Honeymoon Blog: Day 6

Friday 7/1

We woke up today and had a little change in the morning breakfast routine.  Instead of eating the complimentary breakfast at the Sheraton, we drove up to a highly recommended breakfast spot in Kalaheo.  Elise got the Hawaiian French toast covered with pineapple and Macadamia nuts while Connor got the Bonza burrito.  It was another excellent meal!  

After breakfast, we checked out the historic town of Hanapepe…meh

We then went to the southern tip of the island to visit the Kauai Coffee Company, the largest single coffee estate in the US.  We tried 10+ different varieties of coffee and went on the self guided tour through their coffee fields and processing plant.  We left with a few souvenirs and a caffeine buzz!

This was just the beginning of the shopping spree.  We headed east back to the main town of Lihue where we both got some “Red Dirt T-Shirts” dyed with the red soil native to Kauai (as seen on Dirty Jobs with Mike Rowe).  We then bought some more fun coffee and macadamia nut souvenirs at a local coffee shop (where we got the last six bags of Royal Kona gold coffee).  We finished off the spree in the little town of Koloa (just north of the hotel) where we bought Elise this very colorful and elegant sarong (pictured above!).  OW OW!   

*Elise would like to note that Connor is writing this entry.  

After exhausting the travel piggy bank, Elise insisted on getting one more purchase, a Puka Dog!  A hot dog wrapped completely with a bun covered in a fruity Hawaiian relish.  Although Connor was skeptical, the Pineapple relish Puka Dog was actually quite good.

*Elise wants to note that she finally got her nap in at this point, after days and days of hiking and snorkeling.

 

Just East of the hotel along the coast are some fantastic lithified cliffs that have been eroded by wind and wave for millions of years.  The result is a beautiful twisted coastline of cliffs called the Maha’ulepu beaches and cliffs (a local treasure judging by all of the local fishermen and campers).  Unfortunately, no sea turtles (in Hawaiian they are called Honu) or Monk seals (called “Dogs running in the rough seas”) were spotted.  

After cleaning up, we headed to a nice romantic dinner at the Grand Hyatt’s Tidepools restaurant.  The food and atmosphere (not to mention the company) were amazing.  Elise had the Hawaiian Opah with crab and avocado stuffed shrimp while Connor had the macadamia crusted Mahimahi.  Lava chocolate cake finished off a wonderful night.  

We also made a last stop to get a nice piece of artwork for our house, a sea turtle engraving in a beautiful piece of native Hawaiian Koa wood.