Sometimes after traveling all you want to do is spend some time at rest.  On Sunday, we did just that.  After we got stirring, we had a great breakfast of eggs, bacon, rice, and mimosas on our lanai.  The day looked to be bright and clear and with that we thought a bit of time at Hanalei might be perfect.

We drove the short distance to the town where Margeaux was able to buy sunglasses, which are quite a useful accessory here in the tropics.  Since she was wearing my hat, I decided to get a new one.  Once we had acquired our needed goods, we parked at one of the beach access points with a bathroom and shower.  For the next couple of hours, we simply sat.  Occasionally, I’d get in the water, but mostly we sat.  The weather was spectacular and sitting was simply sublime.  Eventually, though, we got hungry and had to leave the beach.  Kalypso’s looked like a good option for lunch so we went there.

Margeaux had the largest half-order of nachos I’ve ever seen and I went with the taco appetizer.  Our food and drinks were good, our server was on point, and they even had the football game on the tv.  I made note that the temperature where we are was about 70 degrees warmer than where the game was being played.  That kind of made me happy.  After lunch we tooled around town for a bit ducking into the shops.

We brought our stuff back to the room and I suggested that we go to Hideaways Beach.  The beach is only about a mile from where we are staying.  We were lucky enough to find a parking spot at the very limited parking area.  There are only enough spots for about 8 cars.  The trail to get to the beach is steep, with a jagged metal handrail in spots.  Other spots have a piece of rope for you to hold onto while you try your best not to let gravity help you down quickly.  Once we arrived, the other folks were heading up the hill so we had the beach essentially to ourselves.  The plan was to try and stay for sunset, but tons of clouds had rolled in, and thinking that trying to hoist ourselves up the hill in dark was a poor choice, we decided to leave.  At the top of the trail the views were great.  Beaches like this one are one of the many reasons I love Kauai.  With a little effort, you can pretty much have your own slice of paradise to yourself.  As for Monday, I think we’re going to go to the south side of the island.  When we get there, we have no plans.