There was a good year of my life that I seriously wondered where I went wrong. At the time, my brother was living in Hawaii, my sister was living in Puerto Rico and I was living five minutes away from my childhood home.  

How does that happen?!? It’s like they took a class called “how to live in an exotic location” and NO ONE TOLD ME TO SIGN UP.

THE MIDDLE CHILD ALWAYS GETS LEFT OUT.

It’s cool, I wasn’t bitter about it at all. My life is fun too. Mom, Dad, Andy and I have a Friday night pizza date so take that.

(Side note: To explain for these life discrepancies, I did ask my mother if I was dropped on my head as a child. She denies that this occurred, so I guess there must be another reason)

Eventually, my sister moved from Puerto Rico which made me feel a little less bad about myself.  My brother, on the other hand, continues to live it up in Hawaii, reminding me of my life failures on a regular basis. Therapy here I come… 🙂

Regardless of any emotional trauma, at least we have a free place to stay in Hawaii! And thus, Andy and I decided that this summer would be a great time to visit Luke and Leslie as well as knock out half marathon #10. The first part of our trip would be spent in Kauai, before flying to Honolulu for the second part.

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We arrived in Kauai on the afternoon of May 19th. It was my first time on the island and Andy’s first time in Hawaii.

Kauai is gorgeous. I mean, let’s be real, all of Hawaii is gorgeous, but Kauai has that luscious feel to it. There is so much green everywhere.

When we were making our Kauai plans, our friends Daniel and Jamie told us to stay in Poipu – the “dry” part of the island. Apparently, there is a “wet” side of the island that gets a TON of rain and a “dry” side of the island that gets a lot less rain. Kauai is no joke when it comes to rain either. Just a month before we arrived, Kauai got almost 50 inches of rain in 24 hours. That’s a serious amount of rain. And we’re over here complaining about all the rain we got in DC…smh…

The downside of Poipu is that it is tourist central. No locals actually live in Poipu, everyone there was a tourist. However, I would much rather be surrounded by tourists and be able to go to the beach than be surrounded my locals while in the rain. 🙂 Shout out to Daniel and Jamie for their excellent recommendation!

There is a ton to do in Kauai. Andy and I tried to do as much as we could while we were there, but we barely skimmed the surface. Guess that means we have to go back!

Hikes:

1. Sleeping Giant: On our first full day we went on the Sleeping Giant Hike. This is a must-do while is Kauai! The hike took 1.5 – 2 hours and was moderately difficult. The whole time we felt like we were hiking through the jungle.

When we did the hike it wasn’t that muddy, but I can definitely see how it would be a really rough hike if had recently rained. There were amazing views throughout the entire hike, but especially at the top. Interestingly, there are two “tops” of the hike. The first top is an open area with a picnic table/shelter. This is where most people stopped. However, if you keep walking through the open area there is a tiny path that takes you to the next ridge over with even more awesome views.

As you can see from the pictures, it was super windy when we made it to the very top. I’m straining to smile as I hold onto Andy for dear life.

2. Ho’opi’i Falls: On our second full day in Kauai, we choose to go on a hike that one of my colleagues had recommended. He had just been to Kauai with his family and said this was the best thing they did while on the island. According to him, the hike led to several waterfalls and there was a spot where you could swing off a rope and swim in the waters. He showed me videos and I was extremely excited. Unfortunately, our visit to the falls was not as successful.

Our first mistake was that we forgot bug spray. This was a very very big mistake. I cannot express how much mosquitoes love me. I might, however, be able to express how much I equally hate mosquitoes. They are my mortal enemy. I would rather go back to Oklahoma than be surrounded by mosquitoes and I am severely allergic to Oklahoma.

As you have probably gathered by this point, I was not a happy camper on this hike. My legs were so bad it looked like I had the chicken pox.

To make matter worse, we couldn’t even figure out how to get to the rope swing! We spent way too much time hiking to dead ends. Finally, the mosquitoes became too much and we headed back to the car without ever reaching this magical rope swing.

While I would not personally recommend this hike, it wasn’t all bad. It was a pretty easy hike – about a mile downhill to the waterfalls and then a mile uphill to get back to the cars. The waterfalls were pretty and the whole hike was shaded.

There was also plenty of nature for Andy to climb all over which is always a plus 🙂

Food: 

On our first night in Kauai we went to a grocery store and Andy nearly had a heart attack at how expensive things are.

“Are they out of their mind?!? Seven dollars for a dozen eggs??? At Costco I can buy 60 eggs for six dollars! Six. Dollars. This is absurd!!”

Lesson Learned: Don’t come between Andy and his eggs.

(Side note: We were later told by Luke and Leslie that while food is more expensive in Hawaii, $7 for a dozen eggs is unusually high.)

Of course, there are some foods that were much cheaper and better in Hawaii than back home. For example, the pineapple in Hawaii was out of this world good. It was like the first time I tried pizza in Italy. I thought I liked pizza, but I realized that until that moment I had never actually had pizza, more like a sore substitute. I’m still craving some pineapple as I type this.

Speaking of good food, don’t forget to try some shaved ice while in Hawaii.

Andy and I also had the chance to eat at several restaurants while in Kauai

1. Keoki’s: Although Keoki’s had mixed reviews on google, Andy and I had a really good experience eating here. I would recommend going on the earlier side to take advantage of the Chef’s Special (I think it’s between 4:45 – 5:30, but I could be off) which provides multiple courses for a reduced price.

Keoki’s also has live entertainment during dinner. It was great to sip on a drink, relax and just enjoy the music.

2. Plantation Garden: This was another recommendation from a friend, but Andy and I were both very unimpressed. It was $27 for grilled chicken on spaghetti with marinara sauce. The chicken was incredibly dry and much too burnt for my liking. Granted the pasta was fine, but how do you mess up pasta? But also, can we go back to the whole it was $27 for burnt, dry chicken and some spaghetti??? So many sighs.

3. Mark’s Place: Since we were primarily eating at touristic venues, we wanted to try a more local place. Google directed us to an eatery called “Mark’s Place.” Google did not lead us astray.

Not only was the food yummy, but there was a boatload of it and it was absurdly cheap (for island standards).

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Do you see that picture? All of that is one meal for one person. Who can eat that much food?!?! Even Andy barely made a dent and that’s saying something because Andy eats enough for a family of four.

In conclusion, a big yes to Mark’s Place. But maybe go on your first night so you actually have time to eat all those leftovers you will inevitably have.

4. Joe’s Sports Bar: As many of you know, Andy and I are huge Washington Capitals fans. During our time in Hawaii the Caps were in the semi-finals of the Stanley Cup Playoffs which is a big deal. Big big deal. On the Monday we were in Kauai, the Caps were playing Tampa Bay and it was game 6 with Tampa Bay leading the series 3-2. If Tampa Bay won the next game, they would advance to the finals and we would be out.

I love the Caps, but honestly I wasn’t even sure I wanted to watch game six. It was the middle of the day in Hawaii and we would need to spend it inside a bar since the TV in our room wasn’t showing the game. More so, the Caps have been breaking my heart and I didn’t want to deal with the disappointment of their loss while on vacation. But Andy really wanted to watch the game so we searched for a nearby spot where we would be able to watch the game.

Google led us to Joe’s Sports Bar and, once again, Google did not disappoint. The atmosphere at the bar was fantastic – all the windows were open allowing us to feel a warm breeze and see the beach. They had a great happy hour with cheap drink specials and food options. We found some friendly Tampa Bay rivals (a couple on their honeymoon) and we sat down to watch the game.

The game was stressful. It was 0-0 at the end of the first period and the second period was just as intense. Midway through the second period I hear Andy let out some curse words. I look over in surprise and I see Andy leaning out the window.

“Shit. I just dropped my wedding ring out the window.”

No really, I kid you not. The best part about all of this?

He wouldn’t go get the ring because “it was in the middle of the period.” So we finished the period while his wedding ring lay out in the open on the sidewalk below us. #onlyAndy

He did eventually get his wedding ring so I guess we’re back to being married at least 🙂

In the end, the Caps pulled out a win, forcing a game 7! LETS GO CAPS!

Activities:

1. Poipu Beach Athletic Club: As part of the amenities for where we were staying, Andy and I had access to the Poipu Beach Athletic Club. If we were to go back to Kauai, I would gladly pay extra money to have access to this club. The club had pools, tennis courts, gyms, open lawn areas and a dining area. In short, it was the perfect place to relax at or be active at.

One thing I definitely want to highlight is just how amazing their gym space was. They offered several exercises classes throughout the day as well as had a fully stocked gym with every type of equipment you could desire. One afternoon (after our mosquito hike fail), Andy surrendered to my pleas to let me work him out. This is a big deal because Andy does not like my type of workouts. They are full-body workouts with “too much cardio.”

I had a BLAST! I went all drill sergeant on him, yelling at him to lift heavier or not to stop. Oh it was so great! 🙂

2. Beach: A trip to Kauai would never be complete without some beach visits. Especially at sunset…seriously the sunsets were to die for.

3. Captain Andy’s Boat Tour: When we told Luke and Leslie we were going to Kauai, Luke told me the #1 thing we needed to do while we were there was take a boat tour to see the Na Pali coast. We booked a Snorkel BBQ Trip with Capt. Andy’s Boat Company for our last day in Kauai. I was incredibly excited for this – Andy really wanted to go snorkeling and I loved my last boating/snorkling trip I had done. Plus, we were going to get to see the Na Pali coast – what could be better??

Wellllllll. Let me tell you what could be better.

• First, the boating trip was a total of six hours. We assumed this would be split relatively evenly between boating and snorkeling. Wrong. The “snorkeling” part of trip was barely 30 minutes. The boating was 5.5 hours.
• Second, it might not even have been that bad to be boating for that long if we weren’t in the choppiest of waters. Honestly, “choppy” is an understatement. Being on the boat was like riding on “Drop Zone” over and over again for 5+ hours. That’s basically considered a form of torture in 17 countries.

Needless to say, I did not fare so well on this boat ride. I spent the vast majority of the time sitting in a corner vomiting in the bags the poor crew kept providing to me.

Yuck.

To my credit, there were a good 50 people on our boat ride and at least 15 people also got sick. We were our own little “Throw-up Club” – an exclusive members-only club for the weakest of stomachs.

Oh, the memories.

Meanwhile, during my five-hour trip to hell, Andy is having the time of his life.

There were apparently dolphins (Andy did try to get me to see them, but I wasn’t quite in the position to try and walk around).

The snorkeling seemed fun (I got in the water briefly, but the water was so choppy I had to get out immediately lest I end up swimming in my own throw-up).

Oh, and also the views of the Na Pali coast were pretty gorgeous. (Or so I hear anyways…I was relegated to looking out at the horizon.)

In the end, I paid a good amount of money to be miserable and get sun burnt. I still have traumatic memories to this day. Just another thing to talk with the therapist about 🙂

Buttt after all this negativity, I will leave you with the one good picture from our trip. See! I was happy for a whole ten minutes!

After our boating adventure I was quite ready to get on a plane and head to Honolulu. Luke and Leslie here we come!

P.S. Kauai is beautiful (as mentioned above) and has some amazing flowers. Andy decided to document all of these during our time on the island. A few are posted below for your viewing pleasure: