Waimea Canyon & A Lu'au
(disclaimer to any readers: lots of travel details. I wrote this more for my benefit of not forgetting than to communicate with you. Hope it's not too boring!)
Today we drove out to the western side of the island, where Waimea Canyon is located. We got a later start than we’d wanted and we knew we’d have to head back in time to make our lu’au at 5pm, so our time there was limited. This meant we wouldn’t get to do any real hiking in the canyon, which was too bad, but fortunately we could drive all along the ridge and still see some amazing views.
Waimea Canyon is on the side of Kaua’I that receives less rainfall (apparently the mountain in the middle of the island “takes” all the rain before it gets there) which we felt, with no clouds, bright sun, and dry & windy air. We took the road ten miles up and stopped at several lookout points. The main lookout point had great views of the canyon & Waipo’o Falls.
As we gazed over the canyon that was carved out of layers of hardened lava by rivers, all I could think was that I wished I was a bird, so I could fly over and through such beauty. It is called the “Grand Canyon of the Pacific”, and I can see why. It does bear some resemblance, although it’s nowhere near as large as the one in Arizona.The red, clay-like dirt is so striking against all of the other colors in the canyon.
We followed the road all the way to the end (20 miles in & over 2,500’ high) to the Pu’u o Kila lookout. This vantage point allowed us to see down the other side of the ridge, to the north side of the island, which was the beautiful Kalalau Valley and the Na Pali coastline.
It was gorgeous. We ate our picnic lunch up there, then had to turn around and head home.
Not without stopping at Jo-Jo’s shaved ice stand, though!
This establishment was recommended in our guide book, and since we haven’t had authentic Hawaiian shaved ice yet, we were obligated to check it out. Mmmm. My husband had the banana split flavored shaved ice, and I had the tropical Shaved Ice. At home, shaved ice is simply ice with syrup over it. Here they put a scoop of ice cream on the bottom, and sometimes put extra things up on top too.
We had a quick turnaround at our hotel, to change clothes and we were off again to the Smith’s Tropical Paradise for our lu’au experience.
Yes, it was completely tourist-y, but something we had to do. We spent the first 45 min. just walking around the grounds, which includes some amazing gardens, fruit trees, and even a Polynesian & a Filipino village (!) Then we watched the Imu ceremony, where they unearth the pig that’s been cooking in the ground all day. After that we sat down to eat our dinner, which was a huge buffet of classic island fare. Teriyaki beef, chicken adobo, lomi-lomi salmon w/poi, shredded kalua pig, macaroni salad, Hawaiian sweet potato (taro), and Chinese fried rice.
During dinner we were entertained by some traditional Hawaiian music, and there was even a hula dancer teaching kids to do the hukilau hula dance. After dinner we went to the outdoor theater for the “real show.” The program included an hour & 15 min. of cultural dancing representing the people of Hawaii. There was even a “volcano” that erupted and the fire goddess, Pe’le, threw a big fireball out of it! It was definitely an entertaining show, but my husband and I are a little skeptical about how authentic many of the dances were.
We fell into bed as soon as we got home. All in all, this was a very fun-filled day!
Today we drove out to the western side of the island, where Waimea Canyon is located. We got a later start than we’d wanted and we knew we’d have to head back in time to make our lu’au at 5pm, so our time there was limited. This meant we wouldn’t get to do any real hiking in the canyon, which was too bad, but fortunately we could drive all along the ridge and still see some amazing views.
Waimea Canyon is on the side of Kaua’I that receives less rainfall (apparently the mountain in the middle of the island “takes” all the rain before it gets there) which we felt, with no clouds, bright sun, and dry & windy air. We took the road ten miles up and stopped at several lookout points. The main lookout point had great views of the canyon & Waipo’o Falls.
As we gazed over the canyon that was carved out of layers of hardened lava by rivers, all I could think was that I wished I was a bird, so I could fly over and through such beauty. It is called the “Grand Canyon of the Pacific”, and I can see why. It does bear some resemblance, although it’s nowhere near as large as the one in Arizona.The red, clay-like dirt is so striking against all of the other colors in the canyon.
We followed the road all the way to the end (20 miles in & over 2,500’ high) to the Pu’u o Kila lookout. This vantage point allowed us to see down the other side of the ridge, to the north side of the island, which was the beautiful Kalalau Valley and the Na Pali coastline.
It was gorgeous. We ate our picnic lunch up there, then had to turn around and head home.Not without stopping at Jo-Jo’s shaved ice stand, though!
This establishment was recommended in our guide book, and since we haven’t had authentic Hawaiian shaved ice yet, we were obligated to check it out. Mmmm. My husband had the banana split flavored shaved ice, and I had the tropical Shaved Ice. At home, shaved ice is simply ice with syrup over it. Here they put a scoop of ice cream on the bottom, and sometimes put extra things up on top too. We had a quick turnaround at our hotel, to change clothes and we were off again to the Smith’s Tropical Paradise for our lu’au experience.
Yes, it was completely tourist-y, but something we had to do. We spent the first 45 min. just walking around the grounds, which includes some amazing gardens, fruit trees, and even a Polynesian & a Filipino village (!) Then we watched the Imu ceremony, where they unearth the pig that’s been cooking in the ground all day. After that we sat down to eat our dinner, which was a huge buffet of classic island fare. Teriyaki beef, chicken adobo, lomi-lomi salmon w/poi, shredded kalua pig, macaroni salad, Hawaiian sweet potato (taro), and Chinese fried rice. 
During dinner we were entertained by some traditional Hawaiian music, and there was even a hula dancer teaching kids to do the hukilau hula dance. After dinner we went to the outdoor theater for the “real show.” The program included an hour & 15 min. of cultural dancing representing the people of Hawaii. There was even a “volcano” that erupted and the fire goddess, Pe’le, threw a big fireball out of it! It was definitely an entertaining show, but my husband and I are a little skeptical about how authentic many of the dances were.
We fell into bed as soon as we got home. All in all, this was a very fun-filled day!
Comments