Kauai #2: Day 1: Crowds, roosters, and the sound of waves

“Kauai number two” because we were here in November, 2010 and I blogged about our trip then, here and here and here.

(And here and here and here.) 

(And here.)

Etc.

And there you have it.  Thank you, and goodnight.

I’ll blog this trip but really, I won’t be insulted if you visit a few of the above links and call it a day. 

I bought the hat at TJMaxx for $3 because really, who wants a Bermuda summer hate in Seattle in December… except us?  He does look rather sexy in it, n’est pas?

Now this is what they mean by “scattered clouds”! The five and a half hour flight was filled to the brim – very much unlike our trip to Hawaii (Maui) in 2002, when people were really still not travelling much, post- 9/11.

This was the first land we saw.  I assumed it was the Big Island…until I saw the Chinaman’s Hat islands and then I knew it was Oahu.  But how did I miss the Big Island?!

Can you see Waikiki?

And Pearl Harbor?

Landing on Kauai was a little hairy because it’s only at the last second that you see land.  Until then, you’re sure you’re about to crash into the ocean!

Oh look!  Red dirt.  I swear, this island is made completely from red dirt; it is everywhere!  As are roosters.  I didn’t get any photos of them today, but they’ll probably show up in a vast number of my photos this week.  yes, they’re that prevalent here!

It took us over an hour to get to the front of this car rental line!  But hey, it’s “island time.”  (So it was probably more like an hour and a quarter…)

Finally!

And off we headed…

Aloha your old self!  (Kauai is the oldest of the Hawaiian islands and, I found out, both sinking and eroding.  Good thing we decided to get back over here!)

Quintessential Hawaii.

The water is anything but calm!  The skies, too, are windy and restless.  (But the temperature is warm, making it all OK.)

We’re just staying here for one night before meeting our friends in Poipu Beach tomorrow.  I joked with Sue at the desk that we’re here to renew our vows, which of course prompted an odd look from Tom, and me fake-whining (mostly fake, anyway) that I really thought we should…

As we were filling out paperwork, Sue went into the back room and came back with a bottle of wine and a box of chocolate covered macadamia nuts for us because, she said, she thought that we should have something romantic, even if it’s not a vow renewal!  How sweet is THAT?!

This is what Tom’s been yearning for for months now.  Maybe years.  Since the day we came back from Hawaii last time, I think!

Look at this view from our room!

And the beach just steps away!

The only downside of the day was a truly poor restaurant (The Bull Shack) where we went for dinner.  THIS is the oceanfront table, which felt more like a fortress wall than a beachfront table!  The prime rib was decent but the ahi was, as Tom put it, “butchered.”  Sorry, we can’t recommend this place!

I bought Kat’s old Nikon D40 a few months ago, so my plan is to really get comfortable with it on this trip.

You poor thing!