The Garden Island

The weather sucks in Portland right now. Let's visit somewhere warmer. To the Kauai vacations photos!

Photo by Greg

We had a wonderful time in Kauai, despite a couple of hiccups. It rained off and on the whole time, which made us panic that we were going to have another experience like we did in Oahu. About halfway through our trip we got word that one of Greg's team members, who was only 53, passed away. We had a pretty sad three days processing that and it was hard to feel okay enjoying a tropical vacation. But if there's a better place to be sad than the ocean, I'm not sure where it is.

It helps that we stayed in Koloa, where you can see sea turtles frequently. We got to swim five feet from them while we were snorkeling. Another time we were floating aimlessly on boogie boards and one popped up right next to me. They are gorgeous animals.

Not a sea turtle (red-crested cardinal)

We visited Hanalei town, which was a wonderful little town.

Waimea Canyon was foggy but it was still beautiful.

By the time we got to one of the best viewpoints, it was so foggy that you couldn't see the canyon at all. It happens to be one the wettest spots on earth, receiving an average of almost 374 inches of rain per year.

We visited blowholes. We were underwhelmed.

We drank wine and contemplated on the beach.

We visited Ke'e beach, which sits at the base of Bali Ha'i. The waves were huge that day, as we were getting a lot of rough surf from Typhoon Haiyan.

We visited Opaeka'a Falls and it was pouring so hard that we snapped this photo and ran back to the car. There were flash flood warnings that day.

We drank a lot of maitais.

We admired the plumeria and chenille plant that surrounded our condo.

I still think I like Maui a smidge more but Kauai gets two thumbs up. And I thought its sunsets were better than Maui's.

Stay warm, Portlanders! Maitais help.