The Professor Errant

Our first trip of the new year was to the one major Hawaiian island we hadn’t been to yet: Kauai! Oahu, Maui, the Big Island, we’ve done them all at least once (I actually lived briefly on Maui 25 years ago). Now all that’s really left for us is the smaller (and less accessible) islands of Lanai and Molokai.

Getting There

Our flight there was LAX to LIH (Lihue) on American. I paid for the flight with points, 20,000 AA miles/person. Not the best redemption but it got us to where we wanted to go. The combo of my AA Gold status and our Aviator card got us free bags, priority check-in, and Group 4 boarding. We’ve never been upgraded to first class, though, in all the time I’ve had Gold. (I’ve let it lapse this year; really, the only benefit of Gold beyond what the Aviator already gets us was the priority check-in…and maybe nicer main cabin seats.)

The flight was pretty smooth. The Aviator daily food credit got us some nice cheese plates.

Accommodations

We stayed at the Hilton Garden Inn Kauai Wailua Bay, paying cash. I love a nice HGI, even if they aren’t a top tier Hilton brand. I had booked a room with 2 queen beds, and they put us in a corner room with a king and sofa bed. Felt like a tiny upgrade; it was nice and had a lovely view.

The hotel doesn’t have a great beach area, but there’s a couple of pools, a nice tiki bar, and a beautiful view of the ocean. We were happy with it, even if the food and beverage credit didn’t go very far for breakfast the next morning. The food was yummy though (banana pancakes and pineapple French toast).

Being Lazy (Mostly) in Kauai

Our first full day on Kauai we mostly spent being unplugged. It was Inauguration Day and we wanted to stay away from the news. We drove around a bit in the morning, hit a couple of gift shops in Lihue (not a big or happening town, sadly). Hilo Hattie is a chain throughout the islands and really the best place for Hawaiian souvenirs and clothes. We had a plate lunch at Mark’s Place, recommended online and pretty good. Note: this is also the day we learned that Kauai is rife with free-roaming chickens.

The afternoon was spent by the pool; pina colada in my hand, Starbucks in Rob’s. We topped it off with a nice dinner at a restaurant we spotted on our drive, Keoki’s Paradise. Seafood risotto that was to die for, topped off with Hula Pie, our favorite Hawaiian dessert.

Ok, a few activities…

The second day was our most active one. Since Kauai has been a location used (not always as itself!) in many movies, Rob wanted to go on a movie site tour. I found a “Kauai Highlights and Movie Sites” tour on Viator, through Polynesian Adventures. It was fun, a small group of us on a bus with a cool driver/guide (Kaleo) who took us around the island. At lot of filming is done on private land, and therefore not accessible, but there was still a lot of cool stuff to see from Donovan’s Reef, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and Jurassic Park (not a complete list!). Lunch was in Hanalei, where we came across Big Nick’s (awesome plate lunch).

Unrelated to movies sites (I guess it falls under “Highlights”), we stopped at the tasting room for Lydgate Farms, who make chocolate on Oahu from cacao grown on Kauai. It was so good and, yes, we got a bunch of chocolate to take home with us (shut up and take my money!).

That night we attended the highly rated Luau Kalamaku. It features a beautiful show in the round and, of course, a delicious buffet. They also made the best mai tai (I had several on the trip; have to be scientific about this!). Every trip to Hawaii, we try to make it to a local luau, even if it’s just a hotel one. Sometime soon, I’ll get Rob to Old Lahaina Luau, on Maui, which has long been considered the best in the state.

Our third (and last) full day took us to one of my favorite things in the world, a lighthouse! Kilauea Point National Wildlife Refuge features the northern-most lighthouse in Hawaii (named for the late Hawaiian Senator Daniel K. Inouye). Our guide the previous day, Kaleo, said the lighthouse was closed but since I had bought us tickets online before the trip and the website said nothing of the sort, I was skeptical. It turned out to indeed be open, as I thought, though there were some access and construction issues going on (one overlook was not accessible). And they did in fact close from February to May of this year.

We had a nice walk around the lighthouse, saw lots of seabirds nesting, and I got a new stamp in my lighthouse passport (priorities!).

One of our favorite Hawaiian foods is Spam musubi (if you didn’t know, Hawaii has a long standing relationship with (and love of) the canned meat). I found a place called the Musubi Truck in Kapa’a, so we went there for lunch. The parking near the food truck’s location sucked but we were not disappointed by the musubi. OG versions, deep fried, there were even some great tater tots in the mix!

Our last afternoon on Kauai was spent again at the pool. We did decide to try something different for dinner and went for Italian food near the hotel. Needed a break from all the great Hawaiian food!

Heading Home

We flew home on Hawaiian Airlines (paid with cash). Rob and I did that thing where we are sitting in our seats and looking towards the plane doors, hoping that no one comes and takes the empty aisle seat next to us. They finished boarding and YES NO ONE WAS SITTING WITH US! So Adventure Pooh got his own seat for the flight…

Hawaiian is one of the few American carriers (the only?) that gives you a free meal in economy. For this flight it was some kind of pizza roll/hot pocket thing. Actually quite tasty, but not something Rob will go anywhere near (notorious pizza hater!). I did manage to scare up some ramen noodles for him from one of the flight attendants. Not free but he was happy as a clam with it.

All in all, a great trip, some needed relaxation for us. Can’t wait to go back to Hawaii. Probably back to one of the other islands next…