Kauai - Barking Sands Resort

While we were in Kauai, we started out on the west side of the island staying at Barking Sands cottage on the naval base. It was so quiet and there were only a few other families along the beaches each time we went out (our next door neighbor didn't leave his back porch and computer the entire time. how sad.) We instantly missed our boys when we went down to the beach and saw lots of crabs that would skitter along the sand; they would have loved seeing them!

Incase it isn't obvious, Jer was being a crab. They would either run to their holes or head down to the water if they felt like they were being looked at.

Our first full day on the island was busy, yet relaxing all at once. We're used to having our boys with us and quickly learned how easy it was to just go when it's just the two of us! We drove our little ford fusion out to a few Polihale state beaches. This was the road that a jeep was recommended for. The little car managed just fine! We visited three of these beaches before 10am. The three hour time difference was beneficial :) 

We were able to see a few schools of dolphins along these beaches along with the beach outside of our cottage. Jer and I had a good laugh when Jer spotted a sea turtle and in the attempt of pointing it out, a woman came splashing out of the water as fast as her legs could move asking what it was in an almost screaming voice. We assumed she thought Jer was pointing at a shark :)

It shouldn't have been this easy to create these letters

We drove up the Waimea Canyon and our favorite lookout was the last stop, the Kalalau lookout. The delicious fresh pineapple and coconut taffy made this little drive so yummy!

The island is really small so we went to the south side to check out the Spouting Horn blow hole. According to Hawaiian folklore, there was a giant lizard (or dragon?) trapped below the lava and would blow and roar. 

That night we drove back to one of the Polihale beaches. Last year with the combination of being pregnant, sunburnt, and tired, I didn't get a sunset picture when we were on Maui and Oahu. I made sure to make it happen this year

The agenda for day three was to take a doorless helicopter tour of the island. I sat between the pilot and Jer and we felt crowded. Jer said his door-side arm froze if it went out the door too far. I felt sick twice from the smell of the gas coming through the copter but thankfully didn't have to resort to my "Aloha bag". We had a great view of the island. Mt Waialeale is one of the most rainiest spots on earth, which is surprising since the island isn't that big and the beaches were so sunny and warm, but all of the waterfalls were pretty amazing. 

We stayed on the north part of the island for the next three days and on our way stopped in Hanapepe so one of us could rattle and shake the swinging bridge while the other just walked across ;) 

We haven't done a vacation this big with just the two of us, ever, and we almost didn't know what to do with all the time we had since we didn't have the kids with us! We reeeally missed our little dudes and couldn't stop talking about them but it was such a relaxing vacation!

Coming up in Princeville and Lihue:

kayaking, snorkeling, lighthouse, 8 mile hike, another sunset, zip lining and more