Our last full day of vacation

Plane bringing folks to Kauai paradise...

Approaching sunset...

Beach volleyball...

Today was all about relaxing and squeezing every last moment and ray of sunshine out of the day. Craig experienced riding the local bus this morning in order to go shopping for some grocery items for a friend who grew up in Hawaii. Then it was time for chillin'!

First half of the day was spent out by the pool and the afternoon out by the beach. There we enjoyed watching the surfers and paddle boarders (a new water sport Craig wants to try some time) and folks (we think they were locals) playing two person volleyball - and these folks were good!

An unexpected blessing was being treated by our favorite restaurant here (Duke's) to drinks and appetizers for dinner as their way of apologizing for some disappointments we had last night at my birthday dinner. It was fantastic - especially the crab wontons! We have to remember those for our next trip here.

We still have most of tomorrow here before we fly back to Honolulu and then home. But we have to check out by 10 am so we still have packing to do... sigh; all good things must come to an end.

The birthday gal herself...

The birthday girl, the view from our table and dessert - the famous Hula Pie!

A birthday gal's wishes...

I have had a wonderful birthday today here on Kauai, Hawaii but my heart is drawn to home and to my mom, who even at 92, remembered my special day and sang to me this morning via phone. She is one of the main reasons we do this travel blog, as a way to keep in touch with her while we are gone. Those caring for her can read it to her, show her the pictures, etc. So, just for her, today I am including nothing but flower and bird pictures from the past two weeks which I know are among her favorite to view. She was an avid gardener in younger days, loves birds and I enjoy photography so mom, this post is for you! (and continued thanks to Matt Slack for some of the pictures which were taken by him last week.) The ones that are mine were taken with my basic digital camera, and several taken yesterday as we visited some Botanical Gardens on the island.

Enjoy!

These are a few of my favorite things...

This week has been different for us in that it's the first trip to Hawaii where we didn't rent a car for this week. So today we decided to rent a car (Mustang convertible!) for one day and just drive around the north side of the island (Kauai) to some of our favorite places...
I'll let the pictures speak for themselves...

Our relaxing week on Kauai

Beautiful grounds at the resort - flowers everywhere!


Some people have to work in paradise...who is that man on his laptop on the balcony??? :) (it's Craig in case you couldn't tell!)



We are in the building there in the background...





Not much news on our end - we rest, swim, eat and pretty much repeat that process over and over each day. So here are some pictures of the resort here which we think is one of the best around, especially the pool area...that's the ocean in the background...Put these pictures together end on end and you get an idea of the pool size...

A new week and a new island...

Hello again – I think I missed a day or two somewhere! Craig and I are now over on Kauai for the next week and our friends the Slacks are safely back home in New York.

We arrived yesterday, and are settled into our little efficiency here at the Kauai Marriott resort. We lucked out on a pretty good view here and the ocean is visable form our balcony. We will be taking it easy this week; we have no rental car and Craig will be working half days. I hope to meet up with a woman we met last year on a cruise who is also here this week (actually she stays here for months at a time – what a life!) We had dinner at the on-site restaurant, and given that we are living off of left-over provisions this week (we just have a tiny frig and no stove), we both thoroughly enjoyed a full meal! It is a short stroll to a nearby shopping area so we have some resources at our disposal. I’m looking into the shuttle bus run today to the local mall for some entertainment!

It is rather cool (for Hawaii) and overcast today and it has been very windy since arriving. But everything is always so beautiful and green here on Kauai. Alas, there may not be many sunset pictures this week as the views we have here are mainly south and east and we are surrounded by large green mountains which block the sun when it rises and sets. But the pool here is the main attraction and I promise to post some pictures – it is enormous!

Enjoy today’s pictures: the view from the plane flying over Honolulu/Waikiki and Diamond Head and then flying into Lihue, Kauai…