Hawaii 2016 - PART ONE

I'm so excited that I finally have some time to start recapping our Hawaii 2016 trip! It was like a second honeymoon for Sean and I, one of my best vacations. We flew to Kauai for the first part of our trip. Our travel time to get there was so long! We flew to Portland and then to Lihue. I was SO THANKFUL that we lucked out and no one else was sitting in our row for our flight to Lihue. It was nice to be able to spread out a little more for our 6.5 hour flight to Kauai, especially since we were flying coach. 

Wednesday - January 20, 2016

• I bought a 2 night car/hotel package through Expedia for $449.12. Our car rental was through Alamo and we originally booked an Economy car, but since they were out of them when we arrived, we got a free upgrade! We ended up with a white Chevy Malibu LT.
• We checked into Aqua Kauai Resort. Woohoo, we got another free upgrade to a room with a Pool View (I originally booked a Mountain View since it was a little cheaper). I would definitely stay here again! The location on Kauai was good, it was right on the beach, and the swimming pools were awesome. The rooms themselves were "okay," but that wouldn't deter me from staying there again.
• We ate dinner at a sushi joint called Sushi Bushido. The food was okay, it wasn't mind blowing. Afterwards we went to Safeway to pick up water bottles, snacks, and bug spray.
• We went back to our hotel to explore it and slept early since we had an early tour scheduled.

Thursday - January 21, 2016

• We woke up bright and early to start our day. One of the things I REALLY wanted to do was eat breakfast at McDonald's. So we drove to McDonald's for breakfast and ordered the Deluxe Plate for $6.49. It came with 3 Portuguese sausages, 2 Spam, scrambled eggs, and RICE! It was amazing.
• We continued on to our journey to do our Allerton Garden Guided Tour. It was such an awesome experience! The botanical garden was so beautiful. The highlight of the tour was definitely seeing where they filmed a part of Jurassic Park! Do you remember the scene where Dr. Alan Grant and the kids found dinosaur eggs?! We got to see where they filmed it. The trees are Moreton Bay Figs and I would have guessed they were at least 100 years old, but they're about 50 years old. I would definitely recommend going on the tour. If you book it online (24 hours in advance), you'll save 10%. See McBryde Garden & Allerton Garden for more information.
• After our tour, we went to see the Spouting Horn. The view was so amazing! The spray of the water can go as high as 50 feet. We saw man humpback whales swimming by. More than I've ever seen in Alaska.
• We picked up food from Koloa Deli and also from the Koloa Fish Market. Mmmm, mmm, mmmm.
• We headed to Waimea Valley. It's the "Grand Canyon" of Hawaii.
• We ate dinner at Kapa'a Pho.
• We went on a romantic evening stroll on the beach at our hotel.
• We went swimming in the evening. It was super cold at first, but then we got used to the temperature. No crowds at all! Everyone else was at the hot tubs, LOL.

Friday - January 22, 2016

• We woke up early and at the breakfast buffet at the hotel. They had a nice spread of your typical breakfast fare... PLUS RICE! Lol
• We watched the sunrise from the beach. It was the most beautiful sunrise I've ever seen in my life.
• We checked out and headed to the Kalalau Lookout. It was something I found out about the day before, and begged Sean if we could go. I thought he was going to say no since it was 1.5 hour drive to get there, but he said yes. :D I love this guy! Anyways, I am so glad we went because I can't even put into words how gorgeous the view was.
• We got to the airport at 11:45 am and ate lunch there before we departed to go to Oahu.

I would love to visit Kauai again someday. We packed in a lot in the short time we were there! I think 3 or maybe even 4 nights would have been the perfect length of time.