Day 1: Aloha, y’all!

Greetings from Hawaii!  Dan was nice enough to keep a daily blog of our honeymoon in Italy last year, so now it’s my turn to document our travels.  We’re spending this week in Hawaii (Kauai, to be exact) in celebration of our one-year anniversary, and so far it has been complete paradise.  I’m thinking about visiting the University of Hawaii on our way back through Honolulu to see if they need another admissions counselor…

We arrived yesterday evening after a long day of travel from NYC.  We had a smooth flight from New York to Honolulu — the longest flight either of us had ever been on — and then a quick hop from Honolulu to the Kauai airport in Lihue.  That second flight was only about 25 minutes from wheels up to wheels down, and I was so impressed that they managed to do a beverage service in that time.  The staff on Hawaiian Airlines couldn’t have been nicer, and even though it was a really long day, it seemed to pass pretty quickly.  Thanks to the six hour time difference, we were starting to fade by the time we finally arrived at our hotel, but we rallied when we were welcomed so warmly by the staff of the St. Regis Princeville.  Having stayed in St. Regis hotels before in Rome and Puerto Rico, I’ve grown very fond of their bath products and bedding.  Just the place to go when you want to really relax!

Due to the long travel day yesterday, we kept today pretty simple.  After falling into bed last night and sleeping for twelve hours, we had an easy lunch at the pool-side restaurant and then spent the afternoon catching some much-needed sunshine by the pool and on the beach.  We got caught in a few rain showers, but it seems like they each only lasted for about three minutes.  The rain was actually refreshing and helped keep the heat of the sun at bay.  Well, at least Dan appreciated that.  I was perfectly happy to bake in the sun — the 80 degree temperatures here are a lot better than the 45 degrees that it was in New York when we left on Saturday!

After our time at the pool, we hit the nearby town of Hanalei for dinner.  Bar Acuda came highly recommended by the staff at our hotel, and we were ready to enjoy some tapas.  Since the whole dinner menu is tapas-style, we got to try several different things.  The honeycomb, apple and goat cheese plate and seared ono with purple mashed potatoes and a fennel cream sauce were my favorites.  We didn’t take pictures of all the food like on our honeymoon, but I’ll try to remember for next time.  Everything was delicious, and the restaurant was packed.  We didn’t plan far enough ahead to make a reservation, but we arrived right when they opened and were able to secure seats at the bar.  So glad we did!  After dinner, we hit up Kauai Mini Golf for some friendly competition.  Both of us grew up playing mini golf (or pirate putt-putt, as the Reeds call it, after the Pirate’s Cove mini golf in Gulf Shores) so it’s something we like to try and do together on vacations.  Dan still hasn’t learned the art of letting the girl win, but that’s ok.  I’m not the one who knocked my ball into the water twice tonight, even if I didn’t manage to win.

We have a lot planned for the rest of the week — hiking, surfing, snorkeling, sightseeing, and eating.  However, if there is one thing we have learned so far, it is to BEWARE OF THE OCEAN.  Everyone, from Geri who handled our rental car at Avis to Caleb who set us up in our hotel room, has been quick to warn us about swimming in the water.  I like to think that we are both pretty knowledgeable about the open water, having grown up making frequent trips to Cape Cod or Gulf Shores, but apparently the Pacific is different.  Geri, bless her heart, greeted us by saying, “If you go to a beach and you see signs telling you that people have died there, be really careful about swimming.  Never turn your back on the ocean or a wave can catch you off guard and you’ll get caught in the current.  Be careful around rocks, because a wave can catch you and slam you into the rocks.”  Let’s hope she never applies for a job at the state tourism department.  You can all rest assured that we will be extra careful in the water.  🙂

That’s it for tonight.  Our plan for tomorrow is to hike part of the Na Pali coast, so we should have some great pictures then.  Dan has fallen asleep as I’ve written this, so I guess that’s my cue to sign off.  We’re excited to be here and explore what Hawaii has to offer!