Kauai Island, Hawaii

My family has visited so many lovely beaches in the Philippines, and there are so many more we have yet to visit, we tend to overlook a certain set of famous beaches somewhat nearer to home:  the beaches of Hawaii.  Since we go to the Philippines anyway to see family, it's actually more expensive for us to vacation in Hawaii.  And since I'm biased, I'd have to say I like Philippine beaches better anyway.  But I feel incredibly lucky to have had the chance to visit Hawaii twice; once, to the island of Maui, and the second time, to Kauai.  We vacationed in Kauai 12 years ago to celebrate Alfie's birthday, and at the time we were just a family of three.



As anyone who has been there knows, Kauai is truly a beautiful place.  It's lush and green, and it has a laid-back vibe that reminds me of the beach towns in the Philippines.  We stayed at the Sheraton Kauai, which had nice rooms, white sand beaches, a yummy breakfast buffet, a beautiful pool, and a great morning yoga class, for a decent price.

Kauai is a fairly small island, so we rented a car and were able to hit quite a few of the main tourist attractions during our 5-day visit.  If this were a more recent trip, I'd take each destination and make a separate post out of it, but at this point it's too far back in time and my memory for detail fails me, so I'll just list them down:

Waimea Canyon...

The Spouting Horn...

The Fern Grotto...

Wailua River...

We got to see the famous wild chickens running amuck along the roads and pathways of Kauai.

Another not-to-be-missed experience we got to enjoy:  a Hawaiian luau!  I love how The Pea is staring at the hula dancer with an "Are You My Mother" expression.

We also drove up the Kuhio Highway (Hwy 560) and saw Princeville, Hanalei, the caves on the North Shore and Haena Beach... but I don't have any photos of those places.  Unbelievable (especially in this age of blogging and Instagramming every part of your trip), but true!

The Pea, of course, doesn't remember a thing about our trip, but that doesn't stop her from telling people she's been to Hawaii.  She would love to go back, and the boys would love to travel there too.  Would I visit Kauai again?  In a heartbeat.  Now that the kids are older, there's so much more we can do.  There are tons of hiking trails, snorkeling trips, and other activities I'd love to try.

Of course, it's all subject to time and money, which probably means Kauai is going to be low on our priority travel list at the moment.  It looks like my memories of Kauai are going to be restricted to that one magical trip for now.  But, if my Kauai memories are going to consist of this:

.... then that's definitely not a bad thing!!