Entries about kauai

On Friday we traveled to San Jose to meet with Daniel's parents, his sister Hilary, and her children. We were flying the next day early. We have TSA PreCheck through our Global Entry membership, but we will take the same shuttle as everyone else and see how much faster we get through.

We took the shuttle to the airport and arrived at the same time. We went through the TSA PreCheck line while the rest of the group went through the regular line. We were through about twenty minutes earlier, which was nice. The nicest thing was not having to take off our shoes or take our laptops out of our bags.

We got on the plane and we were the only ones with a non-family member sitting next to us. Thankfully he was nice and although he had the aisle seat he was accommodating about the kids wanting to move and sit next to us (in particular next to Auntie Catherine).

After a fairly easy flight we arrived in Kaua'i!

We picked up our car, which is a Jeep like we had in Maui a few years ago.

We couldn't check in to the house until 4, so we had to find other things to do. Daniel's parents, Hilary, and the kids decided to go to the beach, while we decided to get lunch at the food trucks in Koloa. We tried a food truck called Naruto Noodles, which had a lot of interesting options.

We got the lilikoi (passionfruit) juice, some pork lumpia, and the local-style noodles. Then some ube (purple yam) flavored malasadas for dessert.

The weather was interesting, with frequent heavy rains punctuating a basically sunny but humid day.

Finally, we were able to check in to the house! It was the same house we stayed in when we visited in 2019 and it is beautiful with lots of room for all of us. We are so happy to be able to stay here again. We got things unpacked and then the two of us went to mass at the church in Koloa.

We tried an Indian place in a nearby shopping center. We got samosas and a lentil dal, which was delicious. The restaurant had lanai dining, and we could hear the live music from another nearby restaurant.

Overall, it was a wonderful day and fairly eventful for a travel day.

Hilary and Darryl took their kids out to Salt Pond Beach, and the rest of us went to Kalapaki Beach, where Daniel’s mom, his grandma, and Catherine had lunch at Duke’s and Daniel and his dad went kayaking. It was a beautiful day and the bay was very clear and perfect. There were people riding an outrigger canoe, a lot of surfers and paddle boarders, and people swimming by the beach.

The Norwegian Cruise Lines Pride of America was pulling out of the harbor as we left. It was amazing to see such a large ship in the bay.

2AA134B0-63A6-464F-B67B-2647AE2F3EDB

Daniel and his dad joined the group for lunch at Dukes.

Us at Kalapaki Beach.

On our way back to the house we decided to do the Koloa Rum tasting. It was amazingly good. We learned that the Koloa Rum Company is actually still growing sugar cane to make their rum.

The rest of Daniel’s family went to the Smith Family Luau, while we had a date night at The Beach House in Poipu. Daniel got Catherine this beautiful multi-colored plumeria.

Our reservation was for 7:30, so we were able to watch the sunset from the lawn.

Some views as we waited for sunset.

Just as the sky was really turning pink we started to hear a lot of birds chirping and flying overhead. At first we didn’t think much of it. Then we noticed a lot of little green parakeets in the trees. Those were the birds coming in!

The beautiful sky at sunset!

The famous Monkeypod Mai Tai from the Beach House.

Our delicious meal, including a strawberry cream pie for dessert.

Another wonderful day in Kauai!

The day started with Aubrey and Dalton wanting to go outside. Once outside they found a lizard that was staying “very very still.” They got this lizard several leaves to eat and rocks to use as pillows. When Daniel’s dad went out to remove the dead lizard, it was actually alive!

Hilary had arranged a hula lesson for the group at our house. The group learned to do a dance to the song “Hawaiian Lullaby.” Everyone enjoyed the class and they are planning on practicing and maybe performing at one of the coming parties.

We had lunch of spam musubi, chips, and some leftover watermelon from the party.

After lunch we drove to the Grove Farm plantation. Daniel’s grandma had done the tour last year and decided to do it again this year. The grounds were beautiful as we walked up to the office.

Some pictures of the office and the landscape of the plantation.

George N. Wilcox started this plantation, and one of the first stops on the tour was his own house. There was a large plantation house, but G.N. decided to build himself a house where he could be alone. This was his library/reading room.

Wilcox’s turtle-shaped spittoon.

Wilcox’s summer bedroom, which is basically a screened patio. It seemed like such a pleasant place to be able to sleep.

Wilcox’s hat collection, which Catherine felt Daniel would like having.

The garden outside Wilcox’s house.

One of the cottages by the house.

The beautiful interior of the plantation house. It was full of incredible art, books, handmade pieces from the plantation days, and the most beautiful koa wood fixtures around the house.

Miss Mabel was the last member of the family to live on the property. Her 1974 Buick Skylark is still in working order in the driveway.

This piece of art was made entirely of butterfly wings.

This cabinet was won in a contest and was made in Japan. It reminded us a lot of the Asian artifacts that Catherine’s grandmother was given by her own aunt, who ran a store on a liner that travelled to Asia and brought home a lot of items.

The library inside the plantation house is amazing.

This large “rock” is actually an old sea sponge. One of the family members would use it to trick people into thinking she was carrying a heavy rock.

Next we visited the kitchen, which had a wood burning stove which was being used. A woman who had worked in the kitchen when Mabel was still there gave us an explanation of everything.
Daniel’s grandma and his Aunt Vickie with their fans in the kitchen.

We had the chance to try the mint ice tea and icebox cookies that have been served at this plantation for years.

Catherine doesn’t usually like mint, so she wasn’t sure about the tea. She loved it! More importantly, we both loved the icebox cookies. Catherine has loved her Aunt Helen’s icebox cookies as a child. When her aunt died she wanted to find the recipe but was unable to do so. These cookies tasted the same! Thankfully, the plantation gives out the recipe to everyone who comes through! We will be enjoying icebox cookies and mint ice tea when we get home! The lady in the kitchen also gave us some bananas and avocados from the farm.

This chair converts to a ladder. We were able to get the plans for the chair before leaving. Apparently people all over the world have built them from these plans.

Some books, a picture of a school class, a World War I helmet, an old shave ice machine, and what Daniel called the Wheel of Misfortune.

The blacksmith’s shop and the woodshed, which is also home to some of the feral cats around the property.

The banana fields.

The laundry at the plantation was done by a woman from Japan who lived in this house.

Some beautiful views around the plantation.

All of us at the end of the tour.

We came back to the house and had a relaxing evening. We went to the pool and saw Aubrey and Dalton’s swimming “tricks” (mostly just swimming) and then came in to have burritos and/or leftovers for dinner. It was a wonderful day!

We slept in a bit today, and started our day by driving to Koloa for lunch at the food truck courts. Daniel got a spicy green curry, and Catherine got curly fries with Kalua pork. It was very delicious. Afterwards, we looked at this memorial to the various immigrants that made the sugar industry possible, including the Hawaiians, the Anglo-Americans (called Caucasians on the plaque), the Chinese, Japanese, Portuguese, Koreans, and Filipinos.

Daniel's mom met us in Koloa after lunch (she and Daniel's dad and Hilary had been in Hanapepe) and drove to Kapaa so that she could buy a ukelele. Daniel had bought a cavaquinho (the Portuguese ancestor of the ukulele) in Porto, but had broken a string and wanted to get it replaced. The shop, Kauai Music and Sound, was excellent. Kate was able to get a tenor ukulele, and Daniel got his string replaced and some advice about how to tune and play the instrument. Also, we had been dreading the traffic that seems to haunt the island on the weekdays, but on the weekend our road to Kapaa from Koloa was perfectly clear. Catherine thought we looked like a troupe of wandering minstrels.

After this, we headed back to Koloa/ Poipu to get ready for the party. Daniel's parents were hosting the entire family at their house, and Hilary had set up for a photographer to come and take professional portraits of the family.

We took a lot of pictures right outside the house, then walked down to Shipwreck Beach to take some near the ocean.

Aubrey walking with Daniel's grandma and Daniel's Aunt Vickie.


Catherine with Aubrey. Daniel found a tree with pink plumerias to give to Catherine, Kate, Hilary, and Aubrey for the ocean pictures.

Aubrey with a pink plumeria.

Catherine with a pink plumeria.

Us during the photo shoot.

There was a ping-pong table in our garage, and so we had chairs around the garage and people were able to play ping-pong during the party. It was a lot of fun, and we think everyone enjoyed the party.

We started our day with the Kauai Plantation Railroad. Apparently, Aubrey has wanted nothing but to go on a train and see pigs.

Both of these were fulfilled by the Kauai Plantation Railroad. We had the opportunity to feed the pigs (tortillas, their natural food source in the wild) and see the large numbers of piglets. Apparently, there are 400,000 wild pigs around the island.

Various plants around the plantation, including taro, cashews, macadamia nuts, octopus tree, ti plants, etc.


After this we went to the double waterfall at Wailua Falls.

Then we went to lunch at Duke’s Barefoot Bar which is at the beach. We had a wonderful dinner at Duke’s on Maui last year, and we had an equally delicious lunch this year.

Some pictures of the area around Duke’s, with plumeria trees and the ocean.
After that, we went to Daniel’s cousin Jerry’s birthday party. He is turning 27 today, and the party was at the house where his family is staying. It was a nice party, and a great first full day in Kauai.

While our group...

Visited beaches...

Snacked on Portuguese food...

And watched the Running of the Bulls on Terceira...

We flew through the air, first from Boston to San Francisco and then from San Francisco to Kauai. Our flights were not bad: from Boston to San Francisco we sat in front of Catherine’s parents, and next to a woman from Boston who owns a ranch in Oregon. We had a nice conversation with her. After our flight, we parted ways with Catherine’s parents and flew to Kauai. Our seats were very nice because we had an empty third seat in our row.

We got to Kauai, rented our car (which turned out to be a Jeep) and drove to the house that Daniel’s family is staying in. Our room is very comfortable and the towels are folded into a turtle. We are very excited to start this leg of our trip, and to explore Kauai!