Visiting the Garden Isle: Day 6 – Heading Home

Want to read more?  Past blog posts:  Day 1, Day 2, Part 1, Day 2 Part 2, Day 3 Part 1, Day 3 Part 2, Day 4, Day 5 Part 1, Day 5 Part 2

Our final morning was another early one for us; the alarm went off before it was light, and we took some quick showers before getting on the road and heading back to Lihue to catch our flight home to Phoenix.  The night before had been a somewhat rough one for me, as my stomach troubles from two nights earlier reappeared; thankfully, my issues were resolved with a quick bout of throwing up, and I once again felt fine when I awoke the next day.  As you may recall from a previous blog, we initially blamed my stomach problems on eating at Keoki’s, but since this was now a somewhat regular occurrence, we pondered the idea of a mild food allergy instead; I’ve never been allergic to anything at all, but perhaps I was eating something I never have at home that was triggering an issue.  Our best guess was that coconut may be the culprit; I don’t care for the taste, so I avoid it anyway, and both nights I was sick, I had sauces that included the ingredient.  It hasn’t happened since we left Kaua’i, so who knows, really?

Anyway, back to the narrative thread here.  Up early, righto.  Moving on.  We checked out of our hotel, having escaped the time share presentation for our entire visit (score!), and started heading down the road toward the airport.  We hit the town of Kilauea right at 6am, so we made a quick stop at the bakery in the Kong Lung Center for some breakfast.  We split a delicious sausage breakfast stromboli (the bakery is a pizza place for lunch and dinner) and grabbed some pastries for later.

Pastries – a chocolate macaroon
and a passion fruit creampuff.
Guess which one belongs to me.

Ignore the face.  He’s fine.

We hopped back in the car and headed straight to the airport after that, pausing only to fill up the car with gas. 

We bid a fond adieu to the Roach Coach, checked our bag, and breezed through security, finding a seat once inside the airport to enjoy a small second breakfast.

Delicious!

Ick on my shoe!

We flew from Kaua’i back through Honolulu, and both flights were on time without any issues.  We wished Kaua’i farewell with a few shots from the airplane window:

Aloha, Kaua'i!

Once in Honolulu, we decided we didn’t want to bother leaving the airport, so we killed part of our 3 hour layover wandering the airport, browsing the scotch selection in the duty free shops.  The day was beautiful, so we headed to the gardens within the airport itself, which were quite lovely.

We ate lunch inside the airport at a casual sit-down place which had Pipeline Porter on tap (nice!); we split a Hawaiian flatbread pizza and salad, and everything was good.  Our flight to Phoenix boarded, and we spent our time reading and napping until we landed. 

Overall, we really loved our time on Kaua’i, and we’d absolutely visit again.  Much more so than Oahu, it was really our speed; quiet and relaxed with outstanding hiking and other activities that we enjoy.  While on the plane on the way home, we indulged in a vacation tradition we started a few trips back, and we each named our picks in the following categories:

Favorite Meal (Pricey) – both of us picked the Dolphin in Hanalei town where we ate sushi on Day 4.  Man, it was so good!

Favorite Meal/Snack (Casual) – for this one, I picked our beach lunch on Day 2 after we hiked on the Na Pali Coast.  Something about the setting just sold me.  Chris picked the ice cream at Lappert’s and the various grocery store poke dishes we had during our time on the island.

Favorite Experience Overall – I picked “beach time” as my choice; since I had the extremely good fortune to grow up in a beachy area and then later go to college in one, I love just lying on the beach, listening to the surf roll in, reading a book or maybe napping.  We hadn’t done this in way too long.  For Chris, the hike on the Na Pali Coast was his favorite experience, and I certainly can’t fault his choice.  This was extraordinarily gorgeous.

Favorite “Tourist Trap” Activity – I picked the luau on this one and Chris picked the boat tour.  Both were excellent and well worth the coin.

Least Worth the Money – we were in sync again here, both selecting Keoki’s.  There are quite a few better places on the island where you’ll pay the same and enjoy the food and experience far more, in our opinion.

Most Memorable Thing About Kaua’i – for Chris, this was the scenery, and I think that’s a good pick.  From the towering cliffs on the Na Pali Coast to the bluffs near our hotel to the greens and reds of Waimea Canyon, this island is stunning.  For me, it was (of course) the chickens.  They were everywhere, and I’ll remember them for a long time.

Later!

Amy