a spot of whimsy: D + C | Honeymoon Part 2: Kauai.

Kauai. What can I say? If you thought my Maui post had too many pictures, my apologies for this one. Kauai is just gorgeous, and I couldn't hold myself back.

{Our first day on Kauai!}

We flew Hawaiian Airlines from Maui to Kauai and made it to our hotel by the late afternoon. We stayed at the Grand Hyatt Kauai Resort & Spa, recommended to us by several previous honeymooners who said it was the most incredible place they'd ever stayed - they were not wrong. Though the actual beach in front of the resort is nowhere as amazing as the Westin's in Maui (the tide and waves make it almost impossible to swim there), the grounds itself were a tropical paradise. Kauai is known as the garden isle, and the Grand Hyatt does that name proud.

Day 2 was mostly spent at our resort between the pool and our beach cabana, with a side adventure to explore the beaches along the southern coast. We couldn't get as far as we'd expected, and we sweated our butts off in the open sun, but it was all worth it when we stumbled on a pod (are they a pod?) of sea turtles, fishing in a protected cove. We watched them ride the waves for almost 30 minutes; we were mesmerized by their coolness.

{Shipwreck Beach - We actually watched some crazy people jump off that cliff. Anne Heche and Harrison Ford
(or their stunt doubles, more likely) also did so in Six Days, Seven Nights}

We ended Day 2 by walking 2.2 miles (to Conor's exasperation lol) to dinner at Merriman's Fish House in Popou. Another incredible seafood meal I need to have in my life again.

Spouting Horn

On Day 3 we finally did some real exploring outside our resort. After an early lunch at The Boathouse (YUM - and we hear the sunset here is incredible), we started at the Spouting Horn Blowhole (kinda cool but not required).

Wailua Falls

We then headed north along the eastern coast through Lihue and to the Wailua Falls.

{Yes! That is a rainbow!}

And then further up the eastern coast to the northern shore and as far as we could go by car. The Na Pali Coast covers most of the northern edge of Kauai and is absolutely gorgeous, but is only accessible by hike, air or sea. We'll get there a little further down this post. In the meantime, our drive:

{Right outside Princeville}

{Maninihole Dry Cave at Ha'ena Beach Park; My Precious!}

{Ke'e Beach - The furthest point you can go by car on the north shore of Kauai}

The Helicopter Tour

Day 4 began with one of the most incredible 75 minutes of my life: our helicopter tour on Island Helicopters. I'm not a good flyer, and in fact I was completely terrified to take this ride, but after reading guidebooks and Yelp reviews and C's constant excitement, FOMO kicked in and overrode my fears. Totally worth it.

After cutting over the middle of the island, a familiar theme song reached our ears as we approached Manawaiopuna Falls, aka Jurassic Falls, the private waterfall that only Island Helicopters is allowed to land at (and the reason we picked them). You know the one...

{Was he tearing up, or was it the mist off the waterfall?! The greatest of unsolved mysteries!}

All too soon for Conor, we were back in the helicopter and headed for the beautiful Waimea Canyon, the "Grand Canyon of the Pacific," followed by the Na Pali coast.

{Best experience ever}

We'd seen it by air, and now the Waimea Canyon waited for us on land.

{Never seen avocados so big!}

{Look at all of our friends!!! lol}

{Ended Day 4 enjoying a quiet night at the resort}

{Our second to last sunrise...the end in sight and we aren't happy about it :/}

The Kalalau Trail

For our final day on Kauai (and of the honeymoon, wahhh), we sought out adventure on the Kalalau Trail. We found it. It's an 11-mile trail that weaves in and out of the Na Pali Coast, with very little maintenance to preserve its natural state. It had poured rain all through the previous night and into the morning, turning the already unkempt trail into a mudslide. We'd planned on an 8-mile round-trip hike; we made it 2 miles in to Hanakapai'ai Beach, then turned up to try to make it to the Hanakapai'ai Falls, our planned halfway point, but after falling twice in the mud on a really narrow stretch (with my leg hanging over the edge - gulp!) and slipping and sliding with every step, we made the call to turn back around. Instead of 8 miles, we did about 4.5, and man they were hard.