Day 10 & 11: It’s the final countdown!

I woke up for the first time in 6 day feeling like I may survive this illness. The cocktail of drugs are working and my fever has officially broken. Everyone was still sleeping and sunrise was around the corner. So I quickly got up and out the door to enjoy the sunrise of my last full day. As soon as I walked out the door I wished I would have checked the forecast, it was raining pretty heavy and the wind was roaring, but, with a hopeful attitude I headed to the water. I slowly saw the sun starting to come up behind the clouds but no break in the weather. I started laughing out loud, because why would I expect anything better on my last full day. I asked Kauai “you couldn’t have given me a sunny sunrise?” and then the clouds opened up and it started dumping rain, as I laughed and said “it’s okay I’ll still be back” the wind picked up and was practically pushing me off the shoreline. Messaged received, I reluctantly headed back to the condo to change (my clothes were still drenched by bedtime that night).

After a quiet morning, the sun finally came out, so Ayla and I went to Lydgate Beach Park to enjoy their HUGE playground. It has several shaded areas, so I was able to sit and rest while she run around and got to spend time with other kids. That was about all the energy I had for the day, so we did leftovers for dinner and went off to bed early.

Day 11: Last day – off to California

We set the alarm to get up for sunrise (couldn’t miss our last one) and were at the beach about 5 minutes before it started. We were able to enjoy a beautiful last rise then went to the koi pond to have Ayla feed the fish one last time. After we got the car packed up, we checked out and did one last walk down to the beach in front of our resort. Knowing we had a long plane ride ahead of us, we then set off to Lydgate Beach Park so Ayla could play and we could enjoy the ocean one more time. After a few hours of enjoyment it was off to the airport to set off to California. This trip definitely was not what we expected and the most non-vacation, vacation I have ever had. But, it was still lovely to be in Hawaii and I know we’ll be back.

My final take away from Kauai:

• When you think of Hawaii from the movies, this truly is what you picture. When you land it feels like you’re on a tiny little island and you have great views of something wherever you are.
• It is so lush, most traffic seems like local traffic, there’s a lot more heavy traffic than I expected and it takes longer to get from point A to point B than I would have thought.  
• There are murals everywhere, and they are beautiful. Everything has a mural, and it is so nice to see how little defacement of property there is.
• There are chickens, roosters and stray cats EVERYWHERE. I expected the roosters from others stories, but the cats were a surprise.
• I only had 2 days of being healthy on a 10 day trip, so I look forward to a future return trip. Things I didn’t get to do this trip that I will do next time are:
  • Fern Grotto

  • Boat Diving
  • Poipu Beach
  • Wailua Falls
  • Koloa distillery & railway
  • Waimea Canyon & hiking
  • Having a cocktail with a beach view – specifically a mai tai
  • Going out to eat – specifically want to try The Beach House & Tidepools (both reservations were cancelled due to illness)