Chillin' at the Beach



Since it was Matt's last day in Hawaii, we decided that spending the day at the beach would be a great way to end his mini-vacation.  Besides, it's been a busy couple of days and we needed some down time.  We checked out of the condo and drove over to our new hotel, the Garden Island Inn, to drop off our food and luggage.

Our room wasn't ready but our hotel was happy to keep our luggage until the room was ready.  The front desk clerk assured us he would put away the food in our mini fridge and our luggage while we were away. Very friendly staff.  Originally, we were going to hang out at Hanalei Beach partk but it meant a 40 minutes drive so we opted with the beach just across from our hotel.

We rented lounge chairs for the day and picked aspot that offered both sun (for Nicole and I) and shade (for Matt).  Turns out our hotel was just across the street from Sunshine Helicopters and the small shopping complex so we were already familiar with the area.  It was a perfect day to spend at the beach!

For lunch we walked over to a Mexican restaurant.  The rest of the afternoon we cotinued to laze about at the beach.  Tough life! 


In the evening, Matt took us out for a birthday dinner at a Japanese restaurant.  I wasn't terribly hungry since we had a late lunch, but wow, was the sushi ever good!  I imagine that some of fish was locally caught but who knows?  What I do know is that the food was great.  I ordered a Mai Tai at the start of dinner, just one Mai Tai, and was I ever feeling the effects of the alcohol!  LOL!  Must have been all that sun!  Good thing I wasn't driving.

After dinner, we dropped off Matt at the airport.  What a great time we three had together!  Too bad Matt couldn't stay longer.

Despite the fact it was a very relaxed day, I felt pretty tired by the time we returned to our hotel.

The following morning, Nicole and I decided to go to the beach for a couple of hours.  Getting a tan is like making grilling bread with one side of the toaster no working.  We also wanted to take advantage of the sunny day as there was rain in the forecast.


After lunch we drove along the coast to Hanalei Bay which we were told was quite beautiful.  It was a nice relaxing drive as we stopped to check out some vistas along the way.  We weren't disappointed.  Hanalei Bay is a great spot!  Nicely sheltered,  the waves were perfect for some novice surfing.  It was a beautiful beach with mountains in the background.

There are some interrested pine (evergreen?) trees on Kauaii that remind me of cypresses. Tall, slender with branches that are slightly apart from one another.  Not the kind of tree one would expect in a tropical climate.
 
Then there are the ubiquitous chickens.  They are everywhere!

When we got back to our hotel fairly late in the day, we were pretty tired. Amazing how lying in the sun can be so tiring!  So we just relaxed in our room.  Another great day in beautiful Hawaii!

Kauai'i Helicopter Ride

Today was a full day of activities and what a great day it was!  We started off by heading over to Sunshine Helicopter where we booked a morning ride.  It's a rather expensive treat but well worth it provided it's a clear day.  We were fortunate that it was sunny this morning even though there were some rain clouds.

I have to say, Hawaiians in Kauai are very friendly folks.  The staff at Sunshine made sure we felt welcome.  After finalizing the details and paperwork for the heli ride, Matt, Nicole and I had some time to do a little shopping around the plaza where the Sunshine office was located. 

We managed to spend some money picking up souvernirs and enjoyed watching the chickens and roosters peck around the property.  Kauai'i factoid:  A few years ago, a hurricane blew through Kauai'i and scattered all of the farm chickens around the island.  The surviving chickens and their offspring continue to live on the island but are now wild.  They're so many of them!  Imagine the road kill! LOL!

Nicole chatting the cute pilot!

The helicopter ride was spectacular.  Each of the passengers (6 in total) were seated in the cabin based on our weight to ensure the helicopter was balanced. We were handed a pair of headphones to cut out the engine noise and also, so that the pilot could talk about the sights.  I'm surprised that I didn't have any issues flying.  I have a fear of heights but it seems to have become less of a problem over the past few months. The ride was also surprisingly smooth.  Lifting off was barely noticeable except for the fact that the ground was moving away from beneath. 

If there's a place to take a helicopter ride, Hawaii is definitely one of them.  The mountains and landscapes are breath taking!  I took some photos but they don't do the island justice.  Also, I was taking pictures through a glass door and sometimes the reflection appeared in the photos. Nicole loved the ride so much, she wants to do a helicopter ride to the Volcano State Park on the Big Island rather than hike through.  We'll see if that's possible.  Apparently we'll get 30% off for using the same service.

After the ride, we grabed some lunch at a local bar and grill.  Matt and Nicole ordered burgers and I ordered fish tacos.  The food was quite tasty! In the afternoon, we drove along the Napali Coast and to the Waimea Canyon.  We had seen these during the heli ride and now we wanted to check it out from the ground.  The coast is quite spectacular (I know, I'm using that word a lot...but really, it IS spectacular!) and the ride to the canyon was lots of fun.  We took a winding road all the way to the first lookout point.  Unfortunately, it got too cloudy and a bit rainy by the time we reached the lookout and we couldn't see a darn thing!  We all got a good laugh about it.  As we climbed the steps to the lookout, a white mass of mist revealed itself. We could only see about 5 metres in front of us. We took a few photographs and headed back down.

The soil around Kauai'i is a dark rusty red.  Quite striking agains the lush green tropical forest.  The winding ride back to sea level was lots of fun.  It would be great to take this road on a motorcycle!  By the time we got to the bottom again, the sky had cleared up and it was bright and sunny.  The clouds were still hanging over the mountains though. 

We got back to our condo around 5:30 pm.  We chilled out for about an hour or so before heading out again for dinner.  We were joining Sarah and her family at a barbecue retaurant.  Dinner was quite lovely.  I was happy I got the chance to see Sarah before she departed.  She and Shannon are heading off to the Big Island but our schedules are just slightly out of synch that we wouldn'd be able to meet again.  Sarah's father paid for dinner, which was very generous and kind of him to do.  Matt and I shared a combo platter of barbecued ribs, pork and chicken with all the traditional fixings - baked beans, coleslaw, corn bread and fries.  Good thing we shared, the portions were enormous and neither of us could finish the meal.  Portions are so huge in the U.S.

It was a long day and we were dog tired by the time we retuned to the condo.  I'm happy though that the day was to full.  Matt will be heading back to Toronto tomorrow night and we wanted to make sure he took in as many sights as possible.  We check out of the condo tomorrow morning and we'll move to our new hotel.  Matt will be hanging with us for the day and then we'll drop him off at the airport for his 9:00 pm flight back home.

Great day with family and friends!

Sarah's Wedding - April 12, 2012

Hawaii is such a beautiful place for a wedding!  I've never been part of a destination wedding but I can see how appealing it is.  What I liked about Sarah's wedding, besides the spectacular location, was that our group was small.  A nice initmate group of 14!

We met in the hotel lobby where we were provided with the location for the ceremony.  Orginally planned for Hanelei Bay, the location changed to Anini Beach.  Matt, Nicole and I headed off first but somehow managed to arrive last, which alarmed Sarah just a tiny bit.  Sorry about that Sarah! We took a couple of wrong turns and that was enough to get us to the beach after everyone else.  We should have followed the procession. Oh well.

Father and Bride

The service was magical. Shannon picked a lovely quiet section of the beach.  It was tucked away from the main part of the park so no one else except our group was there.  Perfect!  The minister (or officiant?) conducted what I imagine was a partially traditional Polynesian ceremony while her husband took photographs. Ironically, quite a few of the guests were avid photographers, so I'm sure between the official photographer and the rest of us we've capture every single moment of the ceremony!  LOL!  It was a teary event.  Even Sarah had to pull out a handkerchief mid-ceremony.  I'm so happy for Sarha and Shannon.  They make such a wonderful couple.

After the ceremony, we headed off to the Kaua'i Beach Resort (which was next door to our resort) for the reception.  We were ushered to our own private dining room where we all mingled for about an hour driking cocktails, noshing on some appetizers and enjoying each other's company.  The room had a large open air window overlooking the resort's garden. Just beautiful.  And since we were such a small group (perfect size as far as I'm concerned), it was easy to mingle and talk with everyone - each of us having a chance to enjoy a chat with the bride and groom.

Sarah and Shannon

Dinner was fantastic, very cozy and lots of warm feelings all around.  And the food was exceptional!  No rubber chicken or dry roast beef here.  I enjoyed a perfectly prepared rib roast with the most amazing mashed potatoes.  I couldn't identify the herbs used in the potatoes (must try to find out!) but the flavour was quite unsual and so delicous.  There was also Mahi Mahi on offer and another main I can't recall at the moment.  Of course we had wedding cake for dessert.

The reception ended around 10:00 pm which was really 3:00 am Toronto time.  I was pretty tired (and a bit drunk).  Everyone clearly had a wonderful time, I even made new Australian friends!  We finished off with hugs all around and headed back to our condo.

I am so happy and grateful I got to be part of Sarah and Shannon's day!

I'll post more photos of the wedding on my Smug Mug site.

Aloha Hawaii

After 11 hours in the air plus a few hours waiting at the airport, we finally arrived at our condo at 10:00 pm local time.  It was a grueling journey and I'm thinking I should have booked a longer trip  (only 11 days) for all that effort!  It's all good though.


Matt, Nicole and I are all sharing the condo at the Waipouli Beach Resort.  The condo is privately owned so we are not exactly part of the hotel even though we have access to the services. 

We were all most definitely exhausted and a tad cranky when we arrived and I would have been happy to pull out the sofa bed and crash except that we needed to eat and buy some groceries.  Fortunately, there was a 24 hour grocery store accross the street.  So off we went to pick up some groceries.



Matt getting friendly at the market



The following morning we ventured off to the Wal Mart. Yes, I know, not exactly a vacation activity but we needed some addtional supplies.  I also wanted to pop into an AT&T mobile store to see if I could get a SIM card and data package for my iPhone.  Rogers in Canada gouges you on roaming charges, even if you buy a roaming package.  Sadly, AT&T could not sell me a pay-as-you-go.  Oh well, I'll just have to suck it up.


Soursop

 Afterwards, we stopped off at a farmer's market to pick up some fruits and vegetables for snaking.  There wasn't much selection but we managed to get a few items.  The nice thing about the condo is that we have a fully equiped kitchen, so it's easy to prepare some of our meals. Although groceries are rather expensive in Hawaii.  I guess everything has to be imported!

Rambutan

It's beautiful here.  Gorgeous scenery, mountains in the background, lovely landscape, breathtaking ocean views.  It's about 26 Celsius right now.  Mostly sunny with the occasional dark clouds threatening rain but nothing yet.  Kauai factoid: None of the buildings on the island are taller than the average height of a palm tree.  Makes for great vistas!

Sarah's wedding is in about 1 1/2 hours.  Time to get ready!  So looking forward to it!