Kauai: Day Five

Sunday we drove up to the north side of the island. It was full of windy turns, one lane bridges (like half a dozen in a matter of miles!) and beautiful sights to see. The clouds did suck a bit, but it's pretty common on Kauai I guess due to all the mountains. Oh well... the clouds and occasional rain reminder me of home... only warmer.

Historic Hanalai boasted a beautiful church built in 1912. I'm slightly obsessed with old churches.

We saw the dry cave (Maniniholo) at Haena State Park. And a poor little stray mama dog. 

We found the first wet cave (Waikanaloa) pretty easily. The sun decided to make an appearance, so the sand made my life difficult and John can barely be seen. Sorry for the poor quality pics.

The 2nd cave... not so easy to find. The directions were crap, there were no signs (and there aren't for a lot of things in Kauai) and we had to rely on locals to helps us find it. The lifeguard we asked actually told us not to go because it's "kinda dangerous." I had to go after that! After hiking around for what felt like hours, we found the "blue room" (Waikapalae). It was so worth it though! We had to hike down into it so pictures were hard to get (too dark). Apparently you can swim through the front room, hold your breath through old lava tubes and come up into the "blue room." Sounds terrifying to me, but a bunch of teenager did it while we were there!

Hanalei Bay wasn't what we expected beach wise, so we snapped a few pics before heading out to look for a better place to relax.

We loved Anini Beach! It was so quiet, peaceful and I loved saying the name over and over (I don't know if I'm right or not, but I kept saying uh-nee-nee!) The trees were practically in the water, the sun made an appearance and there were dogs running everywhere! It was just perfect.

This random lady ran up right when I was trying to take a picture of the trees... rude.

After packing up and heading out I begged John to stop at this itty bitty little tiny beach (not even on a map anywhere I could find) that a couple locals were using. (it was somewhere between Anini and Kalihiwai) I was absolutely mesmerized by the strange jet black lava rock pushing through the sand here and there. Fun Fact: Kauai was the first of the Hawaiian islands to be formed. By lava?

The wind was out of control so I grudgingly went back to the rental car. I don't know how models make the wind thing look so sexy. I just look like a lion.

Kilauea lighthouse was spectacular but we missed the 4 o'clock closing so we couldn't go on site. Boo.

Kilauea had an adorable little stone church! I jumped out of the car in the middle of the road to get a picture of this one. (John was real happy about that...)

After making it back to the hotel in one piece we got ready then headed to dinner on the south side of the island. (we put a ton of miles on the car that day!) Poipu Tropical Burgers was way too delicious for a lady to eat there. I might of even licked my fingers at one point while eating my burger. ( I know my mom is cringing... sorry mom!)

There goes that wind again. Blowing my dress this time... but no lioness hair =)