Day Three-February 28, 2013

Today we woke up and went for another run through Princeville. It's such an awesome place to go for a run and I'm already not looking forward to hitting the treadmill when I get back home.

After breakfast and showers, we headed up north to the Hanalei Colony Resort, where we walked on the beautiful beach for awhile.  Lots of waves here but beautiful colors.  I took some pictures, then we headed to the spa onsite called Hanalei Day Spa, where we got massages. Very good massages for both  and afterwards we went to the onsite restaurant, Mediterranean Gourmet.  I've heard great things about this restaurant and have been wanting to try it for a long time.  They also have several offerings that are gluten free, so I can actually eat more than a salad.  We both ordered fish lettuce wraps that had ono in them and had hummus, taboulleh, and babaganoush.  We both really enjoyed our food and while the service was great, the food took quite awhile to arrive.

After lunch, we went for a drive to the end of the road, and noticed that at Ke'e the beach was closed for swimming/snorkeling due to the surf.

We made another stop at Paradice for more shave ice and headed home for a rest and down time.
In the evening, we headed to the St. Regis to meet up with one of Tracy's coworkers and her husband who also were on the island.  We went a little early to watch the sunset and walk around.  It's a beautiful property and I hope to stay there some day, even if for one night, just to see what it's like.
We met the couple in the bar and had a few drinks and pupus, and while it was pretty darn expensive, the food (rice cracker ahi and barbeque beef skewers) was amazing.  The mai tais weren't bad either.,.

Day Two- February 27, 2013

Today we woke up early due to the time change, made some coffee, then headed out the door to go for a run through Princeville.  Princeville is a large community of condo resorts and houses located on a bluff in Northern Kauai.  There's a path that runs pretty much the whole length of the main street of the development.  We weren't the only ones out running and walking.  I don't think I've ever said "good morning" combined in my life as many times as I did today.

After running we stopped on the bluff overlooking the ocean, close to the St. Regis hotel.  I have a goal of seeing some whales this trip as it is our first trip to Kauai during the winter.  No whales yet..

After going back to the condo for breakfast and to work a bit on the computer, we headed out to Pu'u Poa Beach, which is at the bottom of the hill of our condo and the St. Regis Hotel.  It's a really cute beach, and has a great view of Bali Hai.  Tracy did a little snorkeling, although the tide was really low.

We then made the trek up the hill and then down the path to Hideaways Beach, somewhere we've never been able to go because it's not the safest trail to take little ones on.  We were lucky because it was very dry and we made it down and up without a problem.  The beach is very pretty and the sand very soft.   It was my turn to snorkel and while the water was cooler than in the summer, it was pretty calm and I saw a decent amount of fish.

After going back to the condo for lunch and a rest, we left to go to Hanalei for the required shave ice.  I pretty much eat shave ice every day while I'm here.  This time Wishing Well was actually open (it's almost always closed when we go out for shave ice) so we went there.  We met another family there who also had four kids, so we talked to them for awhile. The shave ice was good at Wishing Well, but I think I prefer Paradice.

We stopped at Hanalei Fish Market and got some mongchong to cook, then to Foodland again, then home, where we enjoyed cocktails and dinner on the lanai.

View from the condo at Hanalei Bay Resort

Day One-February 26, 2013

I have arrived in my favorite place once again; Kauai.  This time to celebrate our 20th anniversary, and this time is the first without kids and/or parents. This is my seventh visit to the island and my husband Tracy's sixth. Because we've done a lot of the "must-dos" already on previous trips, we're hoping to see/visit/do things and beaches that we haven't been able to before because of restrictions of having little ones. We have only one planned activity while we're here (zip lining). 

We arrived in HNL from Seattle,  and then hopped on over to this beautiful island, where we picked up the rental car at Alamo and went immediately over to visit a site I've wanted to see, the Ahukini Pier. I'm into photography and I had seen a really cool picture in a magazine of this place. The surf was up and crashing over the rocks in the distance and the ruins of the pier were very interesting.

We then drove up to Hanalei Bay Resort, where we're staying at one of the studios managed by Parrish, walked around the grounds, which of course are beautiful, and then headed to Foodland to get some things to eat.

It's still amazing to me that while I've now been here so many times, there are still so many things that I have yet to see. And it's also very nice not to have a specific plan!