Stories of Kauai

We were on the island of Kauai from January 17th to January 21st. We stayed at the Marriott Beach Club in Lihue.

We got up on the 17th, our anniversary, around 7am and drove back to the airport. We boarded a twin propeller plane for our "island hop" to Kauai. Being on such a small plane we were worried it would be rough, it was probably one of the smoothest flights we had all week. The flight was about 50 minutes and we got to see some of the different island landscapes from the sky, which was really cool.

When we got into Lihue in Kauai, we had decided that we were going to drive up to Waimea Canyon. This is the "Grand Canyon of the Pacific". This was a very breath taking sight. The canyon measures 10 miles long, 1 mile wide, and more than 3,500-feet deep. It was carved thousands of years ago by rivers and floods that flowed from Mount Waialeale's summit.

We then drove back to Lihue to check into our hotel. Ryan had arranged for there to be a fruit and cheese platter and wine waiting for us since it was our anniversary. After some confusion, the tray did come and we sat on our balcony and enjoyed this treat. Ryan really surprised me as he had planned this weeks ago and he himself had forgotten about it. He then gave me a card and a t-shirt from Maui. We never give gifts to each other because we always go away on our anniversary so I was very surprised!

We then went out for a quick swim in the pool and for a hot tub. Here we managed to loose our hotel room key. We think it got lost in either the pool or the hot tub. So we had to get security to let us back into our room.

We then had a romantic dinner at a restaurant called Portifinos. Ryan had called and made reservations for a table that overlooked the water, as this restaurant was on the beach. And we had the best table in the house. The food was great, very delicious.

The next day we stayed at the hotel all day. We camped out on the beach and spent the day soaking up the sunshine. We went boogie boarding, read, swam and just enjoyed being together in paradise.

On Friday, we decided to go on another roadie. This time our destination was the Wailua falls and Poipu beach. We hit the falls first and it was really cool to see.

Then we headed off to Poipu beach as we had heard that there was good snorkeling at this beach. Either everyone was lying or we were in the wrong spot because the snorkeling was not good at all.

So, we headed back to our resort where we spent the afternoon doing much of the same, reading, boogie boarding, swimming and tanning. We had lunch on the beach and enjoyed watching the cruise ship leave.

That night we watched the sun set over the horizon. We were so completely relaxed by this time, as you can tell in the photos. Can we go back?!?!?

On Saturday, we decided that we were going to spend the day at the beach. Since all the beaches in Hawaii are public there were a lot more people out today. We ate breakfast on the beach and went for a early morning boogie board. We then "roasted like a turkey", as Ryan said for the morning. We went and had lunch and when we came back it was cloudy, and it looked like it was going to be cloudy for a while. The good thing about being on an island that you can go to the sunshine if the sunshine isn't where you are. So that is what we did, we jumped into the Mustang convertible and headed to the North shore, in search of sun and new sights.

Along the drive we saw some waterfalls, and a beach that had tunnelled into the mountain. We went as far as the highway would let us go. It only took like 1 hour and 1/2. It was a great drive and we did get back to the sunshine.

We then came back to our hotel and went out for our last dinner in Kauai. We went to Duke's upstairs and had a great dinner. We had a couple sing us a song called "Love and Honesty" which was so pretty. Ryan thought I was going to cry.

On Sunday, we had the entire day before our flight left at 6:30. So again, we spent the day on the beach. We really loved this resort. The beach was great, the pools were great. It was a great place to relax.

After much discussion, both Ryan and I think that our Hawaii trip was probably the best tropical trip that we have been on. The scenery was spectacular. We were able to just relax and spend time together. There is lots to see and do. We would recommend both Maui and Kauai for anyone looking for an all round fabulous trip.