Being on the North Shore is awesome, but it puts many of the tourist attractions on the island quite a ways away. So, we always take one day to do the big ones. It's a long, long day of driving, but always worth while. Today was that day. We left at 7:30am, and did not get back to the house until 6pm. Yeah...long day of driving. Always worth it, though. Here's some pictures from today!
We started out at the furthest away point...the Kalalau Valley lookout. Its always hit or miss on whether you'll see anything when you get up there...because its often clouded in. We did see a bit...
It really is a gorgeous lookout...even if the picture doesn't quite show it. That's a 4,000 foot drop from our lookout to the ocean. It's quite impressive, really.
So then from there we started working our way down the mountain. Next up was the Waimea Canyon, aka The Grand Canyon of the Pacific.
Its a rather impressive view. Between the red dirt and the green plants...its a gorgeous canyon. Quite unlike anything you will see anywhere else in the world. It does make for a happy Quinn Family!
Continuing down the mountain provided a few more canyon lookouts, some very interesting red dirt shots (I'll have to steal Jason's...mine turned out shitty), and some views of Ni'ihau, The Forbidden Isle! Once back at sea level, it was time to go to the Kauai Kookie factory in Hanapepe! I'm not a huge sweets fan, but I do love me some Kauai Kookies. They are basically just shortbread cookies flavored with local fruits and nuts or whatever. I stocked up on Guava Macadamia, Pineapple Macadamia, and Mango. Delicious!
After Kauai Kookie, it was time for lunch at the greatest pizza place ever, Brick Oven Pizza in Kalaheo. It's seriously amazing. Post lunch took us to Poipu and Spouting Horn:
I enjoy Spouting Horn because of the blue ocean meets black lava rock dynamic. It's really a rather gorgeous area. Also, its seemingly always sunny on the South Shore of the island...and with all the rain we've seen this week, its nice to catch a break. After Spouting Horn it was of to Old Koloa Town for some shopping (picked up two Crazy Shirts, one other island shirt, and an idea for my next tattoo...so a pretty productive stop!). Then it was through the tree tunnel, and headed back North.
We stopped at two waterfalls on our way back north. The first was Wailua Falls:
And then Opeka'a Falls:
Then back home for a little R&R before dinner at the golf course. Oh, and to enjoy any potential sunsets...
My trip here is perilously close to being over. Vacations are never long enough...especially not to Kauai. I truly do plan to move here someday. Honestly, if I could find a job that paid enough to support myself, I'd be here in a heartbeat...no questions asked. But, alas, the job market on the island is understandably poor. Someday, though...
Tomorrow I'm off to try my hand at surfing. Wish me luck!
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