Welcome back, my readers! Sunday morning dawned early for us! Since we were up and alert at 4:30 am (10:30 East Coast Time), we decided to call into my congregation’s “worship hotline” to listen into the Sunday service and participate together from afar! There is a church on Kauai we could have gone to, so we will keep that in mind for next time!

First up, to the rental car! Steve had a lot of unused points for Hertz rental cars, so we decided to use them for this trip! The hotel’s shuttle took us to the airport where we picked up the car and set out for Fantasy Island Falls:

Pretty fantastical, yes? It was up a little two lane road that dead ended here. It has been featured on Fantasy Island, where it gets its nickname! The view was well worth the quick side-trip. Now, onward to the North Shore! We had an amazing hike ahead of us!

For such a small island (the smallest of the four main islands in Hawaii), there are so many cute little towns along the main road! We knew we wanted to head to the North Shore and work our way back, but it was very tempting to stop at all the cute spots along the way! We did stop for a coffee and breakfast, but then we really did get on our way!

Check out the view just beyond that handsome chap! This is the Kalalau Trail, named the second most dangerous hiking trail in the world! It’s 11 miles one way, but Steve and I weren’t all about that. We hiked a little over a mile out and back in around 2 hours. It was entirely worth the booty-kicking, slippery, really-close-to-the-edge hike! The trail was pretty busy, but people were super polite and laid-back. The islands just have that effect on people, including us! We even found a kind soul to take our picture together:

So sweet! The wind was really kicking around the dirt, too. You can’t tell from Steve’s smile, but projectile dirt particles hurt!

After our hike we decided to head to the beaches and see as many of them as we could. But first we had to get out of the parking lot! It was incredibly rocky, with huge dips that clearly had occurred because the rain had washed it away so many times. What we wouldn’t have given for four-wheel drive! I honestly don’t know how we made it in or out of the lot without running into another vehicle. But we made it! Along our beach search, we found some crowded ones and some not-so-crowded ones. But the real fun came when we got to the one-lane bridges:

Local courtesy is to get 5-7 cars go through before you do. I’m glad Steve was driving!

We stopped off at some of those cute towns on our way back down from the North Shore, including adorable Hanalei, Princeville, and Kapaa. Hanalei is adorable. It’s set in the perfect spot by the ocean and the mountains. Sorry I didn’t get a good picture. I was too busy gawking! All the more reason to go back, though!

And on we went, stopping for coconut water (from a coconut!) and regular water to keep us hydrated. Since we were making good time, we decided to make our way to the other side of the island, in a town called Eleele, and see the coffee plantations they have there: Kauai Coffee Company!

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Pretty neat! There is a little self-guided tour path you can walk through, and you can sample over 30 kinds of coffee! I decided to skip the samples and go straight for the blended white chocolate coffee myself! I also made friends with their coffee scarecrow. See pictures above!

Then it was back to the airport to return the car and catch the shuttle back to the hotel. And time for an early bedtime as well! I went to one of the hotel restaurants for take-out, but by the time I got back, it was too late! I ate what I had picked up for me and put Steve’s in the fridge to enjoy for breakfast the next day!

Be on the lookout for my next post… the next day was beach day!