Kauai 2013 - Day 11 & 12

Princeville has some great walking and running paths/trails around the golf courses.  The boys took an early morning run while Mike and I  enjoyed our quiet morning time with a cup coffee.

Mornings are my favorite time of day.  As I sit here, I watch the sky change colors with each passing moment.  I love listening and seeing the birds land on our lanai as they play and chirp at one another. And I LOVE the fragrant smell in the air.  What is that smell?  It is so sweet!  I have gone around and smelled different flowers, but can't track down that smell.  It is so fragrant!

We decided to spend the day at Hideaways Beach.  There is one small parking lot for the public which holds 8 cars. 10 if you get creative.   The walk is only about a 1/2 a mile from our condo, but then you have to hike down a very tricky trail.  There are some metal posts and rope handrails to hold on to just in case you lose your footing.  (I forgot to take pictures of the trail.)  Since we had quite a few things packed for our day at the beach, the plan was to load everything up in the car, drive over and drop everyone off and one person drive back to the condo and walk back.  And that's what we did.  Great way to slip in some exercise!

This is a quiet little cove with not too many people here until a group of 10-12 kayaks arrived.  They stopped  for maybe 1 1/2 hours to do some snorkeling and have lunch and then take off again.

This was our first chance to snorkel since we've been here.  The conditions were a little choppy so visibility was not the best.  We brought two snorkel sets from home, but clearly we are going to have to go rent some gear.  Our masks kept filling with water which caused us to have to stop and empty ever so often.

With the right conditions I could easily hang out here and snorkel for hours.  I stayed fairly close to the shoreline and saw a lot of fish, an eel and someone spotted a turtle.  Many people ventured out quite aways out from the beach.  I'm sure there was more to see out there, but it makes me too nervous to go out that far!

We spent the rest of our time relaxing, reading, playing and taking in the beauty of this location.

We arrived at we  Hideaways just in time to witness the women's outrigger canoe race.

Decided to knock out some push ups

Lifeguards in the making.  Keeping an eye on the parents while they snorkel

Later we head off to the Princeville Shopping Center to do a little shopping and eat dinner. We chose Federico's Mexican Restaurant.  I didn't care for mine so much, but the boys seemed happy with their meals.  Beware, the onion/pepper condiment you add after you receive your meal, is hot, hot, hot!  My mouth and lips were burning for quite a bit.

What's the best thing for a burning mouth? Ice cream!  Next stop, Lappert's. So good.

Returned to the condo and was greeted by this chubby little guy.

And finally, we can't end a day without a sunset picture.  Good night!

Folks gather at the edge of the golf course to watch the sunset

Love the fireball bursting out into the clouds

P.S. I decided to take a day off from blogging tomorrow and asked my family if anyone would be interested in blogging for me.  Michael kindly said that he would represent. Thanks Michael!

Day 12 ~ Sunday
Greetings everyone!  My name is Michael, and I am Julie’s 18-year-old son.  She has thought it befitting to have a day where she took a break from blogging and had me write, so I decided to pick today, Sunday the 18^th of August. 

We began the day off sleeping in later than normal and going to church at Wai’oli Hui’la Church in Hanalei starting at 10am.  This church was established in 1834 by Christian missionaries and has undergone many restorations since.  It is truly a beautiful building with a wonderful backdrop, but that wasn’t what made it a special visit.  The head pastor as well as the other church members were all so welcoming to the visitors whom took up about three quarters of the building that day.  In the beginning, the head pastor asked for visitors to volunteer and tell everyone where they were visiting from.  It was fun hearing where all these other people were from and even more enjoyable to see we had all congregated in an old church on Kauai to worship The Lord!!

While in Hanalei, the family and I walked across the street to see the shopping center and restaurants.   We needed to stop at one place we knew was there called Pedal n’ Paddle to rent some new fins and snorkel masks for my parents since our two didn’t fit them well.  To be honest the shopping wasn’t good at all there.  That store we rented from was really cool and had not only snorkel equipment, but also a lot of outdoor/ camping equipment.  I convinced my mom to buy me a hat (It’s pretty cool). 

 When walking through the shopping area, we see an interesting sight.  A man sitting in an electric wheel chair, hands by his side, and a paint brush in his mouth.  Out of curiosity, we head over to see what he is painting and to our astonishment, a gorgeous canvas of colors have been painted into a beautiful scene.  Turtles, sunset, surfers, and mountains all so realistic, it was amazing to see what this man could do.  He was selling his painting too.  

After shopping a while, we chose Kalypso’s to eat for lunch.  The food there was very good and worth going to eat.  I had a club sandwich, my mom had fish tacos which were delicious.  Dad had a huge burger that I don’t think I could have finished, and the little bro had some pancakes with bananas on them; not my taste, but he said they were good.   

After walking through a few more stores, and coming out with nothing, it was decided by everyone to go and see the Kalauea Lighthouse.  With quite the breathtaking view and a plethora of fascinating birds, my dad got to practice his photography skills with a display of wildlife and scenery.  

We stayed there for maybe a half hour and decided to drive down to scope out the beaches down the road from the lighthouse.  It appeared to be a perfect snorkeling spot, and we saw very few tourists.  Since it was a weekend, there were hundreds of local Hawaiians fishing and having large get togethers.  We plan on going back, but probably not on a weekend.      

A few interesting sites on the drive back.

Recycle, Reduce & Reuse

The drive back to the condo seemed really long, and I had a huge headache making the short drive much more irritating than it should have been.  We got back to the condo and I fell asleep on the couch while my chipper parents went snorkeling. 

Overall it was a good day and tonight I went for a long jog so I’m feeling happy happy happy.