Once you travel to Hawaii, you realize that island time is real, the calming vibes are intoxicating, the natural beauty is breath-taking…
Find What Brings You Joy and GO THERE.
-Jan Phillips
Travel dates: October 8 through October 16, 2017.
Oahu
Day 1
The airline we flew on was Delta from Denver, CO to Salt Lake City, UT with a short layover then continued on to Honolulu, HI. The flight time from SLC to HON was 6 hours, enough time to watch three movies and eat lots of snacks! This was our first time on a long flight together and enjoyed the pleasure of free entertainment–we flew on a Boeing 767. Unlike what you see in movies, there was not a large aloha greeting crew that set flower leis on your neck as you walk into the airport, but feeling the humid warm air was an aloha greeting itself.
We rented a car through Alamo then arrived at our hotel, The Outrigger Reef Resort on Waikiki, during our check-in the staff gave us cold scented towels for our hands and a yummy Waikiki Breeze drink. Our room had a great ocean view from the fourth floor and we were able to step out of the hotel right onto the beach.
Of course we had to grab dinner near by, Maui Brewing Company drew us in with live music and happy hour specials, plus it was a short walk to get there.
Day 2
Rise and shine! 4 am wake up call so we could drive to Diamond Head National Monument to do the hike and see the sunrise. The park was not open yet when we arrived, but we are so glad we got up there early because there were at least two large tour buses and some other cars waiting in line to get in. The hike is 1.5 miles roundtrip and we were able to get to the top in about twenty minutes. The views were gorgeous, especially during the sunrise!
After the hike, we drove to the North Shore and relaxed watching the waves and surfers at Sunset Beach.
A last minute decision, we drove to Waimea Falls and walked through the Botanical Gardens ($16 entry fee). It was a beautiful experience and we got to swim in the waterfall!
A lovely inexpensive place to get a good burger is Teddy’s Bigger Burgers & Tiki Bar. Of course had to indulge with the typical Mai Tai cocktail!
A wonderful thing about having accommodations at a resort hotel is the happy hour and access to the pool (or ocean). We had dinner reservations at an extraordinary restaurant called Hula Grill which is located in the resort. Starting with crab macadamia nut wontons, we ordered the seafood coconut chowder and pork tenderloin special which was so tasty! This restaurant is on the pricey side, but well worth it.
Day 3
We woke up fairly early and decided to eat breakfast at Koko Head Cafe, definitely an all-time favorite after an amazing experience. Delicious food and great service! We appreciated that the server told us to go to Waimanalo Beach because it was more of a local spot and not so crowded.
We drove by Sandy Beach (this beach is more for surfing, not swimming) and went to Waimanalo Beach which is gorgeous and the water felt so good. There was hardly anyone around so it felt like we had the whole beach to ourselves. We were blessed with getting gifted a GoPro from our wedding and below is the FIRST time we ever used it!
After the beach we headed to Kona Brewing Company for beer and pizza.
Finished with our afternoon adventures, we enjoyed happy hour back at our hotel and met a nice couple from Australia. They told us about how they have traveled all the islands and now they come to Hawaii as a regular holiday destination. The night ended with a walk on the beach and the morning began with an acai bowl & a Hawaiian latte.
Kauai
Day 4
After we watched the sunrise from the beach, it was time for us to check out and head to the airport to return our rental car and island hop to Kauai. The flight to Kauai was only 30 minutes on Hawaiian Airlines! We rented a jeep (we honestly were not fans of it at all, there was hardly room for our luggage) , then drove to a grocery store close by the airport (Safeway) to stock up on pantry items and then stopped at a Foodland in Princeville for refrigerated items. The reason why we stopped at grocery stores along the way to our accommodation was because we were not staying in a hotel, but at Hale Maki Cottage (#3).
Since the cottage is located steps away from the beach of course we had to get our feet sandy and take a stroll right away!
Day 5
Breakfast was enjoyed out on the cottage porch then we went to Haena Beach Park. Tunnels Beach is right next to this one. Near the parking lot, there were many stands of people selling fresh coconuts to drink, we chose an older couple serving coconuts out of their truck for $6. The taste of fresh coconut water is insanely refreshing! Unfortunately, Liz ate some of the coconut meat which we believe made her sick later that evening.
Maniniholo Dry Cave 
A MUST-SEE town in Kauai is Hanalei. We ate fresh ahi and nairagi (pacific striped marlin) poke bowls from a Poke Bowl food truck then went to The Hanalei Gourmet which was a recommendation from a friend. There we came to find some lovely company by a local woman who was born and raised on Kauai so she had many many questions about the mainland. Christine, who has eight siblings, who is really good at speed talking and she has a thick accent… we had a hard time keeping up with her in conversation, but she was an awesome person to meet!
Day 6
We had planned a kayak trip up the river which included snorkeling, but unfortunately the garden island had other plans for us because of the heavy rainfall during the night the river was flooding and the trip was cancelled. With an open day and nothing planned, we decided to do a road trip to the southside of the island.
The southside of Kauai looks very different than the northside, except for the fact that roosters are EVERYWHERE, the northside is much more lush greenery compared to the southside which is a bit more desert-esque. A beautiful place to check out on this part of the island is Waimea Canyon, you can over-look the deep colorful gorge from a variety of lookouts.
The heat and sun-rays got to us a bit so we needed to cool off with a dip in the ocean. Next stop for us was Salt Pond Beach Park, the waves were a bit rough, but it felt so good in the water. We noticed that there were sections that the reef created a shallow pond area where most children were swimming in (it must be calmer water for them too).
Lunch break! We stopped by Poipu Beach and ate at Tortilla Republic that is surrounded by retail shops. After some light shopping we headed to the beach park to swim, this area is a great spot for snorkeling! We did not have our snorkel gear with us at the time, but we did use the GoPro to capture some fish swimming close by.
As we headed back to the north shore to get back to the cottage we stopped at a Foodland for more groceries to cook up dinner and treated ourselves to some shaved ice. It is a must-have treat in Hawaii!
Passionfruit with Orange & Guava
We often did sunset walks on the beach at the end of the day…we couldn’t get enough of the beauty Kauai has to share.
As the beach life is different. Time doesn’t move hour to hour but mood to moment. We live by the currents, plan by the tides and follow the sun.
-Unknown
Day 7
Today was the big day along the Nā Pali Coast… hiking Kalalau Trail! This trail is 11 miles in and 11 miles out, we did NOT do the entire trail.
We took an early start to beat the crowd, we had read that this trail is extremely popular and can get really busy, also it is best to start when the weather is cooler and the rain hasn’t started. Even though we are somewhat experienced hikers (thank you Colorado), we were not prepared for the challenging terrain. We ended up hiking 2 miles in (4 miles RT) up to the beach Hanakapi’ai, we could’ve continued another 1.8 miles to the Hanakapi’ai Falls, but we were running low on water and knew with the humidity that we would get dehydrated quickly.
The whole experience was absolutely amazing and one day we hope to do it again and make it to the falls.
Below is some video from our GoPro we took on the trail, the stabilization is not the best, but it gives some insight what to expect on the trail.
As we descended from our hike, we were in dire need of a swim to cool down, fortunately we went right to Ke’e Beach that is close by and jumped in the water. After our cool-off we went back to Hanalei Gourmet for lunch (we both had fish entrees because it was made with the catch of the day–duh). Next we went back to Haena Beach, we attempted to do some snorkeling, but the waves and currents were extremely strong and with our comfort level, we decided to play it safe and swim close to shore then take a nap on the sand.
During the night at our cottage we experienced a power outage because of the strong rain storm, but thankfully it was only out for about an hour then it came back on! Kauai is not called the garden island for no reason, the island encounters many many rainstorms.
Day 8
As our trip was coming to an end, this day we just chilled and went into Hanalei for shopping then stopped at Sushi Girl on the way back to the cottage. Sushi Girl is part of the “last stores on the North Shore” and is walk-up ordering only. We ordered delicious sushi rolls and a poke bowl to share. Side note: Sushi Girl has moved locations and is currently at The Historic Kong Lung Market Center.
To watch the sunset one last time we went to Ke’e Beach, absolutely breath-taking. The rain ended as soon as it had started and the evening was perfect!
Day 9
Our LAST morning in Kauai…swimming in the ocean with the sunrise right outside the cottage.
Even though our honeymoon in Hawaii ended, we continued it for one more full day in Seattle, WA.
Comments
What a wonderful experience! Well written information for anyone thinking of experiencing a trip to Hawaii! ALOHA 🤙❤