Kauai Day 2 (September)

This was our first vacation with Logan, and I think it may be the first vacation during which we were up before sunrise every day. At least there was something beautiful to see every morning.

Kaua'i is a diverse island in terms of landscape. The north side of the island is very mountainous and lush (think Jurassic Park, which was filmed here). The east is green and a bit flatter. The south is a bit drier,  while the west is almost arid.  The trade winds from the east basically hit the mountains and dump the rain on the north/northeast slopes.  In fact, Mt. Wai'ale'ale in the center of the island is one of wettest (perhaps *the* wettest) spot on earth.  Yet the west side of Kaua'i is usually in a rain shadow, so it's pretty dry.  So, yeah.  Pretty diverse island.  It's about 553 square miles and has 50 miles of beaches. There is a main road that goes around most of the island, but there are sections of island you can only get to by hiking (or helicopter, or jetpack, or ... you get the idea). Kyle and I absolutely loved it. (Can you tell that Kyle wrote part of this paragraph?)

If you go, make sure you get "The Ultimate Kauai Guidebook - Kauai Revealed". Every morning I would go through the enormous task of getting Logan ready for the day, leaving Kyle with time to plan our adventures using this book. I had downloaded digital books on Hawaii from our local library, but this book was far more valuable.

We stayed on the east side of the island in Kapa'a.   Our thinking was that Kapa'a was centrally located along the road that goes around the island, allowing us to easily drive to both ends in a reasonable amount of time. I lucked out finding the condo we stayed in. I will write more on that later when I have some pictures to post. 

On this second full day we drove west to Waimea Canyon. It was definitely worth the drive. Our final destination was Pihea Trail at the end of the road.

Waimea Canyon lookout

After driving further north into a more mountainous region and leaving the desert behind, we found ourselves in a place that could easily be mistaken for Colorado mountains. We decided to eat before we began our hike. We ate here at the Koke'e Lodge where I had probably the worst burger I have ever had. Next time I will pack a lunch. 

Thanks to cousin Cynthia, Logan looked adorable in this little monkey shirt.

Now for the hike: When we started, there was so much fog/clouds, you couldn't see any shoreline, but we waited long enough for it to dissipate. Most people seemed to just drive up, go to the lookout, snap a photo, turn around, and leave. We saw only a few people on the trail. Just another reason we liked Kauai.

We would have loved to hike longer than we did, but the trail became very difficult and not something we felt comfortable doing with Logan. Logan sure did well on the hike though. In fact, he did well on the whole trip, except for the time spent in the car. He really doesn't like being in his car seat and would often scream most of the way. Funny enough, one of the few times he didn't scream in the car was at the end of this hike on our way back to our condo. The hike must have put him in a good mood.

On our way out, the fog was completely gone. Kyle is pretty sure this was the most beautiful sight he has ever seen. I think that says a lot considering the places we have been.

I must add a note here about the car we had for the trip. There are two funny stories associated with the car. The first is the car itself. When we arrived at the rental place, the manager saw that we had an infant with us.  She offered us a larger car at the same economy rate, suggesting that we'd be more comfortable.  Not really trusting her, Kyle opted to stick with the booked economy car. Well, let me tell you that if the rental car folks look at you and think you need a bigger car, then offer you the upgrade for free, just take it. The car seat barely fit in the back seat. There was nothing "power" about the car, including no power locks or windows or a powerful engine. I guess we were lucky the economy car had windshield wipers.  So, lesson learned. Take the free hand out. The 2nd story about the car comes at the end of our trip, and since that story has to do with my mistake, I'm sure Kyle won't let me forget to add it to our blog when we get there. For now I'll finish this post with a video of our hike. The last part of the video isn't good, but I love how happy Logan is in the car.