Visiting the Garden Isle: Day 3, Part 2 – Beer Sampling and Canyon Viewing
After we hopped off the catamaran from our awesome tour of
the Na Pali Coast, we dropped our wet boating attire in the car and walked
literally across the street to check out the Kaua’i Island Brewing
Company. We knew we were just stopping
for a snack and we’d be heading into the car soon, so we didn’t do a full
flight of everything, instead picking a sample of a few brews; given our
specific predilections, we selected the Lilikoi Ale, the Cane Fire Red, and the
South Pacific Brown.
Overall, they were average (with the exception of the Brown - it was quite good), and we enjoyed the brews at KBC much better;
however, the pork quesadilla appetizer we split was excellent, and the people
there were lovely!
Lots of variety here
After freshening up our clothes and makeup/hair (at least
for me) and purchasing a sticker for the beer fridge, we were on the road again,
heading further west along the main highway around the island. In Waimea town (which we saw from the boat),
we stopped at Ishihara Market, known for its 20 different kinds of poke, made
fresh each day. While some varieties
were gone (it was 3pm by this time), the offerings remaining still looked good,
and we picked a wasabi ahi version.
After grabbing a few cold drinks, we camped out on their porch for a few
moments while we snacked.
OMG, you have to
share!
From Waimea, we turned off the main road and headed straight
north, up into Waimea Canyon. Allegedly,
it was Mark Twain who declared Waimea Canyon to be “the Grand Canyon of the
Pacific,” even though reports differ as to whether he ever actually visited it. Regardless of the validity of the story, the
name stuck and with good reason:
Yup, it pretty much looks like the Grand Canyon, albeit on a
much smaller scale (overall length and depth as well) and much greener. It’s certainly beautiful, and we thought it
was cool to see the formations we’ve grown used to in a completely different
setting. The road through Waimea has
several lookouts, and we stopped at most of them, seeing unique views each
time.
Look out, lookout!
From some areas, you could see the beach of Waimea and from
others, you could look back partially to the eastern side of things where the
airport is located (you couldn’t see all the way there, as other mountains are
in the way). It was cool to
behold.
As the road winds up from sea level to about 4000 feet, you
also pass into Koke’e State Park; from the stopping points in Koke’e, you can
hike all sorts of trails, some leading out toward the very same Na Pali Coast
on which we had recently been spending so much time. In our travel planning, I initially scoped
out a hike from this area, but when I looked at our plan to do the boat ride, I
knew that riding on a boat plus drinking beer on said boat equaled no afternoon
hiking plans, and we were happy we didn’t try to push ourselves. Also, this was the view to Na Pali when we
made it to the final overlook:
Yup, pretty much a wall of clouds. The hike would not have been particularly
scenic/enjoyable, so we feel we made the right call. While more time spent on the coast would have
been lovely, our timing just wasn’t the best.
Maybe next trip!
After taking a few more pictures of chickens…
Yes, they made it way
up here, too
…we turned southward and headed down the road, joining the
main highway at Waimea. We headed back
east toward our final evening destination of Poipu, a major tourist location on
the island’s south shore. Since we were running ahead for our 7pm dinner reservations, we made a planned detour at Spouting
Horn, an iconic Kaua’i landmark. The
hole itself is now fenced off, which seems like a good idea, as I’m sure it has
claimed the life of many a stupid tourist.
Even though you pretty much know what you’ll see at Spouting Horn, it’s
still pretty impressive to see first-hand, and the sound when the waves come
crashing through is cool.
Pew!
Pew! Pew!
After fighting through the chicken horde back to the Roach
Coach, we headed to dinner. This
evening, we were dining at Keoki’s Paradise, a restaurant recommended by almost
all of our buddies who’d been to Kaua’i before us. Keoki’s is owned by Duke’s, a group that also
has an iconic restaurant in Waikiki. We
knew that the food would probably be just okay (no molecular gastronomy here,
folks), but the setting should be great.
On both of these points, we were pretty much right. We ended up an hour early for the reservation
(at 6, instead of 7), so we took a seat at the bar until we were buzzed for our
table 15 minutes later. Chris had a beer
and I had a mai tai, and they were both delicious:
Trying to imitate my
tiki man mug
When we were seated, we were right on the pond built for the
restaurant, and the setting was lovely.
The sun was going down, chickens were wandering in to roost for the night (yes,
really), and a steel drum band was setting up near the lit tiki torches; it was
great touristy, Hawaiian fun. Our waiter
seemed okay if slightly inattentive.
Chris ordered the fish of the day (which came with two different
preparations), I ordered the filet mignon (figuring nobody can screw up good
steak), and we asked to split the Caesar salad as an app. We waited for quite some time and finally,
the main courses arrived without salad.
We asked the waiter about this and he was very apologetic, bringing the
salad to us anyway and taking the fee off the bill.
For the mains, Chris’ fish was absolutely delicious; the
sauces were great and the fish was perfectly cooked. Unfortunately, for my main, I was somewhat
incorrect in that it should be impossible for someone to screw up steak; I like
my steak medium, which means I can take it a bit pinker or greyer, and I’m good
to go. This steak was well done, full
stop; not my choice, obviously, but I still finished most of it, as I really
don’t like sending food back to kitchens.
Also, for a filet, it was the toughest cut of meat I’ve ever eaten;
maybe filets from Hawaiian cows are super tough since they have to live on
windy islands? I don’t really know, but
it was the most expensive, least tender piece of ribeye I’ve ever put in my
mouth. The Caesar salad was limp and
uninspired (I tend to like really garlicky Caesar’s, so I am fully aware that
most of these seem tame to me), but at least it was free.
We finished off the night with the hula pie, the
restaurant’s signature dessert, and it was quite good – macadamia nut ice cream
cake with an OREO crust (a teeny, tiny bit of one on our slice), whipped cream,
chocolate sauce, and more mac nuts. Overall, it was delicious, and we polished
it off. Taking all of these things into
account, the meal was just so-so, and given the high price tag, we wouldn’t
bother to eat there again, even for the fun atmosphere and the things they did
well. Go somewhere else, is our
recommendation.
After a mixed bag of a meal, we were exhausted and ready to
head home; since we were pretty far away, the drive took about an hour, which
Chris valiantly completed while I tried to stay awake in the passenger seat –
not so well, as it turns out. We got
back to our room, did a quick foray to the hot tub, showered off, and then hit
the hay!
In the next blog installment, we go climb another mountain
and get sunburnt on another beach!
Later,
Amy
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