Daddy Travels Miles & Points

When the opportunity arose for me to book this trip to Kauai for all six of us….despite all of the scheduling conflict that we had to overcome, at that point, the cost didn’t matter so much since we only had to pay the $11/person fees….what mattered most was our chance to be together as a family. Altogether, we’re on Kauai for 6 days, 5 nights.

So back to our Day Five, this was Nancy and Evan’s last day. They have to be in California on Friday. Since we were in Princeville, we needed to factor in our drive time back to Lihue to drop them off at the airport. But as always, we maximized our time before we left our beloved Princeville. Wish we could stay longer, but grateful for the time we had at the resort.

Ok, now that we were in Princeville, Evan reminded me to wake him up early in the morning. He remembered our Malasada quest from 2 years ago. I woke him up around 6:30am and we headed down to Hanalei at Ching’s Village. It was about a 10-15 minute drive. We had to place our orders the day before over at Village Snack Shop. We ordered a dozen malasadas….still so piping hot when we picked it up around 7am. Thank you, Village Snack Shop love your malasadas. While there, I also ordered Tropical Pancakes with banana, mac nut, and coconut, and spam musubi.

 

We headed back to The Cliffs and had breakfast with the family out on the lanai. We knew that we had to get out by 11am so we could drop off Evan and Nancy at the airport. By 8:30am, breakfast was done. We tidied up a bit, and decided to check out the short hike on the base of The Cliffs. All of us went on this hike which was just right outside Building 8. There’s a little gazebo back there, and there’s a trail just past the fence. We followed it down – about 100-150 ft descent. It wasn’t treacherous at all. There were two logs along the way that helped us cross….and within 10 minutes, we were on the lava rocks. What a gorgeous view and so glad we did this quick hike down as a family.

After the hike, Evan and Caitlin wanted to swim so I took them to the pool to play once more. We had fun with our GoPro. I kept talking to Evan since he’d be leaving for a flight back to LA that afternoon. This was a morning well spent.

Shortly after, we headed back to our room and got our stuff out and headed to Lihue. Our goal was to drop them off at the airport by 2pm. We still had enough time to pick up lunch at Mark’s Place (Kalua Pork and Cabbage), and their strawberry lilikoi chiffon cake. Nancy also picked up a few boxes of chocolate covered macadamia nuts to bring back home as gifts.

Not long after, it was time to head to the airport to drop them off. They made it to the airport by 2pm. They did not have any checked luggage, just 2 carryons and a backpack, and they were set. We will see them on Saturday morning.

Next up…or shall I say, as our last leg of our visit, a stay at Lawai Beach Resort. This was also a part of the Shell Vacations list of properties to choose from. I welcomed the idea of staying here since we’ve never stayed here before. The points needed were also much less. I booked a two-bedroom unit with 2 bathrooms, living room, dining room, kitchen, and pool views (with the ocean just a few steps away).

After we checked in, we spent the rest of the afternoon at Lawai Beach. We didn’t have to drive. All we had to do was cross the street. I took Caitlin to Lawai Beach many years ago, and I had forgotten how rocky it was at this beach. It was more of a snorkelers beach, but nevertheless, we had a great time just being in the water.

For dinner, we drove to Kalaheo’s Kauai Kookie. I ordered their Korean Fried Chicken and Shrimp Lollipops, and Key Lime Pie. That was good enough for this another crazy busy day on Kauai.