McKibben Family Blog: Hawaii

Monday, March 22, 2010

Beautiful Kaua'i

Garrett's parents, Jim and Georgia, own timeshare condos in Mexico. They usually go every year in February/March to get away from the cold Ohio winters. This year, they wanted to try somewhere new, so they traded condos and decided to go to Hawaii. Garrett's brother Josh and his family had just gone to Kaua'i in December and LOVED it, so that's where Jim and Georgia decided to go. Lucky enough for us, they invited us to come along. It was SO NICE of them, because we didn't have to pay for the hotel/condos or the rental car, since they already had one. We used mileage to get there, so didn't have to pay for airline tickets. We only had to pay for food and entertainment, so it was perfect for us!! We also paid for my mom to fly out so she could take care of the kids, but found a pretty good deal on her ticket. My mom was great with the kids and didn't have any problems! Thanks mom!

We stayed at the Bali Hai Villas in Princeville (the north end of the island). It was really nice--a two bedroom, two bathroom, full kitchen condo. It was perfect. Of course, I didn't get any pictures of it, but I found these online.

It isn't exactly the same, but this gives you an idea of where we stayed. One interesting thing about Kaua'i is that there are chickens and roosters EVERYWHERE! I guess about 20 years ago, there was the hurricane Iniki and it destroyed all the chicken farms and the chickens escaped. From then on, they roam around and are protected, plus there are no wild predators to hunt them, so they just multiplied. They were everywhere we went--outside the condos crowing at all hours; in the parking lots of stores, on the sides of the road, even way up top of the mountains. Crazy chickens! Here are a few pictures that we took of the chickens:

The north end of the island, was unfortuneatly the end that got hit with all the storms and rain, so although it wasn't bad most of the time, there was a bit of rain everyday and one day that rained ALL DAY! Most of the days though, we would wait out the rain and then head out to enjoy the rest of the sunshine. And we could also drive to the southern end of the island to escape the storms. All in all, it was a nice vacation. Here are a few of the highlights of what we did each day.

Wednesday March 10th: Fly to SanFrancisco at 6am. Our connecting flight to Honolulu was delayed 4 hours while we waited for a new plane. Garrett and I were upgraded to business class--NICE! Get to Honolulu, Garrett's parents pick us up from airport, drive to hotel and eat dinner at PF Chang's.

Thursday 11th: Fly to Lihue, Kauai and drive to condo. Go to farmer's market for fresh fruit, eat at a fish market, drive around the north end of the island. Stop at view the Kilauea Lighthouse. It's the northernmost point of the main Hawaiian islands and it was built in 1913.

Jim and Georgia

Garrett and I

View of the lighthouse

Friday 12th: Hang out at Tunnels Beach. (North end of the island--best known for it's excellent snorkeling and scuba diving. Garrett and Georgia go snorkeling. Hang out at pool and hot tub.

Saturday 13th: Today, we drove down the the southern part of the island and then drove up to see the Waimea Canyon. This is just like the Grand Canyon in Arizona, just a little smaller. The views were beautiful, though. For some reason, the dirt on Kauai is a dark red, so the dirt contrasting with the green trees and all the waterfalls makes it really beautiful! The drive up the canyon is 40 miles and it is the largest canyon in the Pacific. Waimea is also known as the Grand Canyon of the Pacific.

Sunday 14th: We spent all morning at a condo presentation to try to be persuaded to buy into their condos. We only did it to get discounts on activities, but they are so terribly boring!! Then we spent most of the afternoon on the beach and in the hottub.

I love this picture of Jim because it shows off his goofiness, but I also love the bright blue sky behind him!

View of the beach and ocean.

Monday 15th: Today was the day that it rained all day, so we spent the day shopping at a place called the Coconut Plantation. We had the best pulled-pork sandwiches! YUM! We also checked out the Opaek'a Falls in Wailua.

Tuesday 16th: Today was a beautiful day, so we spent some time at Mana Oka'inna Beach (my favorite beach) and watched all the surfers. They are so fun to watch! Then we walked through some local shops looking at souvenirs. Then we checked out Wailua Falls in Lihue. Then we went to the airport to board our terribly small 7 person prop plane to go on a tour of the island. I get sick very easily, so I was hesitant to go, but I did it! It was pretty cool for the first 30 minutes, but then the clouds started rolling in and then I started getting sick. The views were awesome--especially of the Na Pali Coast. You can only get there by air, boat or trail. But it was truly beautiful! The plane was supposed to go all around the island, but due to rain, he had to turn around. Luckily, I didn't throw-up or anything, but it took awhile to shake off the motion sick feeling. I was pretty glad when we landed!! After our plane ride, we went to see a Lu'au at Kilohana Plantation. It was awesome--the food was delicious and the show after was fantastic!

A random surfer at Mana Oka'inna Beach