coconut or berry syrup with all sorts if toppings was my favorites. I wanted to buy the syrups and bring them home. The fresh passion fruit/guava/orange juice was especially yummy too. I could go on and on about the food. Josh couldn't get enough of the bacon. I think almost everything was farm to table.

After lunch we headed back up north planning on getting changed and hiking. Well, the skies opened up. All week we had gotten used to these quick showers. This was rain. We decided to stop into a few stores in Hanalei to give it time to pass.

We hit up the Hanalei Surf Company. Josh had been scoping out the cars of local surfers and they apparently sported that shop's stickers. So there we went. I thought the shop was pretty touristy. They had some good stuff but too much other stuff. We later found the Hanalei Surf Company Backdoor shop (aka the Backdoor) and this was definitely the place to go. They carried more of the brands we wanted and seemed to be more of a true local surf shop in my opinion. They had an unreal selection of little boy trunks. All the suits we had seen for Josh this year but in mini sizes. Of course we had to buy another. I really don't like surf brand girls stuff so none for the little girl. I think I already got her 4 this year so she's ok.

After that we hit up the kids store, Kokonut Kids. They had a lot of the same stuff from a little store in Hanapepe plus some other brands I knew, I found a really cute swim bottom on clearance for our daughter. Josh found this ridiculously cute purse like contraption that looks like a Hawaiian hut. You open it and it has a Hawaiian dolls inside- a girl, boy and dog. We felt guilty for all the things we had bought our son so we went up to get her those things.

As we approached the register a set of parents was attempting to shop/leave with their 2 year old son. He was about to have a meltdown and the store owner was trying to convince the parents to buy him this windup toy to distract him. They obviously wanted to leave and finally got out of the store. As soon as the door had shut the shop owner blurts out "brat!" followed by some cackling. It was odd. I'm sure she had choice words after we departed because we were looking at mini string bikinis (babi kinis) for our little chunks but we didn't like the patterns she had.

We finally got our purchases and left and it was still raining. We decided it was too late in the day and risky to go on the hike with the rain. I'm not sure if that was entirely true or the thought of another "extremely steep mile" made me want to cry. Instead we threw our bathing suits on and decided to check out the beach at the far north of the island where the hike starts, Ke'e Beach.

As we got close to the beach we noticed lots of cars. I'm talking a lot. All week we were used to being on beaches with only a handful of people. Ke'e had huge parking lots. And they were full. The beach had a lot of people on it but I'm sure a lot of the cars were from hikers. We were quite surprised at how many people were at this beach considering it was the furthest beach. It was pretty but nothing overly special to us. We spent some time on the beach. Luckily it was nice and sunny when we arrived but soon the rain from earlier caught up with us. Once we felt like we had enough we packed up.

On the way back we stopped at Red Hot Mamas for some burritos. They only had beef or veggies left but that was fine. The sauce was a little spicy so I got mine saucy, Josh didn't. While we waited we checked out the art gallery next door. It is an art co-op run by 7 local artist. Each artist works the shop one day. We enjoyed talking to the founder who happened to be working that day. She told us about all the artists and we ended up vying a small oil painting as we hadn't gotten a piece of art from our trip yet. The prices at the gallery were really reasonable. It was a great find. They have only been open a few months so hopefully they will get some coverage.

Once our burritos were ready we headed back to the house and enjoyed them on the porch. So peaceful out there.

At 6 we headed up to the St Regis in Princeville for a drink on their terrace at sunset. We knew it would be pricey but we also knew the view was supposed to be amazing. The weather had been crappy all day so we were worried. We were grateful for the free valet parking and wandered around until we found the terrace of the lobby bar (not to be confused with the terrace restaurant). There happened to be an open table right at the railing which we grabbed. The waitress warned is it might rain but we weren't going to sit inside. I ordered the most expensive Mai Tai ever (yes, Jered) and Josh was in heaven because they had an entire page dedicated to bloody Mary's.

The next hour and a half we spent just enjoying the view, watching surfers, sipping our drinks and listening to the crazy conversation behind us. Our Mai tais were called Koloa Mai tais because the use the local Koloa rum. The lady behind us must have asked the waitress a dozen times what was in her Mai tai. It was painful. We were then blessed to hear their conversation with a young couple who was on a 28 day vacation to Hawaii and how 7 day vacations are useless. Who are these people? We also overheard them say their room here was $1000 a night. Times 28 days....

So back to the sunset. The dark clouds actually made it pretty cool. Each night we were amazed at how people wait for the tip of the sun to go under and then run away. To us some of the best parts are well after the sun is gone. We stayed for a while and had most of the terrace to ourselves.

The hotel is gorgeous at night. For cheapos like us who don't want to pay for the Kauai Grille I'd suggest getting something early and then grabbing a drink on the terrace. Oh and dress up a bit.

***more photos to be uploaded****

We hadn't yet had just a simple beach day so we decided that was what today would be. We slept in a bit (not much) after our late night return and the morning started out rainy.

We began with a visit to the Saturday morning Hanalei farmers market. This one is private, rather than one of the sunshine markets, so they had prepared foods and crafts in addition to the fruits and veggies. We grabbed a papaya from the stall where folks were getting them by the armful and walked a bit. It started to sprinkle do we ducked into a booth with baked goods. That lead us to sampling the cinnamon macadamia nut roll and then buying. Super yummy. It started to rain a bit harder so we headed back to the car. I had really wanted to try the goat cheese but his line was outrageous. We had considered taking his farm tour, too.

The one thing we've learned about the rain is that it passes quick and even if it's rainy here, it might not be rainy right over there. So we headed for our first beach. Josh wanted to head back to Secret Beach but I talked him into trying out some new ones.

We headed into Princeville and drove all the way back towards the St Regis. Right before you enter the SR gate there is a tiny public parking lot on the right. 9 cars fit. There was one spot. Perfect. We took a foot path next to the lot that lead us to a crazy steep set of stairs and ropes that I had to use to get down the incline. I'm not sure why we keep wearing flip flops but we do... As we got to the bottom we could start to see the water and beach through the trees. Beautiful. We quickly descended upon Hideaways Beach. Our new favorite. The beach was completely secluded and perfect. Quite a few of the people there were snorkeling and one of the locals was spear fishing. There was a surf break way out do a group of local chic surfers were there. It was pretty perfect until a kayak tour showed up. They weren't loud but it went from a handful of people to two handfuls of people. The nice thing about limited parking and hard to hike trails is that there are few people - unless you get there by kayak tour. Regardless this was a magical beach and we could have stayed all day, the sand was extremely soft and again Josh had his shade.

At lunchtime we packed up and made the hike to get lunch and hit another beach. We visited the deli at the super overpriced Foodlabd grocery store. The deli is actually decently priced. We got a huge Hawaiian pork sandwich to share and some sesame poke (ahi Tuna). The sandwich, chips and fruit would have been enough in the heat.

We grabbed our food and headed back into Princeville. This time to the Sealodge condos. I was pretty interested to head here. The beach is supposed to be remote and pretty but more importantly we came close to staying at Sealodge. One of the condos was our first choice but it was booked our week. After seeing both I look both options. Sealodge would have been double maybe, but definitely bigger. The condos are along the cliffs and I've heard get amazing views, breezes and sounds of the ocean. However, Princeville to us felt a lot like a Florida retirement community. Golf courses, walking paths, lots of condos.

Ok. So the beach. The path is behind Building A but when we got there all the signs said permit only. We went back a few buildings and found the visitor parking spots. Not very far at all. We walked down behind Building A following the signs that kept warning us of how dangerous this trail was. Awesome. The trail was much longer than others to get to the beach but not as steep. I'd say it is the prettiest beach hike. You jump a few boulders to cross a stream and then walk close to the cliff to get around to the beach. The beach is highly secluded. When we got there we were maybe one of two couples. The most people I ever saw there at one time were 8 or 10. A lot of people seem to be exploring beaches like us.

As for the beach itself we'd say it was ok. Not as pretty as Hideaways or Secret Beach but the hike and seclusion give it points. I did like the big lava rocks on the sand by the water that I turned into a backrest for my reading.

A friendly reminder to put on lots of sunscreen everywhere. I did a great job except I forgot the backs of my hands and my feet. We thought I was getting bitten by something until we realized. Oh my.

By mid afternoon we had had enough sun and decided to forego our third beach of the day. We visited a surf shop in Hanalei and were suckered into buying our son a new bathing suit and rash guard. These kids are spoiled...

We had some down time at the house just to relax in the porch which was much needed before dinner. Josh attempted to relax in the hammock but we decided it must be installed to narrowly.

Dinner reservations were made at Mediterranean Gourmet, 15 minutes north in Haena. The food is definitely Mediterranean. Lebanese. I wouldn't write home about the food but the setting was pretty amazing. It's on the ocean and is all glass windows that were open. There was a heavy breeze. They seem to have entertainment most nights. That night, a lady singing and playing guitar was performing from 6:30 to 8:30 doing soft acoustic music. She was quite good. You can't see the sunset directly but you can see the beautiful reflections in the sky. They also have a bar that opens to the restaurant where in sure you could still see the views and hear the music. They also turn the lights down and have candles on the tables so it's a fairly romantic spot, just not my foodie pick.

After dinner we called it a night as usual.

Most people know that when we travel we like to get off the beaten path and mingle with locals. It's a bit harder here but we managed to spend a day doing just that.

We got up early (shocking) and were on the road by 7 after grabbing our coffee. With traffic we knew it would be close to a 2 hr drive to the other side of the island. We had planned to go over to the Waimea Canyon and do some hiking. Many people refer to it as the Grand Canyon of Hawaii. It does look like a GC but with a lot more green and waterfalls all around. We had flown over it yesterday and wanted to do some hiking. We had read and heard that the best forests and trails were up there.

Nothing was open at 7 so we had to wait until we got close to the canyon to grab stuff to take with us for lunch. Not a great idea. We stopped by the convenience store at the base and since it was still early the pickings were slim. We ended up with a hot dog, a corn dog, a Chinese sausage (don't ask) a bag of chips and some water. Yum. It would have to do.

We slowly made our way up the first 15 miles of the canyon road. We stopped at the main lookout for a quick look and some photos. Nothing too different than the flight. We jumped back in our car and left all the other tourists.

From here we followed our guidebook for directions to get to the Mohihi-Wai-'alae Trail. The directions said you had to have 4wd drive, it was 6 miles to the trailhead on a dirt road and to follow the map. Between the map in the book and the signs on the road we were in good shape. You definitely need 4wd and high clearance. We again crossed some water and went through mud. I can't imagine this being passable during rainy season. It was a long and very bumpy 6 miles. Took about half an hour to drive.

When we got to the end of the road ER saw no other cars other than a ranger truck or two. We knew the hike was going to be long but weren't sure how strenuous so we took my camera. (sorry my camera can't upload to the iPad so no pics til we get back of this day)

Let me try to recap this hike. We were supposed to hike 3 miles out then turn around and come back. 6 total. At 1/2 mile I told Josh I might die. At mile marker 1 I sat down, ate my lunch and said I was done. Despite my whining we pushed through and did 5 miles. Anyone who is in shape and in Kauai would enjoy this. I'm pretty out of shape. I disagreed with the guidebook though. The hike starts and takes you over a stream (cool). Then you go through a brief Sugi tree forest. To me one of the prettiest areas I had seen in the trip. Felt like I should be in a Twilight set or something. Then the rest of the first mile is uphill torture. Seriously. Torture. Mile 1 to 2 was amazing! Gently rolling path through the forest with moss and ferns everywhere. I've never seen anything like it. At mile 2 you descend down into a narrow fern path that lasts about half a mile and rips apart any flesh that is exposed. The guidebook author liked this section. We could have shipped it. We went a little past the 2.5 mile mark but didn't see anything enticing us to continue. I was delirious at this point. The hike took us 2 hours to do the 2.5 hours out and then about 1.5 hours back. We stopped several times to either eat, take photos or not pass out. The smell of the plants and air up the air was amazing and I agree you get to see a lot if different vegetation than the rest of the island. My suggestion is to take Advil (my head throbbed with the car ride) and lots of water. Oh and wear long hiking pants.

After our trek back down the mountain I really felt awful. I wasn't sure if I was dehydrated, hungry, exhausted or what. We were disgusting and our main agenda was to find a shower or beach to rinse off. We wanted to spend the evening on the western side of the island but not like this.

There aren't as many options for beaches in this area. We didn't want to go too far so we headed to Salt Pond Beach in Hanapepe. It provided sand to sleep on, shade for Josh, swimmable water to rinse off, an outside shower and a bathroom to change clothes. It fit the bill. I probably wouldn't rank it high on my list of Kauai beaches. There are just too many other awesome beaches. It's major pros were some cool rock features on the right side where the water rushed over and the campsites. A bunch of locals were there, singing, hanging out, cooking.

Once we were relatively clean and relaxed we headed in to downtown Hanapepe. It's been described as a ghost town but we went on a Friday evening when they have their Art Night. It's like the NoDa (Charlotte reference) of Kauai. A lot of local art galleries mixed with some shops. For art night, musicians perform on the streets and food vendors come out. We got there a bit early and visited the used book store Talk Story. Wow. They had some amazing kids vintage books. I really love old kids books with the good illustrations. I find several and take them up to be priced. I happily add an animal book and two Kauai stories to my vintage collection when I'm told they are $5 or $7. Then we get to the book I found from the 30's about manners. I loved it. I waited to hear that it too was $6. The man tells me, ok so this is a rare find and is selling with collectors for $150... I could sell it for $25. What? As much as I wanted it that's crazy. I'm happy with my three. As we leave two local high school boys were starting to sing. They were really good. Wish we had caught their name.

We looked around the galleries but didn't find anything that fit our art collection. We get something from every trip.

The smells of the vendors were taking over our senses and we gave in. We shared a huge slice of lasagna from Hanalei pasta. As we were eating it we were seated next to the pie lady - the Right Slice. I heard her describe the Tantric Chocolate cake and was a goner. Belgium chocolate with cayenne pepper and candied ginger and almonds. I'm not a pie person. I loved this pie. This may be the best pie I have ever had. I have already pinned a recipe so I can try to replicate. If you are here find the pie lady! She goes to several markets and has a store in Lihue I believe. I can't believe we just stumbled into that.

After Hanapepe we headed back over to downtown Waimea. Since Josh had finished reading the Hunger Games we had googled movie theaters on the island. It turned out that there was an old historic theater in Waimea that shows movies a few weeks after they are released. It just so happened they would start showing HG that night. I did some quick research and found out that if you get there when the box office opens or a bit earlier you can snag one of the few bamboo stuffed rattan chairs. So, for $24 total Josh and I saw the Hunger Games, got two sodas, popcorn and two candies while sitting in our very comfy bamboo chairs with the locals. We were the only tourists. It was quite fun. And we stayed up past 8! It was pretty late by the time we got home but it was a great day on the west side of the island.

Note: these pics aren't ours... Will post when we have ours.