kauai day 5: kilohana plantation + beach time

This morning started with a 4 mile run.  This week’s training increased my weekly distance by a half mile again – crazy!  I didn’t really know where to run around the condo since it is right off a highway and didn’t want to end up somewhere dark and scary with a bunch of chickens cornering me, so I stayed pretty close.  There are a few lit paths around the different buildings so I looped around those for a bit, and then went to the highway for a little longer, and then looped back in.  It worked pretty good and I will have to do something similar on Wednesday!  It might also help if I wasn’t running in the complete darkness – I was up at 5 this morning and the sun isn’t quite up yet that early.

After I got back, Kinley and I had coffee on the Lanai and then made our Nature pancakes again from Saturday – although this time with macadamia nuts rather than granola in them.  So good, and I absolutely love the syrup.

We left the condo at 9ish to get to the Kilohana Plantation by 9:30 am.  We were there in plenty of time, so we had a chance to walk around and take some pictures of the grounds.  Everything was so beautiful!

We got reservations for the train + hike + plantation tour which was a four hour tour taking us around the grounds and telling us different things about both the plantation and Kauai in general.

I love these trees!  Captain Cook’s ships brought them over as they were used to repair masts of their ships if they were to get damaged.

Our first thing we did once we got off the short train ride was feed the pigs!  They got a nice snack of some bread and hawaiian rolls, lucky pigs!  I attempted to throw all of mine at the little babies because they are so darn cute.  I really wanted to bring one home with me :).

The next stop on the tour was a short hike (1/4 – 1/2 mile?).  It went down into a ravine on the property that was unlike anything else I had seen in Kauai.  There were so many different types of vegetation and a bunch of bugs – wasn’t a fan of the bugs but at least they left me alone!

This is a Banyan Tree.  It was actually a mango tree at one point but was taken over by the banyon – it’s a parasitic vine that slowly suffocates the tree from the inside out – and grows from the top down.  The vines are SO thick and strong nothing can be done about it.  It’s so sad, but I do think it looks cool.  We have an entire tunnel of these at the entry to our condo.

After the hike that took close to an hour, it was time for lunch!  Turkey wraps were provided, but we called ahead and they were able to put together a salad instead of the wrap.  I can’t believe how excited I have been to have salads here because we couldn’t find any lettuce at the grocery store so it almost feels like a treat!  I also had some Guava Nectar and a blueberry Sweet Marie’s muffin that we packed along for a bit more sustenance.

After lunch we started out trek through the plantation gardens, and had a ton of fresh fruit samples right off the trees/plants/bushes.  We got to sample a guava, an orange, a tangerine, starfruit, pineapple. avocado, papaya, some weird eyeball looking thing, sugar cane and probably a couple others but I can’t remember them all, but they were all so good!

The tour lasted until 2 pm and then we headed to the Kalapaki Beach to soak up some more sun.  It wasn’t the best beach around, but it was still a beach so I can’t complain too much!  We stayed for a couple of hours and then left to head back to the condo, clean up and then find somewhere to go for dinner.  I realized when we got back to the condo that I had gotten a little sunburnt from the plantation tour – some of it was also a sun rash so hopefully it isn’t as bad as it looks right now haha.

We ended up going back to Lemongrass Grill for dinner to get the Guava BBQ ribs again – they are so good!  Although this time I washed them down with a Mudslide that was so strong I couldn’t drink it all.

After dinner we strolled a path by the beach for a few minutes because we were all so full!  And then headed back to the condo for hot tub time and bed.  I can’t believe we’ve only got 2 days left in Kauai!  In some ways it seems like we’ve been here a really long time because we’ve done so much, but now it seems like it’s going by too quickly!

kauai day 3: hanalai + a foodies paradise

After we got back home from the Sugar Mill Run, it was definitely time for breakfast! We got a box of gluten free Bisquick at the store. It didn’t have the healthiest of ingredients since it provided zero protein or fiber, so we also got some millet and buckwheat groats to throw in the batter. Sister had also brought some chia seeds along, so those three things combined with the Bisquick mix made a perfectly suitable breakfast!

Some of Sweet Marie’s granola might also have been put on the pancakes before they were flipped – I love granola in pancakes. If you’ve never tried it, you have to!

Served with Passion Fruit Coconut Syrup, some bacon and extra granola! I couldn’t even finish all of these because they were so filling – even though I wanted to because they were so good. We will definitely be making these again on the trip :).

After we were done with breakfast and were showered, we headed up north to Kilauea Beach lighthouse. You normally have to pay to get to the lookout and to see the lighthouse closer, but it was free today for Veterans Day – thanks Veterans!

The views were gorgeous.

 

After the lighthouse and more driving, we ended up near Lappert’s Ice Cream when we were starting to get hungry again.

I got a sundae with kona coffee + chocolate macadamia nut ice creams, banana, hot fudge, macadamia nuts, whip cream and a cherry. So good!

From the ice cream we headed to go work it off. Our destination? Driving all the way to the end of the road and then hike up the trail there. Don’t you just love Hawaiian directions? So descriptive… Well, we ended up going all the way to the end of the road and there was a busy beach and hiking trail calling our names! Mom had forgotten shoes for hiking so she stayed on the beach while Dad, Kinley and I went up and up and up. We were told it was 2 miles to some waterfalls… but the sign said 4 and we were definitely not prepared for an 8 mile hike that would take 3-4 hours, so we set off to the first and second lookout points listed on the sign – a Beach View and a Coast Viewpoint (.5 miles away).

The hike was quite treacherous. It was very steep, rocky, and slick in a few spots. Kinley and I wore our Five Fingers and they were just a hit on the trail haha – almost everyone we went by just had to comment and ask if they were good hiking shoes… and that was quite humorous since we so do NOT look like hikers, especially in our clothes for the day! The first lookout was a breathtaking view of the beach down below.

And the second was a double view – one side of the beach (although much higher up!), and the other side was the coastline. Everyone up there took turns taking pictures of each other so we got one of the three of us ;).

The hike probably took us 40ish minutes I would say, and it left us famished. We headed to a beach so the parents could have a quick cocktail (and apparently another huge hike since the beach we decided on had a huge trail to get to it) and then went back closer to our condo to to out for dinner at a place we had a coupon for in our resort welcome packet, Lemongrass Grill Seafood Bar. I started the meal with a cocktail – one with Malibu coconut rum, guava, passionfruit and one other juice blended with ice and topped with Bacardi 151. Probably one of the best drinks I’ve ever had.

For dinner Kinley and I (thank goodness) both got the Guava BBQ Ribs. We asked if it was gluten free and the waitress checked on the sauce, and said it was as long as we got it on a bed of rice rather than their potatoes. That was perfectly fine for both of us! They were the absolute best, fall of the rib ribs I’ve ever had and the BBQ sauce was spectacular. The jasmine rice might have even been the best rice I’ve had. And there was even broccoli slaw. We might have to go back to this restaurant to eat this meal again, because I seriously cannot think of a better meal that I have ever had – and it was so easily made gluten free!

After we got home from the best dinner ever, it was definitely time for the hot tub again. My body was sore from the 10k, hike, beach hike, and all the other random walks and strolls throughout the day. Good thing we won’t have to get up quite so early tomorrow morning!