Kauai County, Hawaii - Day 6

Tuesday, February 18th, 2025

I am so behind on documenting these days! As soon as I was back in town, I hit the ground running with work. Playing catch up is always hard, but it's also fulfilling when all caught up! I just hope I don't start forgetting things about the trip! Chemo brain. Also known as cancer-related cognitive impairment. Also known as brain fog. It includes difficulties like memory problems, difficulty concentrating, and trouble thinking clearly. Sounds fun, doesn't it? It's obviously different for everyone but for most people it can take 9-12 months after chemo to begin seeing improvements. I'm working through it! It's not terrible, thank goodness, but it does force me to slow down and avoid multitasking. Another thing my impatient brain has had to learn :). Oh, and, it's a good excuse for the regular grammatical errors in my posts. Grammar police, you know who you are! :-)

Day 6 was, as all of them were, another amazing day in the great state of Hawaii! We started out the day taking a stroll through Smith's Tropical Paradise, a 30 acre botanical garden. And it was beautiful! Here's the best part: We bought bird feed (provided by Smith's) and as soon as we entered, we were followed by birds of all kinds! It was pretty funny. Mostly chickens, of course, but ducks, pigeons and peacocks.

Seriously, how beautiful is this?

After Smiths, we took a quick trip to the Opaeka'a Falls lookout. Ōpaekaʻa Falls is a waterfall located on the ʻŌpaekaʻa Stream in Wailua River State Park on the eastern side of of Kauai. It is a 151-foot waterfall that flows over basalt from volcanic eruptions millions of years ago. Unfortunately, from the lookout, it looks teeny tiny. Look how little it looks behind us! Still, a nice spot to stop :)

Next, we were hungry for an early lunch. We drove a little off the beaten path and found the Wailua Country Store. It was a cute little convenient store and they had homemade Tofu Curry (perfect for my vegetarian husband), Beef Stew (traditional beef, potatoes, carrots, etc and Beef Luau Stew which I hadn't heard of. I had to try it! And as long as I'm agreeable to the ingredients, I love trying new things :D. Jon had the curry and we picked up a small loaf of fresh sourdough bread.

There it is! My Beef Luau. Beef, taro leaves, coconut milk, vegetable stock and seasonings - over rice. It was, I will say, kinda bland. I could've used some salt and/or all-purpose seasoning. But all in all, it wasn't bad. It was hot and it hit the spot! The bread was SOOO good. I'm kind of a bread addict.

After that, a lovely afternoon at Lydgate Beach. It was my favorite - sandy beach, amenities, and a shallow part of the water to relax and swim. Our daily adventure didn't end there ..........

Aloha from the beach!

After the beach, we got dressed for dinner and headed out again. First, at 4pm we had a reserved rum tasting at the Koloa Rum Co. followed by a five star dinner at The Plantation House by Gaylord's. We had (by luck) the best table in the house! Overlooking a lush, tropical garden - it was really quite romantic!

I do not ever drink shots like this. Or rum, or any alcohol straight up. But, again, wanted to try something new! We had a total of 4 shots each and I was feeling it! It was fun, the other tasters were great (a few from France and a few from Austria), and our bartender was informative and entertaining.

The Plantation House by Gaylord's. My fancy drink is the Mahiko Fresh Tini which was their take on a martini with Tito's and fresh fruit from their orchard. Today's fruit was banana and it was dessert in a glass! The appetizer was the Quick Fried Brie which was such an array of flavors that worked nicely together! Brie, drizzled with honey, truffle oil, macadamia nuts, red grapes, and baguettes. It was nothing I've ever tried before and I was not disappointed. Oh, and check out that view!! (Top right pic). Ke aloha!

And that's a wrap! A marathon of a day but ever so fulfilling. <3 Aloha pō