Today was a
bit of a strange day, jumbled with site seeing and chores, big successes and
mediocre events. Things started out with breakfast. Our hotel offers a few
potential “rewards” if we opt out of the daily room cleaning service. One of
those options is a free hotel breakfast buffet. So, it seemed like an easy
choice to at least experience it and have the other order off the menu. I did
the buffet, getting an omelet from the station, some cooked potatoes, a bit of
fruit, bacon, and a small pastry. Archer ordered off the menu – a Beef Short
Rib Loco Moco – similar (but not as good) to the one we had at the Kihei Caffe.
If you don’t recall, this is a pile of rice, loaded with a meat and eggs,
topped with a brown gravy. Overall, breakfast was good, but we agreed that
neither of us would normally want to spend $26 for either. But, since one of us
was free it was much more respectable, and we wouldn’t mind eating here again.
After
breakfast we returned to our room to prep our ideas and items for an outing. Before
leaving, we headed to the concierge desk, where we were told we had some things
waiting for us. We were helped by a woman named Roxanne (sound familiar…?) and
she game us some coupons to the nearby grocery store as well as some advice and
fliers related to other excursions we might take.
Our first
stop was to head east to the Anahola Farmers Market. Unfortunately, despite
both our concierge and Google thinking that the market was open, we arrived and
it was not. This remains a disappointing mystery. So instead, we drove back the
way we came, passed the turn for our hotel, and towards the coast town or
Hanalei. Here we visit the Hanalei Surf Shop to rent snorkel equipment – mask,
snorkel, and fins – for the week. We were excited to have the ability to pop
into the water and snorkel any time we wanted. Unfortunately, our hotel does
not have direct beach access, so we may get to do slightly less than
we’d originally hoped, but we are still looking forward to the flexibility and
options.
While in
Hanalei, Archer began to feel as though she recognized the setting, and some of
the mountainous and coastal features. She suggested that we continue to drive
along the northern coast and look for “the shot” of Kaua’i. The drive had some
similarities to the Road to Hana. It was constantly winding and the road was
narrow, but not as bad. We often had cliff walls on one side and scenic beach
outlooks on the other. We had to navigate 1-lane bridges and oncoming traffic,
but that all worked out. We drove for nearly an hour and, while the views were
stunning, we were beginning to give up on the venture. However, we then came
upon Haena Beach – and this is what we were looking for.
We
immediately regretted that this trek had been impromptu, as the beach was super
smooth and the water was warm and welcoming. However, we were dressed far from
what we’d want to wear into the ocean. Instead, we made our way to the edge of
the
waves and started to walk back “up” the shore (west). We knew we were at
the beach we wanted – with the view we wanted – but we had to make our way to
the right place. Walking was slow, because of wet sand, but after 20-30 minutes
we’d made it around the crescent shaped beach and had the view we wanted. The
golden sand curled around the water and stretched back out into the ocean as
the mountainous hills quickly dropped down to meet it. The jagged ridge
continued to have breaks, leading to an isolated peak, seemingly just broken
off from the coast. We’re pretty sure we were looking at the same photo as many
of the pamphlets we’d obtained that morning.
Calling this
a success – we headed back to the car. This included one trial as the sand was
TOO HOT. We thought we’d make it but had to run to a shaded spot for shelter,
and then wear our non-beach-sandals (trust me… but I don’t want to explain) the
rest of the way while uncomfortably full of sand. Before getting in our car we
crossed the street to take a peak at the massive cave. It was … a massive
cave mouth. We could not see the back and it was incredibly wide. We chose not
to enter or explore, but it was indeed tempting.
Next we had
a major chore to accomplish – grocery shopping for the week. We drove back
towards Princeville, and our hotel, but stopped in Foodland – the local grocery
store. This venture went well. We’d written up a list of needs that would span
most dinners and lunches, with just a few breakfasts. We found everything we
wanted/thought we needed but I will avoid the details as that will ruin some
future descriptions. We got back in the car then and returned to the hotel,
getting back a little after 2:30.
Feeling
ready for the water, but temporarily done with explorations, we decided to just
enjoy the provided pools. The pools are separated into several places. There is
a children’s section with a small water slide, an “activity” section, which
remains shallow
but has two levels with a waterfall between them, an infinity
pool (though it lacked the true cliff-side overlook that they should have), and
an adult (quiet) pool. We spent most of our time at the activity pool, alternating
lounging in the water with drying off while reading. We each enjoyed one Happy
Hour cocktail during one of our reading intervals. Near the end of our aquatic
stay we decided to try out one of the hot tubs and found the one next to the
adult pool. It was so calm, peaceful, and quiet, that we are confident we’d
return to this hot-tub and pool in the coming days.
Suddenly it
was dinner time! The errands and the chores really did fill the day in a
surprising manner. Tonight was the big food-prep night as much of what we
planned to cook would be for leftovers with minimal prep in the coming days. We
were making tacos! Back in the room we had to prep all the ingredients. I
sliced up two large onions into grill-able disks, while Archer prepared a
marinade for the chicken. She plucked a bundle of cilantro leaves, and put the
stems in the blender while we saved the leaves for toppings. I crushed a
handful of garlic cloves to toss in, as well as some of the onion remnants.
Archer topped off the marinate with vegetable oil, salt and pepper, blended,
and soaked the chicken. I moved on to chopping up some bell-peppers into
flat-ish segments, and then we bundled up to head to the grill. It took a few
loads, so Archer took some extra trips while I got the grill running (the hotel
provides gas grills for use).
The chicken
went on first, as it was closer to frozen than we’d have liked. I had to turn
it more often than I usually do, so I kept adding some remnant marinate, which
effectively smoked the veggies I had on at the time. Before long I put on a set
of peppers and onions that we’d eat that night, while those for the rest of the
week could be saved for later. Archer, inside, prepped a chipotle mayonnaise,
and brought out the rest of the food/ingredients, including cheese, re-fried
beans, lime, tomato, salt and pepper, etc. As the chicken got closer to ready,
I made room on the grill for some of the smaller items we’d need nightly. The
tortillas went on the elevated shelf while some fresh pineapple slices and
green onions got grilled more directly. Before long, everything was ready! We
sat down with some local beers, assembled out plates and tacos, and went to
town. The food was amazing – and we’re tempted to rank it as one of our most successful
dinners ever! As we ate, the remaining veggies grilled, and we collected
everything to bring inside for later in the week.
It was
surprisingly late at this point, so with that we watched some TV and called it
a a night.
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