Aloha from Kauai
So we are in Hawaii! Can you believe it? It’s the first time my husband and I have been here, we came with all three kids in tow. My husband is here for a business conference and we get to come along for the ride.
A good friend recommended this book and it has been THE BEST travel guide for Kauai.
The Ultimate Kauai Guide Book by Andrew Doughty and Harriett Friedman.
They also write guides for Maui , Oahu, and The big Island Hawaii. I have traveled a fair amount in my day, mostly in Europe and am a huge Rick Steves, Europe Through the Back Door fan. This guide is along the same lines. Takes you to places off the beaten path. If you want to get out and experience a place like a local and have some fun adventures I highly recommend these guides. I particularly enjoyed the banter of the writers, the tibits of local trivia, mythology, and history. The personal wit and comentary. The book is well organized, through, AND entertaining too!
More to come, I have so much to share! But just a few tastes of our fun so far:
A friend we ran into at the airport demanded our guidebook so she could show us this beach. It’s so perfect for kids, we spent the first day here and I’m sure we will be back. The surf on Kauai, is so rough in winter, the sheltered pools allow the kids to play w/out worry from Mom they will be tumbling in the surf. AND the fish are so fun, I went out w/o food and the were still swarming on me. They must be well trained. LOL!
Where we could be staying. I did let out a gasp upon walking into the Hyatt here. It’s it BREATHtaking. My husband is taking his classes here and it is STUNNING.
When he signed up for his classes the Hyatt was already booked so we ended up with a condo. We have been extremely happy. BUT I will say when I saw the pool/ beach at the Hyatt I did get jealous for a minute. Pat asked if we could buy a day at the poolside. Well come to find out we could rent a “day room” for $250, but wouldn’t you know the “day rooms” were all booked up and we were out of luck. WELL for $250 we could take the whole family on a snorkeling cruise. The pool IS awasome, but not that awsome. Like the Wizpub authors note if you aren’t going to ever leave the resort it’s awsome. But can you imagine coming here and NOT venturing out? AK!
Hawaiian Shave Ice. I actually have heard of this before, they used to have one at the drug store close to my house when I was a child. And of course the county and state fairs usually have it too. BUT on macademia nut icecream. YUM, YUM, YUM. Yesterday we went to Hanalei and checked out the North Shore and the surfers. We also had some really great shave ice. We ate at the Wishing Well. As promised the service was surly, but the product was divine. Today we ate at Jojos, which is supposed to be the best shave ice on Kauai… well the service was MORE surly and the product was poor. Crunchy and crystalized, it was more like a snow cone. Compared to The Wishing Well it was a poor carnival step sister. I would have to say in OUR experience so far The Wishing Well was superior, we’ll see what further tastings hold. Who knew macademia nut icecream w/ an icy on top would taste so good!
Oh the way home dh wanted to try to find a vista to watch the surfers. We had high waves today and the nut jobs were all out there like WAY out there surfing the outer surf but of course they are so far out they look like ants, you can’t see them. So we ventued down the road to Princeville. YAWN…. looks like a bored 1985 resort that hasn’t moved on. Dh noted the parking lot had one of the best views of the hilltop…. HMM…
But luckily the parking lot has some good photo op points. Here we are… a picture of all 5 of us, doesn’t happen often, and you’ll notice we’re not all smiling… well I can hope that SOME day everyone will look at the camera and smile right? I’m on film in Hawaii and I get like 2 pics a year usually as I’m usually the photographer, not the subject.
Aloha!
Tanya
