a week in paradise: DAY 4

9/3/08

We went to Lydgate Park Beach which was not far from our hotel. We found the one spot where it was safe for snorkeling. It was an area blocked off from big waves by lava rocks. We snorkeled and then layed out to dry off.

We stopped at a shrimp truck in Kapa'a for lunch. It was Carrie Daway's shrimp truck. Nice name, huh? There are so many hippies on Kaua'i. I'm sure she adopted the name when she visited the island and decided to never leave. She had a little gift/art shop behind the shrimp truck, too, which we did not check out. The girl working in the truck (not Carrie) took our orders and said she would bring our change out with our food. Ok, whatever. We went to sit at a little table to wait. It took quite a while and it wasn't very good. We also ordered a cold coconut. It is just a coconut that they refridgerate and then cut off the top for you to drink the water out of. It wasn't very good. Bummer. Well, sure enough, she never brought us our change. Interesting. So we asked her to bring it when she brought somebody else their food. She looked so upset that we would even ask for it! She said she would get it and she went back into the truck. She stayed in the truck. Finally Carrie went to the truck and talked to her and came out with our money. Carrie said that the girl had cut her hand really bad when cutting our coconut. Whatever, chick, she did not. We watched her cut it open in front of us and then she brought us our food, etc. She was a whacko. It was a weird place and we don't have fond memories of Carrie Daway and her shrimp truck.

Shave Ice Paradise was calling our name in Hanalei so we went up there. It was so delicious. We both ordered a shave ice with ice cream in the bottom and a snow cap (sweetened condensed milk) on top.

We had to go back to our favorite beach, Ha'ena. We looked for more shells in the water and also snorkeled. We love that beach!!

Then we drove a little bit farther to the end of the road and Ke'e Beach. We wanted to see the sunset there. There were about 20 people with the same idea. While we were waiting we explored the trees and dense growth near the beach. Some areas were so beautiful. When you walk a little ways in, it is really dark because of all the trees and vines.

Looking towards the Na Pali Coast we could see a group of black rocks where nobody was. So we made our way over there and it was so gorgeous. We were the only ones out there and we were a good 200' from any other people.

On the way back to the hotel we stopped at "Caffe Coco." The menu looked really good. We ordered two soups, and some other stuff and I ordered a root beer. They had live music and all the seating was outside. Well, they brought us our food, minus one soup and the root beer. The soup had no flavor so we didn't bother asking for the other one. The live music was quite an experience. It started out ok, and then this normal looking girl named Jessie got on stage with her guitar. We could not believe our ears when she started "singing." I seriously was wondering if it was a joke or something. I wish I had video of her first song. I asked Devon to run and get the video camera out of the car so that we could record her. Her second song wasn't as funny, but still awesome. I wish I could describe it, but it is impossible. Wow. Of course when we got the bill, both soups and the r.b. were on it. We got them to correct it, with a lot of protest ("but I brought a BIG bowl of soup out"). Crazy hippies!

Back at the hotel we soaked in the hot tub.