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!