Travel days

Travel Day:  June 22, 2013.  We decided to take the Hawaiian Airlines flight from LAX - Lihue (Kauai) with a layover in Honolulu. Hawaiian was running a special in early fall for only $500/pp round trip to Kauai.   The flight from LAX to Honolulu was on a large Airbus 330 with video screens in each head rest, lots of movies and other entertainment and even a USB charging plug for your Smart Phones and other devices.  We also has complimentary meals and wine (in coach!)

 

I was intrigued by this short film about the "Happy Face Spider",

only found on certain islands in Hawaii.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theridion_grallator

 



Our flight home (July 8, 2013) with a much longer layover at Honolulu International Airport (HNL).  The Klotz family flies in style with a laptop for each person.  We stopped at Stinger Rays for sandwiches, burgers, cold beer and gaming!

 



Sunsets

You can never watch too many sunsets while on Kauai!  We enjoyed many during our 17 day trip. 

 

Brennecke's Beach,Poipu

 

Geoff and Hunter enjoying twillight at Brennecke's

 

Brennecke's Beach Broiler

 



Sunset from our condo at Nihi Kai Villas:

 

http://www.parrishkauai.com/kauai-condos/nihi-kai-villas/

 



 

Hanalei Bay Resort

We had a wonderful opportunity to stay at a friend's condo at Hanalei Bay Resort for 2 nights.  She had a hole in her calendar and offered to let us stay here.  We've never stayed at HBR before and really fell in love with the views and the condo complex.  It will be even more awesome when they finish the renovations at the Happy Talk Bar and Bali Hai Restaurant.

http://www.summitpacificinc.com/4222.html

 

 

 

Hunter hanging out with a pair of Nene's

 



I really love the roosters on Kauai!  Even though they may wake me up (I'm not a morning person), I really feel at home when I hear them that first morning on Kauai.

This pair of Nene's actually made more noise than the many roosters on the grounds.

 



Hanalei Bay

4th of July with TripAdvisor friends on Hanalei Bay

We finally were able to meet "22Kauai" aka Cynthia (from Trip Advisor) and her husband Wayne.  They rent this darling cottage right on Hanalei Bay every summer and invited us to spend the 4th of July with them.  We met her son, Scott last summer when he finished a swim from Ke'e Beach to Polihale Beach and met his wife and 3 children as well.  I did not take a lot of pictures but really enjoyed the company and views of the bay.  There are several homes for rent is this area, all owned by the same family.

 

Fireworks!

We bought close to $200 in fireworks at the local Costco.  We set off 1/2 of them on Hanalei Bay on the 4th of July.  We waited and set up the 2nd half with our friends Kristin, Sasha and their daughter, Janelle.  They own a condo at Nihi Kai (we met them in 2010) and they live in Newbury Park (about 20 minutes from us).  The kids loved having 2 fireworks shows!

 

Hyatt and Shipwreck's Beach

We walked over to The Grand Hyatt in Poipu. We hung out at the beach, swam a bit (I read) and had a great lunch at the pool side restaurant.

 

 

Sheraton Beach

Boogie boarding at the "Sheraton Beach", Poipu, Kauai

One of the kids favorite boogie boarding beachs (beside Brennecke's) is the beach in front of the Sheraton.  It's technically part of Poipu Beach (far west end) but many call it the "Sheraton Beach".  The parking is easy and there is a ton of shade and great waves!