South for Sunshine

It's been cloudy and rainy, so we decided to head down to Poipu for some rays.  Allen wanted to play the Kaihuna golf course... what better excuse to head south we thought.  Got up early and drove down to Poipu.  Very windy there but there was clear skies and no rain.  Dropped Allen off for at the course.  Rhonda had accidently rolled the drivers side window down, in hopes of a kiss good bye, and then took the first 15 minutes parked at the nearby shopping center trying to get it back up.  Rhonda checked out some of the nearby beaches for future spots to go while Allen golfed.  Not a lot of beach at this end of the island.  Allen was done after 9 holes.  He did very well hitting a 41 just 5 over par.  We went to our favorite local burger joint for a quick bite.. Bubba burgers.  Then headed to Kauai Coffee to check it out.  Lots of samples for Allen to try.  No soda for Rhonda.  Allen picked and stole his first coffee beans.  He was not too impressed but his favorite was the Blue Mountain flavor.  After that we started back for home but had just the right amount of time to stop and try Hawaii's own Rum, Koloa, made here in Kauai.  We went here the other day but we found out that they close early on Sundays .  We liked Rum tasting as much or maybe more than wine tasting.  Great day down south in the sun.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   

Work and play all in the same day!

Spent most of the day on the phone with clients and banks but at the same time we traveled south and visited Opaeka'a Falls. Driving and working doesn't mix for a guy with multi tasking issues.  We got half way up the mountain before Allen realized we forgot to get gas so we turned around and went back to Kapaa for gas.  Then back up to the falls which were beautiful.  Another turnoff took us down to the Kayak rental spot that rents the kayaks for Wailua river trips.  You can rent a rig for $70 a day. A short paddle and then a hike takes you to Secret falls where you can play in the pool.  We plan to try to do this on Thursday the 30th if work and weather permits. We then drove west as far as the road would take us which was about ten miles inland.  Road ended at an unnamed park with really cool trees and beautiful view points.  A number of hiking trails start from this spot.  We opted for lunch instead!  Our travel book (thanks Cindy) is priceless.  A little Mexican restaurant called Verde in a old Big Save Shopping strip mall (true hole in the wall) is where we ended up.  Had by far the best Ono Fish Tacos ever!!!!! Now that we ate we needed to work off some of the calories and decided to go to the KeaLia beach trail for a ride up the north side.  After fielding another battery of client and agent calls we got to riding. About a mile up the trail we got our best views of the migrating whales yet! A couple more miles up the trail ended on top of a large bluff.  There were dirt paths down the bluff so we took our bikes off road to one of the most beautiful spots on the planet.  On the way back we took a detour on a side road that went to a farm.  At the end of the road there was an unattended fruit stand where you could pay for fruit on the honor system.  How cool is that.  Wonder how much money we could save if we didn't have to pay for help in the grocery store?

This ended another rough day at the office!    

 

 

Tourists

Last Saturday we woke up and decided we'd just be tourists. Cause you know now that Allen's a local boy... Hard to be a tourist.  We decided to drive to Po'ipu.  The other side of the island.  It was a beautiful day.  Sunny everywhere.  We drove around Po'ipu and the area.  Went into the shops and then decide to drive further around to Waimea Canyon.  After a long steep drive up the mountain we hit the only cloud on the island.  Took some great shots that reminded us of what we're missing at home right now.   We saw some interesting government signs... NASA and Navy... Restricted.  Allen believed these are UFO watch stations and they are harboring Alien artifacts.  Eyeyiiiyiii!  When we were done checking out the amazing views we headed back down the hill and saw two small islands out in the distance.   We decided to keep driving to the end of the road on this side of the island.  At the end of the road we found a dirt road that said 4.8 miles to Polihale State Park.  It was a bumpy dirt road.  We found the faster we went the less bumpy it was. We made it and nothing fell of the beach buggy at least that we noticed.  This is as far as you can go on this side of the island.  Hit it just about sunset.  Took some pics of the sun setting with the little islands in the back ground.  Awesome beach... Allen's favorite so far.   We will be back...  Some pictures on the previous post. 

A little drier at this end of the island... There are cactus!

Thinking I'm not quite out of my prickly pear jelly yet.

 

 

  
 
 

Reminded us of Home!

Couldn't see a thing...  Foggy...

 

Even had pine trees 

 

 

 

 At the end of the road we found love!  Look close you'll see it!

 

 

Some recent pics

There are some stories about some of these pics but we will tell them another day.  Wave pictures toward bottom do not do the surf justice.  There were 45 foot waves today on the North Shore when we were at Tunnels beach.  Absolutely unreal to watch.