Hawaii - Kauai

Our second stop was, Kauai.

A friend of ours tipped us off to a restaurant that they like called Bubba's.  As we were trying to find our hotel, we drove right past one.  As usual, we were hungry so we decided to stop in.  Scrumptious hamburgers!

Our view from balcony #2.  Gorgeous!

Walking around the resort.

First sunset on Kauai.

While watching the sunset, this huge turtle crawled up onto the shore.  Love it!

Sunset.

Troy's sister, Kati, told us that we had to try Hula Pie while on our trip.  The restaurant where we ate that night just happened to have it on their menu.

Holy Crap!  This thing was huge!  Mostly ice cream and quite delicious.

Spouting Horn was another site I had read about.  It was only a few miles from our hotel.  We figured it would be a good thing to check out on a Sunday morning.

The water hits the rocks and then shoots up through this hole in the rock.  Got pretty big but we never got a picture of any of the really big ones...

After Spouting Horn we headed over to Waimea Canyon.

They call this the Grand Canyon of the islands.  I have never even seen the Grand Canyon here in the states.  I was not disappointed.  The sand/dirt was this amazing red color.  This waterfall seemed to come out of nowhere.

Waimea Canyon from the lookout.  Incredible colors.  I can only imagine what it must look like when there are no clouds.

Goats come up over the edge of the cliff.  They were so little.  The baby was only as big as a small puppy.

Chickens and roosters were everywhere.

Another lookout point further down from the canyon.  The blue behind the mountain is the ocean.

I am the first to admit that I am easily entertained.  That being said, I had to take a picture of this sign.  I was good until I saw the "sticks."  Do people really do that?

Troy and I were texting with some friends about all the awesome things we were doing.  They reminded us of a nude beach that we accidentally found when we were on a cruise in the Carribean.  I had to send them this picture so that they wouldn't feel left out.  Good stuff.

The botanical gardens near our resort.

Sunset #2 on Kauai.

One of the main things on our list to do while on the island of Kauai was to hike the Napali Coast.  It is an 8 mile hike (4 miles in and 4 miles back out).

Can you believe how incredible this place is?  I took a million pictures.  Nothing quite like it.

Two miles in on the hike you will find Hanakapia Beach.  Apparently there are strong currents and a lot of visitors have been killed.  The locals decided to post this sign as a warning.  So far 87 very stupid people have proven that they didn't know how to read.

Hanakapia Beach.  Yup, those are people swimming in the water.

The hike from the beach to the waterfall had tons of cool plants.

And large, crawly bugs.

Huge bamboo shoots.

The water fall from half a mile away.

We made it!

The victory swim.  I was happy to stay dry and take pictures.

This shows the natural river water running into the ocean.  I don't think I have ever seen a clear water river running into the ocean.  Probably not a phenomenon to a lot of people but I thought it was pretty cool.

Looking back as we hike out.

Troy laughs at this picture.  It was my way of reminding us that it took us 5 hours to do the 8 mile hike. 2 hours in, 1 hour at the falls and 2 hours out.  Most people think it is a picture of a blister on my finger.  Oh well, I thought I had a good idea.  So far no one has agreed with me.

The same friends that tipped us of about Bubba's restaurant also told us about Secret Beach.  We had to ask a few locals in order to find it but...well worth the effort.  The beach was completely empty other than a handful of people.  Amazing views.  Could have spent all day in that one spot.

The lighthouse that you can see from Secret Beach.  Beautiful.

When we left Secret Beach to head back to our car, we looked up and saw this coming down.  Troy kept  walking (what guy wouldn't when he sees something that appears to be naked coming toward him).  I, however, went for my phone to catch a picture.  Subtly, of course.

Troy passed by her and I got my picture.  Am I good or what?  In reality this girls is wearing a beige bikini.  Hard to tell from where I was standing!

Our last day on Kauai was supposed to be spent kayaking up to some amazing waterfalls.  Instead, the rain came down hard and we ended up driving to the falls instead.  Not our original plan but still amazing to see.

After that we still had a few hours before we had to catch our plane.  Any ideas where we ended up?  Yup, Costco.  Sad but true.

We then ended up across the street at McDonald's for lunch.  Also very pathetic but...it was raining hard!  

Waiting for the rain to let up a bit so we could get back to our car without getting soaked.

Our final stop before heading to the airport was the Wailua Trail. 

I think this was the river we would have kayaked up.  The waterfall is on the other side of the mountain. You can see the mist coming up if you look closely.  The river was muddy brown from all of the rain.

Time for our next plane ride.  Next stop, Hawaii!