Hawaii, I Love You! | Part 1: Kauai

Thursday, March 17, 2016



Aloha! :)

A couple weeks ago, I went with some girl friends of mine on a girls' trip/adventure to Hawaii. I'd never visited the Aloha State before, but I was so excited to finally visit a tropical island for the first time.

We visited two islands on our trip: Kauai and Oahu. Our first stop was the garden island of Kauai, and we fell in love with its lush landscape, friendly atmosphere, and - of course - the awesome food.

The Kauai Countryside

The day we woke up after our long flight to the islands, we set out for a drive after breakfast. Almost immediately, we were gushing over how pretty the landscape was. Normally, you wouldn't associate the countryside with an island, but it was almost crazy how varied the landscape became the more we explored.



Koloa

Based on my research of this town, I found out that Koloa was the home of the very first sugar mill on the island. 

This town was cute. We enjoyed walking through the shops and grocery store, and we had fantastic shaved ice at a nearby shaved ice truck.



Poipu Beach

Poipu Beach was one of the places we found that was highly recommended for snorkelers. It was my first time snorkeling, and to say I absolutely loved it was an understatement. LOVED seeing all those fish!



Waimeia Canyon

I can remember thinking several times while we were in Kauai that the landscape reminded me a LOT of the Jurassic Park movies. The two hikes we went on while on this island pretty much cemented that idea the more we ventured onto the trails.

The first hike we went on while in Kauai was in Waimeia Canyon. The trails were a bit steep and rife with rocks and roots, but the views we discovered were absolutely breathtaking.



Hanalei Bay & Napali Coast

Our last couple of stops on our trip to Kauai were at Hanalei Bay and the Napali Coast Trail (our second hike).

Hanalei Bay was a cute little town just before Ke'e Beach, where our trail was located. We wound up having some of the best shaved ice EVER, which consisted of epic flavors and ice cream underneath (mine was cotton candy flavored with vanilla ice cream...I got that two days in a row!). We also had lunch at Bubba's Burgers there, which has been frequented by many Hollywood stars.

The Napali Coast Trail was absolutely breathtaking as well. It had the best views of the coastline, where the water was SO blue, and there were tall peaks just behind us, beyond the trees. Again, rocky and steep hike, but the views were definitely worth our walk up those mountains.

 

The Other Things We Did and Loved
  • We generally had some of the best food on this island, from fish (Opah is AWESOME) to dessert (shaved ice!!!) to...
  • ...Hot dogs! We ADORED Puka Dogs...we went there two days in a row, and I highly recommend it, even if you're not normally a hot dog fan.
  • We went to a luau on our first night. That was fun.

All in all, we absolutely LOVED Kauai.

To continue on to part 2, in which we visit Honolulu, click here.

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