Well, we had reached our last full day in Kauai and were starting to feel the mix of sad that it was nearly over and excitement for reuniting with our kids (and the mainland!). You sure feel like you're in the middle of nowhere when you look out and see nothing but this in every direction!
There is nothing quite like a Hawaii sunrise. I loved that there was always a group of us that hiked up to Shipwreck's Beach in the early morning hours before breakfast. While it was always tempting to stay in bed and sleep in, we also knew we had limited opportunities to catch views like these. And our last one was pretty unbelievable...
After our usual beach-side breakfast of eggs, sausage, potatoes, fresh island fruit, and our favorite guava juice, we got ready for what was sure to be another adventure. A big group of us went on an ATV tour of Kauai, including many movie set stops for some of the biggest blockbuster hits. I was quite cautious about the whole thing, especially strapped in next to my husband who couldn't wipe the devilish grin off his face. He was a kid in a candy shop sitting behind the wheel of this thing! If there's one thing I'm leery to trust my man around, it's a crowd. And putting 15 or so competitive salesmen in a line of ATVs is a disaster in the making. I was starting to think I was safer in that helicopter!
We had a super fun morning tearing up the trails, finding lots of mud deep in the rainforest, and pretending we were looking for dinosaurs with Chris Pratt. We got ourselves filthy, Beau got us caught in a tree, and every time I expected him to get a warning from our guard in the back, he got a thumbs up instead. Oh brother!
This is the exact location where the first dinosaurs were shown on camera in the original Jurassic Park. Can you hear the music?!
The after! We were ready for the pool!
After turning in the keys to our ATVs and cleaning red dirt from about every square inch of our bodies, we spent the afternoon at the pool before getting all fancy for our big party. We hopped on some buses and headed out to an old abandoned sugar plantation in the middle of nowhere. What's funny is we had seen the plantation from the ATV trails earlier in the day and all kind of doubted the company's decision to host our big party there. It wasn't much more to look at than an old small town grain elevator, and it seemed especially interesting since our resort was right on the beach in one of the most beautiful locations any of us had ever seen. But when our buses finally pulled up and ushered us off, our mouths dropped in wonder to see it completely transformed.
The hotel lobby before we left...
The transformed sugar plantation!
There were waiters with platters of champagne as we entered the property, the entire perimeter was dotted with Hawaiian inspired food truck vendors, and there were large tents with a bar and buffet of roasted pig and all the fixings. There was a fruit bar, a dessert bar, a shave ice bar, a photo booth, and at the center, a stage all lit up for the main event.
And the main event? A journey back in time with none other than THE BEACH BOYS!!!
Okay, so I know the Beach Boys are a little more like Beach "Grandpas" at this point (they were even old when I remember watching them on Full House!), but they can still put on a show! I loved the old time film clips playing in the background, the adorable (slightly creepy) finger points the lead guy would give us every so often, and the much younger singers that carried the band on either side with voices that matched the original songs to a tee. And our crowd? We obviously had a blast! I learned that my husband knows every word to every song of the Beach Boys, learned that if you're over 6'3, you should definitely do everyone a favor and not stand directly front center, and learned that singing along to Kokomo under a star-filled sky in the middle of Hawaii is most definitely living one's best life. It was a night we won't forget!
We had a good part of our last day in Hawaii left to explore, and drove to Spouting Horn and Glass Beach with Kyle and Megan. We did some souvenir shopping in Poipu, had the best time getting to know a local bartender and Kauai native who made us wicked jealous we didn't grow up in Hawaii, and ended our excursion at Warehouse 3540, a community marketplace that left me drooling with inspiration at every turn. Oh, and we got up close and personal with a monk seal sunbathing on the beach.
Seriously, food trucks and greenhouses and makers' owned storefronts and lending libraries and coffee all in one place? One of the best stops of the entire trip in my book!
But alas, all good things must come to an end! It was time to go home and unfortunately, the chickens couldn't come with us. Beau and I took the red eye home, slept for a good chunk of it, and had a grueling five hour layover in Denver before we made it home. But we made it just in time to get our kids from school and were so happy to squeeze the life out of them! Next time, maybe we'll bring them along. :)
Hawaii, you blew us away with your beauty, your vibe, your food, and your weather. We will be back!
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