Because it was gorgeous.
And plus, more cemetery! I’m curious who is still remembering Charles Wilson Smythe 133 years after his short life came to an end.
I loved the sea glass and shells on this gravestone.
Because we did no planning for this trip aside from reserving hotel, car, and buying plane tickets, we did not get entry tickets to this attraction. We did stop at the place everyone who doesn’t have tickets stops and took the same pictures everyone else takes.
Here’s a bird refuging on the refuge.
We stopped more than once at this tiny post office to mail our postcards. It has very limited hours. I wondered about the two chairs, but it appears they are there because this is one of the stops for the bus. One time we drove by and a woman was sitting under the tree waiting.
Matt had fun looking up the words on the various Hawaiian language signs and translating them. He asked me to grab pictures of this road sign, which was only in Hawaiian.
Matt said that the sign was basically about wearing your masks in the spirit of kokua, which is care for one’s community
We rented bikes in Kapa’a and rode the 10-mile roundtrip Ke Ala Hele Makalae Path.
We got a lot of sun and great beach views.
We also found this pretty tree tunnel.
On the way back, we stopped to take a photo and ended up looking for whales.
That reef-safe sunscreen really doesn’t rub in.
After biking, we ate pizza for lunch and headed to the beach for some swimming.
We stopped by the ReStore to see if they had snorkeling gear and towels and they did. I also chatted with this friendly cat.
Buying used snorkeling gear was a good idea in practice, but so-so in execution. We intended to donate it back at the end of our trip, but they were unexpectedly closed that morning. So then we had to figure out what to do with unwanted gear. If we visit again, I’ll look around for a weekly rental place.
Grilled cheese stuffed with pulled pork? Yes please! The meal at Porky’s Kauai was amazing!
On the way back down from our ridge hike, we stopped at a lookout to see where we had been. Here’s a view of the canyon.
And here are the falls.
And here is Matt, carefully taking a picture.
It was another day of vigorous hiking. Two things are true about this trail: you will see a lot of people, and it’s not really a trail to traverse with your flip flops. It’s also very up and down. A number of people remarked on how lucky I was to have my hiking poles.
There were gorgeous views of the canyon.
Self portrait. Notice how sweaty I am!
In the middle of this picture, there is a gray smear, just below a hump of greenery. That’s the lookout from the parking lot. We stopped there yesterday. From that vantagepoint you can see the many hikers who are hiking along the ridge.
Here are some of the many hikers.
Down in the canyon.
I didn’t make it all the way to the falls. I rested here and people watched while Matt continued on to the falls. It gave me ample opportunity to see the stone arch.
And take more pictures of the canyon.
On the way back, we stopped at a viewpoint and took a not-great timer photo. Unlike the trail itself, no people were at the viewpoint when we were there.
We enjoyed the winding drive down Waimea Canyon Drive and stopped at a lookout to take some pictures. Here, you can see Ni’ihau in the distance.
Us being bad at self portraits.
Same picture, but with camera phone.
My Aunt Carol had clued us in that we could get fresh papayas on the way to/from Waimea Canyon and we did! They were delicious.
Back in town we got our meal: surf and turf taco for Matt and quesadilla for me. We ate in a park nearby.
Then we stopped at JoJo’s Shave Ice and had our minds blown. I grew up with snow cones and enjoy them on a hot day, but this shave ice is macadamia nut ice cream topped with ice that has been shaved and then is layered with delicious flavors and then cream is poured over the top.
It was incredible! I had a coconut flavored one and Matt got something with tropical fruit.
