HoneyMooning
Three months and 10 days ago Dre and I got married. Three days after that we boarded a plane for our honeymoon.
We landed in Kauai, Hawaii.
Dre was our travel agent for this trip and I will be eternally grateful for her foresight. I was skeptical about planning (and paying for) a big honeymoon immediately after the coordinating our sizable wedding (115 guests). But she was sure we'd be ready for the break and that it was just too romantic to pass up.
She was spot on. A beachy getaway was perfect medicine for the hectic months and weeks preceding the wedding. Plus, you know, we'd just a made a couple of the biggest decisions of our lives (not to move to Amsterdam and to MARRY each other) so we needed some time to soak it all in.
Our first couple of nights were in a beachside resort in the Southern town of Po'ipu. We opted for the resort so we could get our bearings and have someone else cook for us for a couple of days.
That was a totally good choice, because I slept like a little baby on those clean white hotel sheets and on the first night I only woke from my 15 hour long slumber long enough to eat the room service we ordered.
I had it in my mind that we'd spend most of our honeymoon lounging on beach chairs and maybe spring for a couple of hikes. But once we landed and took a look around we knew we'd be out and about every day. The island is stunning and geologically diverse and we wanted to drink as much of it in as we could.
Here's me on day two in some shorts I ditched immediately after this outing.
Another thing to know about me and Kauai - I don't really have the closet for it. My Bay Area hiking clothes make no kind of sense in a tropical paradise and while I came well-armed with sundresses it was always a question mark as I was getting dressed in the morning.
Function or fashion?
Also. You must have the right shoes. I didn't. So we bought these. Turns out tennis shoes are just too much fabric for your feet.
Dre, on the other hand, had no trouble. Lesbian footwear is the way she rolls.
Kauai is a small, roundish island that is nearly completely encircled by an assemblage of small highways. Its towns are dotted along the perimeter and you can easily drive the whole she-bang in an afternoon. Here's a fun little road we found ourselves on a good many times.
We took that road to our AirBnB rental in Kapa'a - the place we stayed for the bulk of our visit. Kapa'a is a sweet little town in its own right; Dre chose it mainly for its location. It is on the eastern side of the island and makes the rest of the island equally accessible.
Our spot was situated near the Hukilau Lanai and we stopped in for the locally grown food, good view and boozy drinks a couple of times. Dre was a big fan.
But where I think we should have been going EVERY single day was Caffe Coco.
Caffe Coco was immediately off the highway and away from the beach but the back patio made up for the less than ideal spot and they served macadamia nut encrusted tofu!!!
As for our outdoorsy adventuring we took the requisite boat trip to take in the Na Pali coast.
The Na Pali coastline is as grand and awe inspiring as you can imagine. Maybe more so. While out on the boat we swam with a sea turtle(!) and were flanked by the aptly named spinner dolphins. We spent the whole ride ooing and awing and getting slightly sunburned. Okay Dre got super sunburned but I'd opted for the aerosol sunblock and while I'm not down for how much waste is created for so few rounds of protection, it performed that far better than the lotion did.
Dre has work hard to protect that fair freckly skin.
We also hiked on the Nounou Mountain trails and tested the limits of our abilities. Turns out we can climb rocks. And manage mudslides. And rain storms.
Kauai is resplendent with beautiful views and stop-worthy spots and we took in so many of them in but a true highlight was an afternoon spent swimming at Ke'e beach. This beach is at the foot of the Na Pali Coast trail and after taking in the beauty of Hanalei you think you might have seen the best there is to see and then you swim here. The water is the brightest blue and the Na Pali cliffs jut out from the earth and its a completely striking scene.
My camera hardly did justice to the Garden Island but here are a few bonus pics. The rainbow pic is from the day we drunk-dialed my newly minted mother-in-law. Good times. ;)
And some more. Because it was just too good to keep to myself.
Thank-you, Dre.
We landed in Kauai, Hawaii.
And in the great tradition of honeymooners everywhere we promptly took a selfie and had a beachside drink.
Dre was our travel agent for this trip and I will be eternally grateful for her foresight. I was skeptical about planning (and paying for) a big honeymoon immediately after the coordinating our sizable wedding (115 guests). But she was sure we'd be ready for the break and that it was just too romantic to pass up.
She was spot on. A beachy getaway was perfect medicine for the hectic months and weeks preceding the wedding. Plus, you know, we'd just a made a couple of the biggest decisions of our lives (not to move to Amsterdam and to MARRY each other) so we needed some time to soak it all in.
Our first couple of nights were in a beachside resort in the Southern town of Po'ipu. We opted for the resort so we could get our bearings and have someone else cook for us for a couple of days.
That was a totally good choice, because I slept like a little baby on those clean white hotel sheets and on the first night I only woke from my 15 hour long slumber long enough to eat the room service we ordered.
I had it in my mind that we'd spend most of our honeymoon lounging on beach chairs and maybe spring for a couple of hikes. But once we landed and took a look around we knew we'd be out and about every day. The island is stunning and geologically diverse and we wanted to drink as much of it in as we could.
Here's me on day two in some shorts I ditched immediately after this outing.
Another thing to know about me and Kauai - I don't really have the closet for it. My Bay Area hiking clothes make no kind of sense in a tropical paradise and while I came well-armed with sundresses it was always a question mark as I was getting dressed in the morning.
Function or fashion?
 |
| Function won. I lost. |
Dre, on the other hand, had no trouble. Lesbian footwear is the way she rolls.
Kauai is a small, roundish island that is nearly completely encircled by an assemblage of small highways. Its towns are dotted along the perimeter and you can easily drive the whole she-bang in an afternoon. Here's a fun little road we found ourselves on a good many times.
We took that road to our AirBnB rental in Kapa'a - the place we stayed for the bulk of our visit. Kapa'a is a sweet little town in its own right; Dre chose it mainly for its location. It is on the eastern side of the island and makes the rest of the island equally accessible.
Our spot was situated near the Hukilau Lanai and we stopped in for the locally grown food, good view and boozy drinks a couple of times. Dre was a big fan.
But where I think we should have been going EVERY single day was Caffe Coco.
Caffe Coco was immediately off the highway and away from the beach but the back patio made up for the less than ideal spot and they served macadamia nut encrusted tofu!!!
As for our outdoorsy adventuring we took the requisite boat trip to take in the Na Pali coast.
 |
| Don't worry we took the sail boat, not the raft. |
The Na Pali coastline is as grand and awe inspiring as you can imagine. Maybe more so. While out on the boat we swam with a sea turtle(!) and were flanked by the aptly named spinner dolphins. We spent the whole ride ooing and awing and getting slightly sunburned. Okay Dre got super sunburned but I'd opted for the aerosol sunblock and while I'm not down for how much waste is created for so few rounds of protection, it performed that far better than the lotion did.
Dre has work hard to protect that fair freckly skin.
 |
| rocking that sunhat. |
 |
| hands muddy from crab-crawling my way back down. |
Kauai is resplendent with beautiful views and stop-worthy spots and we took in so many of them in but a true highlight was an afternoon spent swimming at Ke'e beach. This beach is at the foot of the Na Pali Coast trail and after taking in the beauty of Hanalei you think you might have seen the best there is to see and then you swim here. The water is the brightest blue and the Na Pali cliffs jut out from the earth and its a completely striking scene.
My camera hardly did justice to the Garden Island but here are a few bonus pics. The rainbow pic is from the day we drunk-dialed my newly minted mother-in-law. Good times. ;)
 |
| We had bad hair for most of the trip. Curly hair goes crazy in paradise. |
 |
| Only palm trees stood between us and the beach at our AirBnB in Kapa'a |
 |
| Who needs the Grand one when you've got Waimea Canyon. |
 |
| Ke'e Beach, filtered. |
 | ||
| Peak-a-boo |
Thank-you, Dre.
Wow...I must go there now. Your pictures and description were fantastic. Thank you for sharing.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Stacey! Its really wildly gorgeous there.
DeleteYou guys look beautiful. And the scenery ain't too bad, neither.Congrats!
ReplyDelete:)
Delete