Steph and I headed out to Kauai after Sushmita and Theo's wedding in Oahu. We spent the first day driving about the western side of the island -- almost all of it nature preserves. First on our trip was a visit to Waimea Canyon. It's known as the Grand Canyon of the Pacific. A gorgeous drive up the side of a mountain range to get to these cinematic overlooks.
A definite highlight of the trip was carting about in a bright yellow 4-wheel-drive Jeep. I highly recommend experiencing Hawaii in a Jeep -- you definitely appreciate the big tires on the wilder Kauai -- it gets wet out there on windy pothole-battered roads and it's pretty fun splashing about in that.
Next up was a jaunt up State Highway 550 to Napali Coast State Park to see one of the most gorgeous sites in all of the Pacific -- Kalalau Valley. From peak to shore it's cliffs account for over 2,000 feet of elevation. Kauai's island highway doesn't actually join -- so this valley is actually the terminus of the clockwise direction of the map. You could hike to the other side of the highway -- it's 11 miles and fairly treacherous though.
This was a huge highlight. The pictures just don't quite do it justice.
Turns out Kalalau Valley is pretty great for portraits too!
Of course then we had to drive back down and take a few more snaps of Waimea Canyon as the sun went down.
We also managed to catch the sunset coming down over the forbidden and secret Hawaiian island of Niihau.
I'm kind of obsessed with that little indentation of rock out in the ocean off the coast of Kauai because it is actually owned by a single family, the Robinsons. They appear to rule it with an iron fist of some sort. Today it is inhabited by a small community of native Hawaiians that live in pretty much total isolation. Outsiders are absolutely not welcome -- no tourism and the only way to see the island is via helicopter. They don't even get cable TV! Can you believe a place like that actually exists in the USA?
What they said about Kauai was definitely true -- it's a much wilder place than Oahu. If you really *REALLY* want to get away -- Kauai is a great option.