Romey's Ramblings

Wednesday was another one of our wide-open days in Hawaii, and while we tried to make the most of it, we basically ended up doing a lot of driving.

We started of by eating breakfast at Joe’s on the Green.  We ate outside, and while we enjoyed the view we noticed that there was smoke coming off in the distance.  The best guess by everyone there was a house fire.  We were hoping everything was ok, but all we could do was say a prayer and look at the smoke in the distance:

We set off towards the North Shore of Kauai. Bethany went through our guidebook to find some prime destinations for our exploration.  First up was a boogie boarding beach.  We drove the beautiful drive along the coast, only to find that the beach had signs that said “no swimming” all over it.  We saw people surfing along the coast, and a few boogie-boarders, but we didn’t want to be one of those Darwin award recipients – the ones you read about missing after swimming in the “No Swimming” beach, so we drove on.

The book described this beautiful lava-formed pool called “Queen’s Bath”.  We set out looking for it and found it by driving through a neighborhood.  The book mentioned that a small parking lot was created to accommodate the number of visitors, but it didn’t mention just how small this lot was.   There were only about 10 spots, all of which were full (and a few were even double-parked).  We tried to find alternative parking, but with no success we were forced to head back.  When then drove and found a snorkeling beach and got in our beach time for the day.

Hungry for a late lunch, we tried the coveted Ono Burger which we’ve heard so much.  Bethany ordered a Swiss Burger, while I ordered a Teriyaki, Pineapple & Swiss burger.  Both were really good, but still paled in comparison to Five Guys back at home.  We ate our burgers along the original boogie-board beach, then made our way back to Lihue.

We spent some time at Starbucks to upload pictures to Flickr, then made our way back to get ready for our dinner reservation at Tide Pools, a restaurant at the Hyatt next door.  The restaurant was very good, but we were one of the few unfortunates that weren’t seated by the water.  We enjoyed our dinner nonetheless, and made our way back to our room where we once again turned in early.

Next Up: Sunrise, Sunset.

With the full day open, we figured that Monday would be the best day to take the drive up to Waimea Canyon.  Waimea is known as the “Grand Canyon of the Pacific”, as it measures to 10 miles in length and is over 3,000 feet deep.  Geological facts aside, the site is simply breathtaking:

We drove from the South Shore (where we’re staying), up to the west side of the island, then took the 18 miles road that took us up to the top of the canyon.  The drive was a sport in itself, especially in the convertible:

This was the easy part!  As we drove we encountered road construction, where Bethany made the comment “You can’t escape road construction, even in paradise.”

After a very steep and bumpy drive, we finally made it to the top.  Bethany assured me that that view would be well worth it, and my wife was definitely telling the truth:

Bethany put it best when she said that you can’t even tell where the ocean ends and the sky begins on the horizon.  We took a series of incredible pictures which we’ll post on Flickr, but we wanted to post proof that we made it to the top:

We drove our way back down the canyon (which Bethany documented in a video that we’ll be posting), taking the scenic route.  At this point we were very hungry and ready for lunch.  We hoped to stop by Brick Oven Pizza (as our guidebook lists it as the best pizza on the island), only to find that they were closed.  We went to a deli across the street and enjoyed a Mango Smoothie and turkey sandwiches.

The long drive with the top down took its toll on Bethany, and she napped in the afternoon to recover.  We enjoyed a swim in the resort pool, throwing a football around in the water.  We then freshened up for our dinner at Roy’s: a great restaurant that featured steak and various fish. We both enjoyed a four-course “sampler” meal, which offered very delicious – but modest – portions that left us satisfied.

Jeromey committed a Honeymoon No-No by forgetting to wear his wedding ring to dinner.  These late-afternoon showers throw off his routine.

We finished the night by taking in another movie (this time it was “Pure Country” featuring Bethany’s handsome cowboy George Straight) – along with some wine we snuck down to the hot tub in plastic kitchen cups (very classy.).

Next Up: Relaxation at the Spa, relaxation at the resort.

The overnight flight took its toll on us, resulting in us sleeping in until 11am.  With half the day slept away, we decided to spent the rest of it in relaxation.  We made our way to the beach close by and did  a little bit of boogie boarding.  We quickly got hungry for lunch and came back to the pool-side grill at the resort and had a few burgers.  Maintaining our low profile, we went back to the hot tub close to our room and laid out in the sun.

The late afternoon rolled around and we made our way over to the Hyatt (a rather pleasant walk down the coast-line) to check into our Luau.

We sat next to a couple that was out in Hawaii celebrating their anniversary and commenced consuming great music and Mai Tai’s.  For those that don’t know, a Luau is basically a party, filled with good food, drinking and dancing.  The Luau we participated in offered all-you-can eat & drink, and we definitely took advantage of that.

We of course had the slow-cooked pig, but also there were other great meats and fish, as well as many other great foods.  We once again repeated our honeymoon habit of eating far too much, but had some great entertainment while we digested.

The Luau also featured an amazing fire dancer:

 

We have many more pictures and even a short video from the Luau, but will post them when we have the bandwidth to post to Flickr.

At the end of the evening (and several Mai Tai’s later) we stumbled our way back to our resort and enjoyed a relaxing movie in our room.

Next Up: A day at the Waimea Canyon, and a fabulous dinner