Kauai, Hawaii - Days 7 & 8

Day Seven… Wake up Cafe in Hanalei Bay, Sea Caves, Ha’ena Beach Park and Princeville Ranch for horseback riding with zip line adventures.

We started the day by having breakfast at the Wake up Café. 

The cinnamon rolls at the café I was told were really good.  The portions are not too big, but can be split for those watching their waistline.  Their menu offers healthy, low calorie choices too.  FYI: They serve breakfast only.  

We continued to drive north and explored the sea caves in Ha’ena before going to the beach.  We went in one of the caves and saw some ancient drawings (not really – but they look like it) but it was really cool to be able to go in about 200 feet into the cave and look around. 

Next stop, last day for a beach day – Ha’ena Beach Park.   This was my favorite beach.  Clean, great waves, just bring your own shade if you want to sit close to the water.  You can also camp on this beach, something to think about for our next visit.

After a few hours at the beach, we stopped for some shaved ice.  Now I know what the big fuss is all about.  The flavors of fresh fruit just bursts in your mouth!  Yes I know it’s just syrup, but don’t mock it til you try it!  I really enjoyed the coconut, mango and pineapple combo (Wish I had rum, I bet that would have been delish).  Anyway… there are different combos that also include fresh crushed fruit.  Maybe I should open a shaved ice stand here, but I doubt I can compete with all the espresso stands in every corner here in the Pacific Northwest. 

After lunch, we went to the Princeville Ranch for horseback riding and zip line adventures called “Ride & Glide“.  My daughter and cousin went.  At this point in our vacation, I was low on energy and cash.  After hearing about how much fun they had, I regretted not going.  Definitely to be added to our long list of “To do” on our next visit.

We ended the day with red velvet cake to celebrate Michelle’s birthday.

Day 8, we were packing in silence, sad to go so soon. Kauai is definitely my kind of place.  With so much left to do, I know we will back.

We said goodbye by stopping at Kapaa beach, the same beach we stopped at the day we arrived.

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Check out the other days we spent in Kauai!

Day 1.  Day 2.  Day 3.  Day 4.  Day 5.  Day 6.

Before I close off our Kauai adventure, I did promise I would tell you about the roosters.  There are different stories but in a nutshell, here is my recap.  Hurricane Iniki in 1992, destroyed so much on the island – including the coops.  Early Polynesians and Europeans brought chickens to Kauai. The Filipinos brought the roosters for entertainment(fighting cocks).  When they were freed from their coops, they started multiplying and continue to roam freely throughout the whole island.  Many times I wondered if there was some law protecting them from being captured for dinner… something else to look into. 

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