Paradise-day eight

Sunday was our exploring day. We started out looking for a place to eat breakfast. On the way we drove up to the Wailua Falls.

We could only see where you could look from the top, but it's still very powerful to see in person.

Then we continued on our quest to find breakfast. We figured we would find a place that serves breakfast by seeing where a lot of cars were. That is how we found Eggberts. It was pretty good. They had excellent french toast that was made even better with coconut syrup.

After breakfast, we continued our day of discovery by finding the Opaeka'a Falls. These were a little farther away from the lookout, but still very cool. 

Then, we headed out to find Hanalei Bay. It came highly recommended. We could never find it though. So we tried for another recommended one, Ke'e Beach. The directions to get there were drive until the road stops. Along the way were a lot of one car bridges. This was my favorite one.

We made it to Ke'e Beach, along with half of the island. The parking lot was full, as well as the road leading up to it for about a mile. So we decided to try another one we had passed along the way, Tunnels Beach. It was beautiful. 

There also happened to be a paddle board competition going on there. It was pretty neat to see the start of that. 

On the way back from Tunnels beach, we found a shaved ice stand on the side of the road. This was no Tropical Sno. 

After we got back to the hotel, we hung out at that beach for a while to even out our color, then headed in to clean up for dinner. We went to Duke's by the hotel, also a highly recommended restaurant. It boasted a famous salad bar (nothing too special) and a hula pie.

That one was pretty good. 

Then we rolled ourselves back to our hotel room for the night. 

Paradise-day seven

For breakfast this morning we decided to change it up a bit and take some advice from our tour guide yesterday. We hit the Feral Pig for some breakfast. 

Joe tried their kailua pork hash and I had some amazing banana bread french toast. I will have to try this at home. It was so good. 

After breakfast we headed over to the Kaua'i Lagoons Golf Course. Joe played 18 holes while I drove the cart and read a book. The course was beautiful. Not a bad place to play golf. 

We stopped for lunch at the clubhouse on the course. I had a very large tuna salad sandwich and Joe had a Spam Musubi, a local favorite. It's grilled spam wrapped in rice and seaweed. 

Not a bad way to spend the day. 

After a little rest, we headed out to dinner. A few people we know had suggested we eat dinner at the Beachhouse one night. So we tried to get a reservation, but were too late. The only openings they had for either Saturday or Sunday were after 8pm (I know it's not that late but when you are getting up at 6am, it is really late to eat dinner). Plus we wanted to watch the sunset and that would have been too late. They suggested we come and sit in the bar, which is open seating, sometime between 4:30 and 5pm. So that is what we did. We sat down at a little before 5pm and were told dinner did not start until 6pm. So we decided to sit and wait. In the meantime, we ordered some drinks. 

What a view.  

We did have some entertainment while we drank. There were quite a few people surfing near by.

We did end up ordering dinner where I had the most tender filet I have ever had. It was so tender and flaky you could peel it apart with your fork. It was great!

We ended up staying there for 3 hours, just eating and watching the sunset. I think we may have had the best seat in the house. 

Beautiful sunset!

Paradise-day six

We started the morning with the buffet breakfast at the hotel. Then we got ready for a great adventure. Today, we participated in the Outfitters Kauai Kipu Zipline Safari. It was an all day adventure!

We started kayaking down a river for 2 1/2 miles. It was beautiful. 

Then we hiked through the jungle to our first swimming hole. It is where they filmed Pirates of the Caribbean 4 (although I just saw that movie after we got home and it doesn't look familiar). 

They had a rope swing to get you into the water. 

Yes, I did it too. Once. Joe did it twice. 

Then we hiked to our next trip, a ride on a tractor trailer. 

We drove through open fields. This is where Raiders of the Lost Arc was filmed. The part where Harrison Ford is running down a hill to his plane (or so they said). 

We stopped for a nice picnic lunch and then it was time for a real adventure. Zip-lining!

The first one single trip down the zip-line. It was pretty fun. 

The second one was a double zip-line, so Joe and I went at the same time. To get off, they put up these ladders and pulled you down toward them. 

On this one, you had the chance to ride upside down. Joe took advantage. I stayed right side up. 

Then we took a short walk to another swimming hole. This one had a zip-line entry and an 18' platform jump. We both tried it all. 

Then it was another walk back to the water...

....where we have a nice boat ride back up the river to the start. It was a great way to spend the day. 

We had an appetizer and drinks dinner at a local place one of the guides recommended, Kalapaki Joes, when we were done. Then finished the night at Kukuis bar at the hotel for more drinks and a nice dessert. What a day!

Paradise-day five

We woke-up for the first time at the Kaua'i Marriott Resort and took in the view. While not as breath taking as the view from the first hotel, it was still a very relaxing view. 

After a buffet breakfast at Kukui's, the restaurant in the hotel, we ventured out to stock-up on snacks at the grocery store. I also had to buy a long sleeved shirt for the afternoon. 

We completed our errands then grabbed a quick lunch from Aupaka, the beach bar by the hotel pool,and headed out for our day's adventure, a helicopter tour!

We arrived a little early, so after we checked in we took a trip down to a scenic overlook. Very pretty.

Then it was time to take-off. 

We opted for a private (meaning just the two of us), open door helicopter tour. It was amazaing. It took us all over the island. 

We saw Jurassic Falls (used in the movie Jurassic Park).

These are from the Na Pali coast which is why we took the tour. You can only access it by air or boat. 

Flying in a helicopter was a lot less scary than I though it would be. The pilot was very experienced and kept it pretty gentle. We even flew through pouring rain with the doors off and didn't get wet because we were moving so fast. It was amazing. 

There wasn't much else we could do today that would live up to the tour. We took a dip in the hotel pool....

...had dinner and called it a night. It was an exciting day!