Ailantha
  • Blog
  • About
  • Contact

Kauai

4/5/2015

4 Comments

 
    Continued from Friday:
     Friday morning at 7:20 am we took a 45-minute inter-island flight from Oahu to Kauai, where we're planning on spending the next 4 days hiking around the island.
    Kauai, called "The Garden Island," is another world from busy, urban Honolulu.  The island's west coast, where we're staying, is especially remote and isolated.
     Below is a shot of Major's Bay, near where we're staying.

Picture
    Which I guess begs the question:  why are we staying there?
    Well, because for $75 a night we were able to get a two-room cottage on the beach at  Barking Sands U.S. Navy Pacific Missile Range Facility, another perk of Tom being retired military.  Provided you don't mind staying on a working missile range facility during your vacation.
      The cottages at Barking Sands aren't exactly the luxurious Hale Koa (see post from 4/2/2015);  but they're quite nice.
       Our cottage is on the left, below.

Picture
    The decor is  cute and cozy and functional:
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
    Our bedroom has an air-conditioner.  Hey, don't laugh, it works great!
Picture
Picture
We have a  lanai, which is what they call a patio or deck in Hawaii.
    Views from our lanai:
Picture
Picture
        But though our end of the island is at the opposite end of the island from Kauai's  only shopping center, we are close the Waimea Canyon, also known as the Grand Canyon of the Pacific.  The Waimea Canyon supposedly has many wonderful hiking trails, a few of which we hope to discover over the next four days.
    This is actually my second trip to Kauai, as I came here a few years ago with my sister Romaine.
    That time we stayed at Poipu Beach, which is the slightly more commercial resort area on the southern end of the island.
    And so since I know the Poipu area a little we decided to swing by there our way out to the west coast from the airport, which is located in the town of Lihue on the east coast.

Picture
The road from Lihue to Poipu Beach.
    Our first stop at Poipu was at the Poipu Tropical Burger for breakfast.
    I longed to return to the Poipu Tropical Burger because during my first visit with Romaine

Picture
I fell in love with  crushed-pineapple-macadamia-coconut-filled  papaya boat they serve here.
Picture
Picture
    Tom and I split the papaya boat and he also ordered strawberry french toast,










...while I ordered eggs, hash browns and toast, which they brought out a la cart.
8D!
After breakfast our next stop at Poipu Beach was the Grand Hyatt Kauai.
It's actually worth a look-see.

Picture
    Its facade looks like that of a palace:
Picture
Picture
View from the lobby:
Picture
    Views of the grounds:
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
    The rooms at the Grand Hyatt Kauai range from $440 per night for a single to $5,240 per night for a 2,463 sq. ft. suite.
    But anybody can walk around the grounds for free.
    There's a walking path leading from the Hyatt grounds to a cliff above the sea called Makahuena Point.  The path offers some wonderful views of the beach and the blue, blue sea below:

Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
    After our tour of the Hyatt we drove a few miles inland to visit Koloa, a historic old sugar mill town,
...where we stopped for a shave ice, a must-eat while in Hawaii.
Picture
    After our visit to Koloa we drove for about 40 minutes until we reached the west coast and the Pacific Missile Range Facility.
Picture
...and where we also saw a cute little lizard.
Picture
    Then we checked into our cottage.
    Each cottage has a name.  The name of our place is Hale Malu.  Note the chicken in our front yard.  There are chickens wandering freely everywhere in Kauai.
Picture
Picture
We met our nice neighbors who are renting the cottage across the street behind us. Jimmy (sitting) and Billy (standing)  come here for a two-week vacation every year.  They were very helpful in telling us about the hiking venues on the island.
    After we were settled we started thinking about dinner so we headed for Shenanigans, which is the name of the base all hands club.
    An all hands club is an eating facility that's open to all ranks.  Back when I worked on a  U.S. Army post  in Germany  - and it still might be that way today - the officers, non-commissioned officers and enlisted personnel each had their own restaurants where only members of their rank could go.

Shenanigans is right on the beach with a nice ocean view.
Picture
    After dinner we returned to our cottage to sit on our lanai and watch the sunset.
About half a dozen other people came to our yard to watch the sunset.  Apparently ours is the yard to come to to watch the sunset.
Picture
    And then our day, which had started at 4 am in Honolulu, was done.
4 Comments
Molina
4/5/2015 01:26:58 am

That is truly paradise!

Reply
Romaine
4/5/2015 02:42:32 am

Looks beautiful! I bet you can see whales on the horizon too - if you look for their spouts. I think it is still the season for them.

Reply
Patti
4/5/2015 03:42:17 am

Yes, Romaine, we have seen the whales spouting and flipping their whale-tails. It's a lovely sight. From our lanai we also have a clear view of the island of Nihau, the Forbidden Island.

Reply
Marianne
4/5/2015 09:21:27 am

Your writing and pictures make me want to go back to HI. The view from you lanai is a million dollar site...who needs fancy hotels!

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Picture
    "Equal And Opposite Reactions"
     by Patti Liszkay
    Buy it on Amazon:

    http://amzn.to/2xvcgRa
    Picture
    ​"Hail Mary"
    by Patti Liszkay
    Buy it on Amazon:

    https://www.amzn.com/1684334888
    Picture
    "Tropical Depression" 
    by Patti Liszkay
    ​Buy it on Amazon:   
    https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BTPN7NYY

    Archives

    May 2025
    April 2025
    March 2025
    February 2025
    January 2025
    December 2024
    November 2024
    October 2024
    September 2024
    August 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013

    RSS Feed

    I am a traveler just visiting this planet and reporting various and sundry observations,
    hopefully of interest to my fellow travelers.

    Categories

    All


























































































  • Blog
  • About
  • Contact