Jungle Waterfalls and Puka Dogs (or, Why We Love Kauai)

Welcome from the O'Hare Airport Admiral's Club, where I will attempt (despite sleep-induced delirium) to finish up the honeymoon portion of this blog once and for all!

We spent our second day on Maui at Wailea Beach. Nothing much to report except that the Four Seasons Maui at Wailea has a very fine poolside restaurant with very fine mojitos. This is as close as we will get to staying there, since for the rooms overlooking the parking lot they charge a respectable $440 a night.

The following day we went on a Kona/Big Island farm tour. First we visited a Kona coffee farm, where Stacey geeked out on coffee production and I tried to pet a wily little dog. This is a coffee tree with coffee cherries on it:

Then we went to a chocolate farm. And THEN, after a sweltering two-hour drive, we arrived at this strange and wonderful little family-run vanilla farm in Paauilo. Aside from growing and selling vanilla and various vanilla products, the family produces a vanilla luncheon served on the premises. The wife cooks everything, the children (ages 5-13) serve and sing and the father/farmer talks about the farm. The food was amazing: subtle vanilla lemonade, a salad with vanilla cornbread, Hawaiian beef braised in local ale and vanilla, served with noodles in a vanilla cream sauce and vegetables from their own garden. For dessert we were served house-made vanilla ice cream with a vanilla brownie, vanilla caramel sauce and a toasted vanilla marshmallow. Totally worth the two hour drive, even with the weirdest and most boring tour guide in the world.

The next day we docked in Kauai, which quickly became our favorite island. It is smaller, greener, lusher and less commercialized than the other islands we visited. On our first day, we went on a kayak tour down the Nawiliwili Stream, past mangroves and ancient burial caves and a fish pond stalked by mythical Hawaiian menehune (dwarves).

Then we hiked (somewhat treacherously, I might add) through the jungle to two waterfalls. One for photographs:

And one for swimming:

There was fruit everywhere: mangoes were dropping from trees, and our guide picked lilikoi (passionfruit) and taught us how to bite off the ends and suck out the seeds, warm from the sun.

On our second day in Kauai, Stacey and drove to Poipu for a swim at what turned out to be a very overrated beach. Tired of the crowds, we headed to a nearby shopping center to buy souvenirs, and happened upon one of the best finds of our trip: the amazing Puka Dog. Essentially, this is the best hot dog stand in the world, as far as I am concerned. A hole ("puka") is pierced into a freshly baked bun-sized loaf of bread, into which go a freshly grilled Polish sausage, a creamy spicy garlic-lemon sauce, your choice of tropical fruit relishes (I chose pineapple, Stacey chose mango), and mustard (we had to go for the lilikoi mustard). The whole thing is sweet, salty, savory, creamy, spicy, and tangy. I am a little glad there is only one Puka Dog, because if I could I would probably eat there every day.

From Kauai, our ship sailed back to Honolulu, passing Kauai's northern Na Pali Coast on the way:

Oh, and hey! We've been married over a week! Here's a picture of us on our week anniversary, halfway through a bottle of champagne:

It is just before 6 AM Chicago time, and we are getting on our final flight to Boston soon. Wednesday we plan on heading out to California, exhausted but ready to get it over with. We'll keep you posted!