Well, for the first time in our lives (we’ll all our lives except Brad), we stepped foot on Hawaii.
I’ve always, always wanted to go to Hawaii, but figured I’d never be able to.
UNTIL NOW!
We landed at 11am (after a VERY long overnight flight) in Lihue, the largest city of Kauai, it was cloudy but the sun trying to poke through and it was WARM. The airport baggage claim reminded me of the Polynesian resort, of all things. And everywhere, EVERYWHERE, were wild chickens (Hei Heis, as we call them as a montage to Moana).
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| We're in HAWAII! |
Our Turo driver was a local Polynesian who picked us up right from the airport and was the nicest guy we’ve probably ever met. We aren’t in the lower 48 anymore!
We drove to Target, our meeting place with a Grammy and Papa. As we pull in to the parking lot, Calen, who unabashedly always declares the best car in sight, declares “WHOA, look at that ford mustang!! It’s a convertible!” And then after a moment goes “IS THAT PAPA?!?” Surprise! He had rented a Mustang convertible for the trip. The kids of course are riding with them everywhere now, because who wants to sit in our Nissan Altima when you can be in a cherry red mustang convertible?
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| The only way to get out of the backseat of a convertible |
For lunch we ate at Kenji Burger, a spot I was told by the local guide book that was delicious. The manager was fantastically friendly also, and the food was wonderful. I got a sushi burrito, and the kids a teriyaki burger. They talked about it all day!
With lunch out of the way we headed to the most important place - the beach! Kalapaki beach was close by to lunch, a small cove near the airport that is protected from the undertow but still produces halfway decent waves. The boys took no time in diving straight in the water.
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| Taking in his first Hawaiian beach view |
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| Kalapaki beach! |
We probably would have stayed longer, but the weather was turning and we decided to take off while we could. As we were heading back to the car, Camden ran full speed across large black lava rocks, which have the exact surface consistency of sandpaper. He tripped and landed literally on his face, and his forehead hit the sharpest lava boulder it could find. Cue blood, screaming, and an almost trip to the ER because the dent was pretty good. After applying pressure and breaking into the first aid kit we brought (thanks BoyScout Leader Dad), we decided we didn’t need to tour the Kauai ER as long as we could find some “second skin” glue at the pharmacy. A quick trip to target and we fixed his face right up. He looks like he smashed it surfing, or got in a hockey fight, or fought off a tiger shark, you decide.
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| Moments before he trips and falls into lava rocks |
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| You should see the other guy |
As we exited Target, the most incredible monsoon of a rainstorm started (to date. This was written a day later, and I’m here to tell you, we ain’t seen NOTHING yet). We ran (and I mean RAN) to the cars and headed out to our next adventure.
Shaved ice, we were told, is a Hawaiian delicacy and it is required by local law to eat it once a day.
Challenge accepted.
And it definitely helped Camden feel better.
We went to Skinny Mike’s shaved ice, which makes you feel anything but skinny. I had papaya ice cream underneath my mango and passion fruit shaved ice, and “snow capped”, which means condensed milk on top. Ah-ma-zing.
We discovered that the wild chickens really don’t care what you’re eating, as long as you’re eating, so they came running and pecked the ground where Camden spilled some shaved ice.
Literally pecking at nothing.
Fricken chickens.
There was a really neat model train store next door, so we went to check it out and of course left with a model car for Calen and a toy dragon for Cam.
Another massive thunder rainstorm passed through, so we took it as a good time to go to Costco and get loaded up on supplies before dinner. Dinner was at Duke’s, a super cool restaurant right on the beach (our table was outside in a covered area) with tiki torches overlooking the cove that we had boogie boarded in earlier. I had ahi poke bowl, and Camden crushed the first thing off his bucket list - drinking out of a pineapple (with an umbrella).
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| They found coconuts that fell from the trees |
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| Inside the restaurant - so cool |
To finish the day, we drove as far west as possible to Barking Sands, where our little military cottage awaited. It’s a perfect 2 bedroom little house with a pullout couch in the living room and a back covered porch overlooking the ocean (so close - maybe 50 yards - the pounding waves count for white noise at night).
Hawaii day 1 - complete.
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