Aloha Kauai: Day 1 Thursday

When we got to Kauai on Wednesday night it was already dark. We picked up the rental car and headed to Walmart and Costco for some dinner and groceries. Yes, a hot dog and soda for $1.50 is a great deal in Hawaii too. We got to our hotel/condo and it was amazing!!2 bed , 2 bath, full kitchen and living room with laundry and all super nice. The pool was awesome and we could not resist so we hurried and changed into our suits for s dip in the pool and hot tub. Just giddy with excitement!


Thursday we awoke to the roosters crowing. It was a bit overcast but we were excited to get going.




Chickens are everywhere. Katelyn, being the animal lover she is, couldn't help but take a million pictures. I wonder where she get her love of birds from?

After some waffles and eggs we headed out to go east to Spouting Horn. A place where some sugar cane laborers blasted a hole in the lava rock and when the tide comes in there is a blow hole effect. It was neat to see and then we walked through all the souvenir stands.



We went back to the hotel to change so we could see what the beach was like. On our drive back we spotted some dolphins swimming along the coast.



Our first beach we went to was Poi'pu.


We had heard many great things about it and this beach did not disappoint! Lots of snorkeling. I stayed dry with Jessie while Mike took the kids out for their first snorkeling trip. They were a bit nervous and stayed close to their dad. Saw lots of fish- even an eel.




This lifeguard was coming in and asked Tyler if he wanted to try to surf. Heck yes!!!
Tyler jumped right on and the old, extremely muscular guard took him out and waited for a good wave and you know Tyler... He stood right up and surfed like a pro. Of course, I don't have a picture of that because I was recording it for him to watch later.
Surfing with a real Hawaiian was awesome and on his first day in Hawaii. Luckeeeee!


Our sleek rental car



To get back to the Lihue you drive through the tunnel of trees.



We headed to the east side of the island to try to see some waterfalls. One we wanted to go to had been closed due to a drowning.

We were able to drive to the next waterfall called Wailua Falls. This one was huge and there were these amazing white birds with long tail feathers just flying around in it's mist. There were some homeless guys there with a pet pig making hats out of palm leaves.The kids were fascinated.



We found another waterfall after a short hike-Ho'opi'i Falls on the Kapa'a stream.
I don't have a picture of this one because Mike's phone had died and our camera didn't have any battery left. It was a soothing short waterfall. A beautiful wooded area just down a trail in the middle of a residential area.

On our way back to the south part of the island we stopped at 'Opaeka'a falls. I think I had gotten a picture of this falls with my cell phone, but it died when I went swimming with it so all pictures have been lost on it. Oh well! It was a beautiful big fall and across the road from it we looked at the Wailua River.