Beach Day and Beach House

On one day of our honeymoon, we decided to dedicate it as a "beach day". We definitely hit the beach throughout our trip, but his was the only day that we spent most of the day at a beach. We started at the local beach near our condo in Poipu. Great waves and SO MANY TURTLES. It was amazing.

Then we adventured out to Polihale Beach, which was a fairly long drive to the west side of the island. Despite only having a little hatchback rental car, we managed to drive all the way out to the beach - not gonna lie, there were times, we thought we'd get stuck in sand road on the way out! But when we got out there, it was gorgeous. The beach stretches for 17 miles, so it's not hard to find your own little secluded section. The only downfall: there is no shade and it's insanely hot. I had to go into the water to cool off every ten minutes, at least. But we made the best of it and had a little picnic, lathered on the sunscreen and soaked up the sun.

After our beach day, we went back to our condo to get ready to go out to the Beach House Restaurant. We received a very generous gift card from Joe's coworkers, so we felt quite spoiled. The meal was absolutely incredible. We had swordfish and gray snapper, plus a few more tasty treats! If you ever find yourself in Kauai, you have to go here. It's mouth-watering delicious!

Sunset just before dinner at the Beach House!

Maha'ulepu Trail

When I tell people that 1) our honeymoon was relaxing and 2) we went on four hikes, people tend to question #1. Yes, we like a good hike, but we truly did balance our days out with some beach time or other more relaxing activities. It's just that if I spent an entire day on the beach, I would resemble a lobster. Sooooo hikes are a nice break :)

The Maha'ulepu Trail was more of a beachside stroll - it started at Shipwreck Beach and followed the shore north, going down to private little beaches and back up to a cliffside. Bonus: it was so quiet; we ran into maybe 4 people the whole time!

The greenery and geological formations were beautiful.

We hiked down to this natural little pond and waded for quite some time - watching the waves crash right in front of us!

Taking it all in.

We even found a second home!

Joe was pretty stoked about it.

One of the beaches with some lava rock.

E+J!

(we totally changed someone's hard work into our initials...)

Kalalau Trail

One of the things that appealed to me the most about Kauai was the abundance of hikes. I had heard so many amazing things about them - the breathtaking views, outrageous greenery and of course, a little sweat never hurt anyone. With a little tip from Maddie (who heard about it from Kimber who heard from Erin), we decided to give the Kalalau Trail of the Napali Coast a shot. No, not the part that earns it the title of one of America's Most Dangerous Hikes. Nope, we opted for the abbreviated, safer version.

Two miles in to a secluded beach, then two more miles into this valley that ended with the Hanakapi'ai Falls - 300 feet of waterfall that fed into a natural Olympic-sized pool! This is seriously the kind of waterfall people dream about - it was absolutely mesmerizing.

After a little dip, rest and snack, we hiked the 4 miles back out. It was a grueling hike, but I think we had mentally prepared for it since so many people had told us about it, so we managed :) If you ever find yourself in Kauai, this hike needs to be at the top of your list!

Views, views and more views. 

See the little microscopic person? The picture doesn't even get the whole waterfall either!

We took a dip at the falls. It was FREEZING.

 Secluded Hanakapi'ai Beach

We treated ourselves with shaved ice after the hike :)

P.S. Back to blogging! Hope I can keep it up again this time!

Zip n' Dip

As soon as we decided on Kauai for the honeymoon, I knew I'd have the opportunity to check something off of my 30 before Thirty list. (More on that later!) Thanks to Merith's suggestion, we discovered Princeville Ranch Adventure's Zip n' Dip tour: a series of 9 ziplines with a little dip in a waterfall-fed swimming hole. It was so. much. FUN!

You do eight full zips, then have a little swim/lunch break, then tackle the King Kong - a 1200'  zip across a 10-story-ish deep valley. It was incredible. Climbing the tower to get to the ziplines was not so incredible in the wind - it has to sway at least a foot in each direction! I'm not even afraid of heights, but it gave me the jitters - I felt safer on the zipline than the tower! So if you ever find yourself in Kauai, give this adventure a go. You won't regret it!

Those helmets are hot, huh? 

Joe getting pumped for the first zip!

 (picture take upside down, so I felt it was necessary to share that way too!)

 Dip time!

The King Kong tower!

Queen's Bath

Let me tell you, when you have five months of pictures to share, it's really hard to know where to even start. So for now, I'll leave you with this photo Joe snapped of my admiring Queen's Bath. It was a little rough in the water that day, so we didn't get to go in, but it was just so pretty! I could have watched the waves crashing there all day. If you're ever in Kauai, be sure to check it out!

Honeymoon Teaser

Eventually I'll do an official honeymoon post, but for now I'll leave you with one of the many sunsets we witnessed in Kauai. It was pink, purple, orange, blue and yellow and the way it reflected off the water made your jaw drop.

Is there another place on earth that regularly has this good of sunsets daily?! I'd like to know, so I can add it to my dream travel list. Wouldn't that be amazing? A travel quest for the world's best sunset?! Oh yes, one can dream.