It is now Wednesday, our 10th day on the island of Kauai. We fly home on Thursday, our 11th day. I don’t like the days leading up to the end of our vacation. It can easily put a damper on things. So I decided to kick things up a notch.

First, for the second day in a row, Evan woke up early for his trip with me to the Village Bakery. This time, Evan was confident enough to ask for a “dozen” after learning what “dozen” meant. 

Once we got home, I woke up Ethan and Madison. We planned to explore 2 new spots, one is the trail directly behind our timeshare, and the other, Queen’s Bath. Both are located in Princeville. I’ve been reading up on Queen’s Bath. According to great-hikes.com, it’s “a turquoise and emerald pool set in black lava with views of Bali Hai. Except it’s also a lava bench on the North Shore of Kaua’i exposed to the deadly winter surf.” There were many mixed reviews. Along the trail, we should find a couple of waterfalls, views of the ocean. I figured we’d check it out, go for the short hike, and if the waves are calm, then we’d jump in. That was the plan.

The walk or hike or whatever you want to call it was not bad at all. There were many things we were able to step on that made us comfortable with the trail. Directly behind us was a jogger and he was able to go about his exercise with no problem. As expected, there were a couple of waterfalls along the trail. We saw these within a few minutes. The biggest of the waterfalls was the one that actually falls directly to the ocean.

Once we saw the bigger waterfall, it took another 2-3 minutes of a short walk towards Queen’s Bath. Many bathers were already playing at QB. Playing as in swimming, wading, and jumping off the rocks. Oh and BTW, did I tell you that Ethan and Madison DID NOT want to jump in or swim at QB? Well, that’s what they said when we left our timeshare. But sure enough, as I had expected, they were the first ones to jump in before me. Those are my kids alright! We took turns in jumping from the rocks, probably no more that 10-15 feet of a leap before you hit the water. That was a lot of fun. We stayed at QB for about a 1/2 hour and then we made our way back up.

Once we got back to the house, Nancy, Caitlin, and Evan were all ready for the day. But before leaving, I ate Spicy Soft Crab Poke that I purchased the night before from Foodland. I’ve never had raw crab before – this was so sweet and flavorful. I ate with rice. I blame the hiking and swimming.

We left close to 11am and we took a few stops…the Hanalei Valley lookout near the Princeville Center.

After a few Kodak moments, we ventured off to Hanalei and stopped at the Hanalei Taro and Juice truck. It was a stop that was well worth it. I ordered the hawaiian mix plate (with Pork Lau Lau and Kalua Pig, lomi lomi salmon, and taro mochi cake. THAT WAS AMAZING! While I enjoyed my Lau lau from Koloa Fish Market last week, it does not even come close to the flavor of the one from this Hanalei truck. I had to personally compliment the chef, simply flavorful, delicious!!! Thank you to my friend, Dolly, for recommending this!!!

When you love a beach that much, then you go back and enjoy it some more. And that’s exactly what we did. We went back to what I thought was Lumahai Beach (I’ve known it as Lumahai since Nancy and I first visited in 2000). It was always Lumahai this, and Lumahai that….until recently, I was told, the beach I knew as Lumahai is actually Kahalahala Beach (which is the East end of Lumahai).

Learning this does not change my love for this beach. Hence, we spent the early part of our afternoon swimming at Kahalahala. We took pictures by the rocks, and for most of our stay at the beach, we just played and talked with the kids. Guess what? We will go back to Kahalahala again, that’s a given!

The rest of us opted to go somewhere new – Garden Island BBQ & Chinese Restaurant. I forgot where I was…I think someone from Tip Top Bakery recommended this place. Nothing fancy here, but we were pleasantly surprised with the flavors and portions they served. We ordered Singapore Noodles with Roast Pork and Wor Wonton Soup. I’m glad that we tried this new place…I shall come back!