We gave Kyra a graduation gift like no other. After she finished college in December, we told her we’d like to take her on a special trip: just the three of us, anywhere she wanted. At the time, we didn’t really know what we were getting into. In mid-February, she called and said she wanted to go to either Costa Rica or Hawai’i. The trip would have to happen in a few weeks, because she was about to start a new full-time job and would have some trouble getting time off. We explored the Costa Rica angle for a bit, but in the end none of us knew enough to plan on such short notice, so we agreed that Hawai’i– where we’ve been before– would be a simpler option.
My job was to organize the logistics. I booked flights, reserved rooms at various spots, and arranged rental cars. Kyra’s job was to fill in the rest with the activities and places she wanted to visit.
Away we went! We joined a few hundred people all excited about some time in the Aloha State.
Our itinerary had us spending a week in Kauai and a week in Maui. We started at Wailua Falls, which turned out to be kind of underwhelming because you could just stand on a cliff overlooking it, without any opportunity to hike down.
But hey, I was with my two favorite women, so it wasn’t all bad!
After a few more stops, we decided to hit a shave-ice place along the south shore. There’s nothing quite like a bunch of ice and flavored sugar juice next to the ocean.
We hiked along the Maha’ulepu Trail for a while. Like many place names in Hawai’i, it’s a mouthful, but I worked on pronouncing it until it rolled off my tongue. It’s fun to “speak” Hawai’ian. The views from atop the cliffs were awesome.
The rental car company was running a special that week, and convertibles cost the same as a “compact” car. Why drive a Kia when you can rumble around in a Mustang?
The roof went up and down really easily, which turned out to be a good thing because it would rain for a few minutes while we were driving (stop and put roof up), and then a few miles later the weather would change to bright sun (stop again and put roof down). Regardless, we all agreed a convertible is the way to go.
The most Kauai thing about Kauai is… the roosters. Those guys are everywhere. They wander the parks and roads and forests; they cock-a-doodle-doo all day. I’ve never seen someone feed them, but they’re definitely not afraid of people. At one point we were sitting at a picnic table having lunch and we were gradually surrounded by a gang of them. One of these days they’re going to rise up in revolt.
As twilight fell on our first day on the island, we decided to lounge on the beach and enjoy the sunset. It was, of course, gorgeous.
It was funny to see a massive crowd of people with the same idea:
Overall, it was a pretty lazy day. We headed to the house where we were staying and prepared for the big day ahead…