Day 12 - Our Last Day

It's our last day. : (

All good things come to an end. We had to check out of the condo by 10AM this morning, so we were running around the condo making sure we didn't forget anything and to make sure the condo was clean before we departed. Once we hit the road, we made our way down to the south side of the island. On the way, we stopped off in Wailua and checked out an outdoor fair. They were selling many of the typical goods one could buy in Kauai such as t-shirts, shell jewelry, and wood carvings. After looking around for a while, we weren't too impressed with anything, so we moved on. We continued down the road and we looked for a place to eat lunch. We tried to eat at a restaurant that was recommended to us called Burrito Head, but we couldn't find it. Instead, we ate at a restaurant called Verde. Alexis got a dish with shredded beef and a puff pastry on top and Shin got seared ahi tuna fish tacos. The food tasted ok, but Shin was a little disgusted when he went to use the restroom and found multiple cockroaches on the floor.

After lunch, we went back to the Coconut Marketplace, a popular outdoor mall in Kapaa. We looked around a bit, and we picked up a few little things to bring home. The shopping in Coconut Marketplace didn't take long, so we had a lot of time to kill before dinner and our 10PM flight. Shin continued driving down the main road and we checked out the Costco in Lihue. One may wonder why we would check out a Costco while on vacation, but it was actually recommended that we check it out because of the interesting local goods that they carry at this particular location. We walked around and we were amazed with all of the asian type food they carried such as packaged mochi, Japanese crackers, and lots of Hawaiian foods such as coffee, macadamia nuts, and chocolate. As we walked around the Costco, we walked by a station serving samples of food. This one was particularly interesting because she was serving spam hot dogs. It was yummy.

After Costco, we decided to stop by the Grand Hyatt in Poipu which is one of the two nicest hotels in all of Kauai (The other one is the Princeville hotel which is closed for renovations.). It was quite nice with a really nice pool area and they also house two of the nicest restaurants on the island, Donderos and Tidepools, and one of the nicest golf courses, Poipu Bay. We walked the grounds of the hotel and observed the koi in a pond and two black swans.

After the Grand Hyatt we drove over to Spouting Horn which is a rocky area east of Poipu where the water spouts up high in the error. We're not sure what makes the water go so high, but our guess is that there is water pressure build-up in the rocks which makes the water shoot up high in the air.

Our last destination was Brenneke's for dinner. It's a steak and seafood restaurant at Poipu Beach. We enjoyed a calamari appetizer and Alexis had a burger. Shin had a combination of sauteed ono and a medium cooked NY strip steak. It was a lot of food, so neither of us was able to finish the food. As soon as dinner was over, we watched the sunset right outside the restaurant. It was very nice and we'll always remember this trip (See left for picture of sunset).

Unfortunately, it's time to get back to reality and go back home tomorrow. We are brining back with us many memories and pictures. We'll also have this blog. Time to go to the airport.

Day 11 - Free Day

We have had quite a few activities the last 10 days, so we took it easy on our last full day in Hawaii. We ate breakfast at the condo, and then took a walk around Princeville. Shin didn't take the map, so we got a little lost, but made it back to the condo without any issues. The walk was about 1.5 hours, and we were wearing slippers, so Shin got a blister on his foot from walking.

After getting back to the condo, we rested for about an hour and then decided to drive around the Princeville area. We drove over to the Queens Bath where we watched a family playing in a natural pool with a waterfall. Then we drove over to the Hanalei pier and walked around the beach. We walked up the beach, and then went back to the condo. For dinner, we picked up food from a chinese restaurant in Hanalei. It wasn't anything special.

Day 10 - Golf, Football, and Kayaking

Shin got an early morning start this morning by taking his clubs out to the course this morning. He was out the door early for his 7:40 AM tee time at the Makai golf course. The Makai golf course that has 27 holes of golf comprised of 3 9-hole courses, the woods, the ocean, and the lakes. The Princeville resort is undergoing a major renovation, so only the 9-hole woods course is open. Because of the renovation and the off-season, Shin was able to pay only $35 for a round at the woods course. He was paired up with a retired man from San Diego who happened to be a seasoned golfer. The retired man seemed a little disappointed to be paired up with a beginner golfer, but he was still nice and gave Shin some nice tips throughout the day. Unfortunately, the range wasn't open, so Shin wasn't able to get any practice swings in before playing. It was a pretty tough day, and Shin scored a 68. Hopefully, he'll eventually become a decent golfer.

Shin got home just in time to watch most of the Cal game. When he got back to the condo, Cal was down 6-0 after only about 2 minutes of game time, but they got it going and ended up winning 26-16.

After the game, we drove to Hanalei and rented a two-person kayak. The kayaks we rented were unlike the kayaks we used two months ago in Sausalito. Instead of sitting inside the kayak, we sat on top of the kayaks with a back rest. In addition, the kayaks we used did not have a rudder so we had to depend on our paddling skills to turn and to go straight. We started our trip by going up stream on the Hanalei river to a bird sanctuary. As we paddled up stream, we observed many bamboo trees and taro plants alongside the river bank. We also saw a number of small and colorful birds. After paddling about a mile up stream, we got to a very swampy area and it started to smell. We turned around and paddled downstream until it started sprinkling. We got back to the dock just in time before it really started to rain. We were quite wet and filthy when we returned to the dock, so we went back to the condo to shower.

After freshening up, we drove back to Hanalei for dinner. We ate at a restaurant called Hanalei Gourmet. We ordered a fried artichoke appetizer and Alexis got a stir fry with udon noodles and Shin ordered a grilled ahi tuna sandwich.

It was a tiring day, especially for Shin...