Kicking off the Kauai Entries with our happy faces on the plane! Unlike the ridiculous schedule we had coming home, the flight to Kauai was painless–just a quick stop in Portland and then a straight shoot over to the airport in Lihue.

My Xanax usage for the entire 9 days consisted of one pill total: 1/2 for the long plane ride there, and 1/2 for the night ride on the way back. I’m not a nervous flyer, but if the flight is a long one I don’t mind catching up on sleep. My eye mask specially made for eyelash extensions helps (heh).

First glimpse of Kauai! Flying in is so exciting.

Other than the plane photos, this rooster photo is the first picture of the trip, and I love how appropriate it is. Josh and I had no idea that the entire island of Kauai is overrun with roosters, chickens, and various other birds. People with bird phobias would hate this island! The birds are well-fed, and not at all shy.

Near the airport: one side says Aloha! And the other side says Mahalo! (thank you).

I tried not to take a ton of photos while we were in the moving car (they generally turn out blurry), but this lovely Asian garden caught my eye.

We had to wait a couple of hours before we could check into our hotel, so we drove south in search of lunch. Someone working at the pharmacy recommended a little family-owned plate lunch restaurant next door, so we had our first plate lunch of the trip there–fried chicken, big piles of sticky rice doused in soy sauce, and macaroni salad. It was delicious. Here’s Josh snarfing.

We drove back towards the hotel and on the way it was VERY important to me to get shave ice–we had shave ice at least once (or more!) every day in Maui. This was a fairly new clothing boutique called “Island Love” that sold shave ice out of the back, and it turned out to be my favorite shave ice on the entire island. Unlike in Maui, I had vanilla ice cream on the bottom (smart move). We went back to this boutique on our last day and I was sure to tell the owner how much I loved it. Outside, it started pouring rain. Welcome to Kauai.

Driving through Lihue, we passed this theater several times reminding us to LIVE ALOHA! Yes! Learn it, live it, love it.

Our hotel was situated in the midst of several coconut groves. In the morning, the groves were filled with noisy goats.

Our hotel room was on the ground floor, right on the beach. You basically stepped out the back door to this view–I couldn’t have been more pleased. Nice hotel booking, husband!

Gazing down the beach to the right…

…and to the left. I was surprised that the temperature of the ocean seemed a little cooler compared to Maui. Maybe because Kauai is further to the north? Who can say. Still beats the icy ocean near Seattle.

It was cool enough for light rain coats that night. We walked around the grounds of our hotel and nearby hotels after surveying the beach.

Gorgeous tropical flowers everywhere. Near the end of the week I finally bought myself an identification book on all of the different types of flowers in Kauai.

So now I know that this is a white spider lily!

We stumbled into a sacred site…

…that was not that impressive-looking. Well, it didn’t say no photography.

The wading pools formed by the rocks are nice, though.

After our walk, we ate fish tacos at a little restaurant near the hotel room, rented “The Wolf of Wall Street” (whooieee that movie is INTENSE!) and watched about half of it before we passed out. I might add that the only reason I’m remembering these little details is because I kept a handwritten journal during our entire trip! Take that, poor memory!

Back soon with Day 2!