Trip Report, May 26-June 2

For your reference, we were 4 adults and 3 small children.

I will give an overview of activities and dining.

Saturday: Arrived, stopped by Walmart for essentials, drove up to Haena where our beach house was, cooked a quick dinner. Walked to the beach to see how far it was, and then hit the sack.

Sunday: Beach morning, followed by driving to the Polynesian Festival in Lihue. Admission was $10 per person, which I thought was a little steep. The Festival was small, and I enjoyed it okay, but it wasn%26#39;t worth the long drive for us. We ate lunch there and it was tasty.

Dinner was at the Hanalei Dolphin with the 3 kids in tow. It was excellent. Our service, drinks, food, and dessert was all perfect. The server was awesome, and our kids loved walking outside by the water. Highly recommended.

Monday: This was a full beach day. We ate lunch at home. Dinner was the Princeville Luau. We all really enjoyed this. Food was very tasty, servers brought drinks around constantly, and the setting is amazing. The show I had heard was bad, so I wasn%26#39;t expecting much, but we all really enjoyed the more ';relaxed'; approach. Our kids all adored it, and we had a great time. The sun setting over the water at the Princeville resort is just breathtaking.

Tuesday: The girls and kids spent this day shopping in Hanalei. Some cool little shops. We ate lunch at Sushi Blues which was very tasty (We had fish tacos and the crunchy roll, which was GREAT). The guys went to Pearl Harbor, and had a great time, and did a special tour of the USS Missouri, which they said was cool.

Dinner was Bubba%26#39;s Burgers, which like everyone says, are small but tasty.

Wednesday: This day my DH and I went to Kipu ATV tours near Lihue. It was really fun. I had never ridden an ATV before, and I had a blast. The guides were funny and very nice. It is a very relaxed ride, and not scary or adventurous at all, but the scenery is wonderful. It is so beautiful there. We had a great time.

We had lunch at the Polynesian Cafe on the way back, and it was very good. We both had the chicken chimichangas, and dessert and it was all very yummy.

We spent the rest of the day at the beach, and had dinner at Postcards Cafe without the kids. We hired a babysitter through a service on Kauai, and though a bit expensive, we felt like they did a great job. Anyways, dinner there is great, dishes were well presented and very fresh. We wish they had liquour in addition to their wine and beer, but not a real complaint.

Thursday: We took a family tour of Na Aina Kai Gardens in Kileau. It was very nice, although the kids got a little bored. They were happy, however, when we got to the fish feeding part. The grounds are beautiful, and the children%26#39;s garden and play area at the end of the tour is really cool. They really enjoyed it. We ate lunch at Pau Hana Pizza, and it was very tasty. Great salads, pizza, and desserts. We didn%26#39;t take time to wait on a specialty pizza, but they sure sounded awesome. Would love to do that next time.

Dinner was at Kalypso%26#39;s and was very good.

Friday: We did a Napali Coast tour with Napali Catamarans in the morning. We had very calm seas, and were able to snorkel and saw giant turtles that would swim right next to you. It was awesome. The rest of the snorkeling was just not that great next to Tunnels, which we were at every day. The tour guides were very friendly and quite funny, and we went into one sea cave. The coast was beautiful, and the trip was worth it. We were back by 11:30 and ate lunch on the trip.

We spent a little time on the beach, and had Ahi and Steak kabobs for dinner at our house.

We had a great time, and Kauai is the most beautiful place you can imagine. We really enjoyed the ambiance of the north shore, and all the places we ate at were just awesome. No complaints at all, except the driving around wasn%26#39;t our favorite part. That%26#39;s why we mostly stuck to Tunnels and Kee Beach. Our kids had a great time, and we had a very relaxing time.

Trip Report, May 26-June 2

Wonderful report. We%26#39;re going in a week and are also staying in Haena. Which rental house did you stay in? I think I looked at every one in that area. Glad you had a good time.

Trip Report, May 26-June 2

Enjoyed your report --- we were there at the beginning of May and did alot of the same things you did. Your report made me start missing Kauai already !!!

';Wonderful report. We%26#39;re going in a week and are also staying in Haena. Which rental house did you stay in? I think I looked at every one in that area. Glad you had a good time.';

We stayed in the Paradise Pastures house, which was not on the beach, but close to it. We actually drove down to the ';better'; area on tunnels each day, which took about one minute! It was a nice house for what we needed it for, and a great price for the week. It was kind of a pinkish color and on the left side of the road as you are heading towards Ke%26#39;e beach....do you know the one? Oh, and also the people who live on the first floor (we rented the whole second level) were SUPER nice and helpful, loaning us stuff, etc.

aloha, Kim! I remember when you were first planning to come here - glad you had such a nice vacation. I have yet to do one of the boat tours . . . did you bring your kids?? How did they do? That just sounds like a fabulous experience to me. Isn%26#39;t it fun just hanging around Hanalei - what ambiance - at least it suits me. Mahalo for sharing with us! :)

Mahalo for the report. Love the talk about food.

Oh, shantybob - I am with you on that. Anytime some one mentions that shrimp truck on their trip reports, I am ready to go! I haven%26#39;t done that on Kauai yet - guess I need to go again. I as well had 2 fabulous dinners at Hanalei Dolphin and loved my specialty pizza at Pau Hana Pizza too. I know that Kauai doesn%26#39;t have as many choices as islands like Maui and Oahu, but I am very happy eating my way around the island. :)

Mahalo kimg8...happy you all had a great stay in paradise.

Coalminer: We did not take our kids on the Napali coast boat tour. We hired a sitting service, which was great. They were just too young to go, and snorkeling would have been impossible.