In case you’re curious: Part I, Part II, Part III, and Part IV.
For next adventure of our honeymoon in Hawaii we drove through Waimea Canyon on the southwest side of Kauai. Sometimes described as “The Grand Canyon of the Pacific,” Waimea Canyon stretches 14 miles long, one mile wide, and more than 3,600 feet deep. We drove from the town of Waimea up to Kokee State Park where we got a stunning view of the Na Pali Coastline.
[cetsEmbedGmap src=https://maps.google.com/maps?saddr=Waimea,+HI&daddr=Kokee+State+Park,+Waimea,+HI&hl=en&sll=21.992874,-159.657612&sspn=0.084678,0.154324&geocode=FdMPTwEdz5179im3UR5J-6kHfDFyC-kPtWEVFQ%3BFbjSUQEdnxh89iGZo5VOJBbzDClbjz_8Zf8GfDGZo5VOJBbzDA&oq=kokee+s&gl=us&mra=ls&t=m&z=11 width=350 height=425 marginwidth=0 marginheight=0 frameborder=0 scrolling=no]On the way to Waimea I realized why they have a rainbow on their license plates in Hawaii.
From there we made our way up Waimea Canyon Drive, making several pit stops at the overlooks along the way.
At one point you could see the “forbidden island” of Niihau where a concentration of about 130 Native Hawaiians live a very low-tech, rural lifestyle.
The island is owned the Robinson family, and up until recently, only relatives of people living on the island, U.S. Navy, government officials, and personal guests were allowed to visit the island. Crazy interesting!
We also saw some mountain goats basking in the sun on a 3,000+ foot cliff, no big deal.
Eventually we got to the end of the road to Kokee State Park where we caught some breathtaking views of the Na Pali Coastline.
We couldn’t have timed it any more perfectly.
On the drive home we stopped at Island Taco in Waimea for a delicious and HUGE Seared Cajun Aji Taco. Definitely one of the best lunches we had on the trip.
Afterwards, we HAD to try Hawaiian Shave Ice, and a couple of our guide books said Jo Jo’s in Waimea was the best spot to get it at, so we went for it!
The place was totally bazaar. There was little to no natural light inside, they were bumping Lil’ Wayne, and there were Bob Marley posters everywhere. My gut would have had me walking right out of there, but after the rave reviews we read about it we knew we had to try it. We shared some coconut and rainbow concoction and macadamia ice cream topped with another rainbow flavor. They were huuuuge! While it was much better than your typical snow cone, we eventually ditched the shave ice for the incredible macadamia nut ice cream underneath; and the two of us were fighting for it! Funny thing was, as we were driving away, we saw another Jo Jo’s shave ice, that claimed to be “the original” and looked a lot more inviting. Which one gets all the rave reviews?? We will never know…
The highlight of our trip is next! Stay tuned…
