Trip To Kauai - Day 3

On our last day in Kauai, we left our water gear to dry in the hotel room and headed out to do some souvenir shopping, sightseeing and waterfall hunting! One of our first stops was THE (not "one of the") Wal-Mart to get a T-shirt or two. Naturally, we had to walk the gauntlet of chickens again (you can see them trying to get in the front door for a bargain)! We late saw some pricey T-shirts of Kauai's only Un-endangered species (chickens) and now I almost wish I'd bought one...

We bought some reasonably priced T-shirts and jumped in the car to find some waterfalls! The first one was one of Hawaii's best - Wailua Falls! It's high, large and beautiful! Unfortunately, the state doesn't trim the trees very often, so the view was quite obstructed.

In order to get the shot above, I had to jump up on to the retaining wall and stand on the railing above the cliff - something that made DeAnna a bit nervous as I often repeated this exercise...








From there, we drove to Ho'opi'i Falls. These falls were far less impressive, but the easy forest hike was peaceful and relaxing (except for the near vertical descent down a leaf-laden hillside that was more like sliding down a ski slope).

Driving further inland, we stopped at Opaeka'a Falls. Viewed from afar, it was not as personal an experience as other places, but it was pretty nonetheless. I won't show you another chicken photo, but there were several birds in the parking lot...

It was about an hour before checkout time of the hotel, so we returned, showered, packed and headed back out for some more driving tourism. Since we drove past everything on the south shore the first day, we returned to see some of the sights we'd missed. At Salt Pond Beach Park, you have to watch out for the falling coconuts that line the parking lot!




A lazy drive along the south shore put us in front of the Spouting Horn - a blowhole that has a partner hole that blows air, making a roaring sound. This is a heavily-traveled tourist area, so it was a good spot to get someone to take our picture!
Here is a short movie of the Spouting Horn where you can hear the sound!



On to Po'ipu Beach and the lithified sand dune cliffs for a hike. These cliffs are made of sandstone. That might not sound too interesting to someone on the mainland, but almost everything here is volcanic, so these cliffs become an interesting anomaly!

Our last major visitation was to Kipu falls. These falls are a popular swimming hole and a bit of a hike. We walked through fields of tall grass down to the stream and joined a number of people along the falls. There was a long rope swing and I was a little regretful that we'd already turned in our swimsuits!








Kauai was a lot of fun and DeAnna did an awesome job of organizing an active, yet relaxing getaway. We were only there for 2 1/2 days, but it was wonderful - no phones, no computers, no problems! The island has a more relaxed feel than the heavily populated Oahu. There is only one major two-lane road and far fewer tourists. It is extremely verdant and lush! I would like to go back and spend more time exploring the trails and the rugged Na'Pali coast someday.

Our flight landed on Oahu at 11:00pm on Friday and we went straight to bed. We didn't have a lot of time to chill because Julia arrived for her week in Hawaii in about 14 hours!