Aloha Friends,

I wanted to share this sunrise with you. It rained all through the night but, look how pretty this morning’s sunrise was! Wishing you a beautiful day!

Aloha Friends,

We’ve had record breaking amounts of rain on Kauai! In 24 hours on April 14 we had over 2 feet of rain! All of this rain caused flash flooding and landslides. The north shore took the brunt of the storm. Hanalei is nearly underwater, cars were overturned, many homes were flooded and farther north Kuhio highway is completely blocked by earth when the hillside collapsed onto the road.

The beaches are littered with fallen trees and debris. I took these photos the day after the storm. Above is Wailua bay looking north. The ponds at Lydgate are not looking too good, but clean up has already began. As evidenced by the large container near the shore.

What is amazing is that during this crazy weather no one was killed or seriously injured. We have much to be thankful for.

Aloha Friends!

It's getting chilly on Kauai! Dare I say cold? Yesterday according to the National Weather Service, Lihue hit a record low of 55F! Brr...time to put on socks with those slippahs.

Aloha Friends,

Have you tried Hamura's Saimin Stand yet? We tried it recently and loved it! All these years we traveled to Kauai and never tried it. I had the mistaken idea that it would taste like Top Ramen. Boy, was I wrong! This is totally different. These noodles are amazing! Served with chopped ham, fish cake and green onions in a tasty broth. It was so good! You can also order it with tempura shrimp, or the special saimin which has more fixings, meat and wontons. The menu is simple, they also offer udon, barbeque beef (tender and delicious) and chicken skewers.

Hamura's Saimin is a casual, mom and pop type of restaurant with a nice mix of tourists and locals. The prices are cheap! My saimin was $6, the bbq sticks are $2.50, and the special saimin was $9. They make an incredible lilikoi pie which is the perfect way to end your meal. It's a tangy, fluffy chiffon pie with a light, flakey crust topped with Cool Whip. Yummy! They also sell the pies frozen which would be wonderful for the flight home.

Hamura's is located at 2956 Kress Street (just off of Rice Street) in Lihue.

Aloha Friends,
My hubby and I recently celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary! Surely a honeymoon to Kauai was in order! We had a great time on our little honeymoon. It was short and sweet, just 4 nights. Perfect getaway with my sweetheart.

As I was looking through our photos I noticed a lot of them were of food! You can tell we like to eat! LOL! I do enjoy cooking at the condo. The photo of the fancy looking tuna steak was from a dinner we had at the Hukilau Lanai. It was delicious. The grove of coconut palms is across from the condo on the mauka (mountain side). You can't see them too well in the photo but, there's a heard of tiny goats that graze there. They're pretty cute. All the beach photos were taken at the beach in front of the condo. We love that beautiful beach! Oh, and we saw whales breaching from there! Apparently whales love Kauai too!

Aloha and thanks for reading my diary!

Aloha Friends!

Here's the beautiful new whale wall! Wyland did an incredible job on this painting. It looks very similar to the old painting except the whales are now facing towards the north shore and it's a night sky with a luminescent full moon. I love it! I'll take some photos when we visit next month and share then with you. Mahalo Wyland...what a wonderful gift you have given Kauai! Also, thanks to Sherwin-Williams for supplying all the paint!

Speaking of whales, there's plenty of them around Kauai this time of year. We've seen them from the beach across from the condo. You can watch the humpback whales from just about anywhere along the coast of the island. But, a lot of people say the best spot to view these amazing creatures is from the Kilauea Lighthouse. The lighthouse is a scenic 30 minute drive from the condo.

Aloha!

Aloha Friends,

I have some exciting news! Artist Robert Wyland is repainting his infamous whale wall in Kapaa this weekend! The wall originally completed in 1991 is huge...150 feet long and 24 feet tall. It had to be big, as life size humpback whales were the subject mater.  In all, Wyland has painted100 life size public murals to increase appreciation, understanding and conservation of marine life. What a cool guy he is!

The wall located in the Safeway shopping center in Kapaa is seen by hundreds of people daily as they drive along Kuhio highway. But, the painting was showing it's age and had deteriorated so badly over the years that Wyland said he could actually stick his finger through the T1-11 plywood siding! That siding has all been replaced and recently the wall was covered in a fresh coat of light blue paint...a big blank canvas. Wyland (who is working for free) plans to transform the wall into a beautiful new mural by noon on Monday! I can't wait to see what he paints!  I'm so happy for Kauai! Thank you Wyland!

Aloha Friends!

Here's a few photos from the second half of our vacation...

As you can see we really took it easy on this trip to Kauai. On the last 5 days we went to Lydgate beach again, it's a family favorite. The guys can fish (outside of the ponds), snorkeling and swimming is safe and it's lifeguarded! We did a little shopping at the brand new ABC store at the Coconut Marketplace, it's a short walk from the condo. There's also a Farmer's Market there where we picked up more fruit and veggies. The rest of the time was spent on the beach directly in front of the condo...just relaxing. On our last morning we went to breakfast at the Tip Top in Lihue and had a delicious local style meal. We ordered Oxtail Soup, Loco Moco, and 3 Grand Slams with Macadamia Nut Pancakes. You can't go wrong here friends...everything was great, staff was friendly and the portions were ample!

With full bellies we headed to the airport with my son's live betta fish in tow! The TSA guys were super cool and joking about the fish. We had a pleasant flight home to San Diego on Alaska Air. The fish arrived safe and sound :)

Thanks again for reading my diary!

Aloha Friends!

Ted, myself and all the kiddos are enjoying a family visit to Kauai. The little ones especially love it here. Happiness is spending time on the beach with family! And having a beautiful beach just 200 yards away is awesome!

Having the ocean so close does put us at higher risk for hurricane and tropical storm damage. Thankfully, tropical storm Darby mellowed out by the time it reached us on Kauai. Big waves, cloudy skies and some rain. Not too exciting, which is a good thing! The overcast weather gave us an excuse to do some work around the condo. New blinds installed and touch up paint so far this trip. Little things make a big difference in keeping the condo looking fresh.

We're off to spend another day at the beach. The weather can change rapidly here on Kauai as evidenced with the above photo :)

I'll post again soon friends!

Aloha All!

It was a short visit to Kauai...just four nights but, we so enjoyed our little honeymoon!

We took a long walk along the Kauai Path. The wide concrete path stretches about 9 miles from Lydgate park through Kapaa and up past Kealia beach. The scenery is beautiful...

Breakfast with friends at the Olympic Café in old town Kapaa. Good food and good friends...perfect!

We went to dinner one night at the Bull Shed in Kapaa. The prime rib is absolutely delicious! Dinner includes a trip to their salad bar. Their portions are generous so let your tummy beware :) The leftover steak makes wonderful picnic fixings!

Foodland is a great place to pick up locally grown fruits and veggies. We did most of our grocery shopping there and at Longs Drugs.

Every day we spent time at the beach in front of the condo. It's nice to pack a picnic and relax a few hours away...

Wailua is one of our favorite beers made by the Kona Brewing Company. Unfortunately the Wailua is only sold in the state of Hawaii. Another excuse to go back Friends!

Cheers!

Thanks for reading my diary!