Will and I recently returned from a delightful babymoon week in Kauai. It was a pretty great time and I even developed a slight tan, aka my skin could now be described as manila envelope in color rather than computer paper white. This will fade within the week though. Some highlights from the trip below!

FOOD: As a preggo, I am even more food obsessed than usual, so I’ll just be transparent and list this section first. I have found that the food in Hawaii, as with most islandy/beachy tourist destinations, can be hit or miss, but we stuffed ourselves with some pretty delicious meals while in Kauai. Standouts were Bar Acuda (tapas and great wine list in a gorgeous but low key setting), Verde (casual Mexican, fish tacos get in my gullet) and Chicken in a Barrel (BBQ which we ripped into like Neanderthals post 5 hour kayak trip/hike). On a related note I’m fairly certain I am going through shaved ice withdrawals. Hey, I couldn’t drink so I needed to make up for those calories somewhere! If you happen to travel to Kauai, definitely check out Hee Fat General Store and spring for the all natural syrups and macadamia nut ice cream, like a boss. I also personally consumed a good five pounds or so of macadamia nuts in various forms while on this trip and I don’t regret a thing.

PLACES: We stayed in Kapa’a, which was great due to its central location and many dining options. But my favorite town was probably Hanalei: beautiful scenery, lots of places to eat/shops, close to my favorite swimmable beaches on the island, Hanalei Bay and Ke’e Beach. Koloa is another town worth a stop: grab a delicious plate lunch or poke at Koloa Fish Market. I was expecting to like Poipu more, but it was sort of resort-y and spread out and the beaches were all super windy when we were there, so not very swimmable. However the Grand Hyatt in Poipu is super nice if you can afford to stay there. Will and I creepily walked around oggling the grounds for a while.

SHIT WE DID: Other than eating, swimming, and my daily AM ritual of reading assorted trashy materials on our room’s balcony whilst garbed in a bathrobe, I have a few activity-related highlights to share. We hiked the first 2-ish miles (4 round trip) of the Kalalau Trail, which is super epic, completely stunning, and thoroughly kicked my ass. Another highlight would be our helicopter tour of the island, which I highly recommend, as in addition to being breathtakingly picturesque, a good amount of Kauai is inaccessible by road, so this is the only way to really see it. We flew with Safari Helicopters and they were pretty great.

All in all it was a successful trip and because it’s gorgeous, has a bohemian beach bum vibe that appeals to me, is not full of touristy trap type crap, and is small enough to easily traverse, Kauai is now one of my favorite Hawaiian islands. I have officially become one of those people that go to Hawaii all the effing time I guess, but given each of the Hawaiian Islands are a pretty painless direct flight from Seattle, Hawaii makes for a logical escape.