Kauai Day 2 – Exploring Kapaa

I woke up about 5.30am to the crowing of the local roosters, feeling much more refreshed after a very good nights sleep. There were still lots of grey clouds around so not the nicest sunrise to enjoy. I spent quite a few hours writing up yesterdays blog post. Kevin appeared about 8.30am after 12 hours of sleep – which he believes is something he’s never done before.

After a very leisurely morning we had breakfast outside on the lanai (balcony) at 10am – mini bagels with vegan cream cheese for me and ginger cookies for Kevin (since his oatmeal overflowed in the microwave). We then showered and got ready to head out.

Our destination today was Kapaa – which is the nearest town to us. We went for a little detour to see Lydgate Park Beach – which is our closest swimming beach – as we headed North.

Not sure why but I don’t have many photos – lets blame it on taking video instead. We visited Kela’s Glass Gallery which had some amazing pieces (but too expensive for us). We bought some vegan chocolate and bread at the Fish Bar Deli of all places.

We wandered through some other shops and I bought myself a hat (that was from an Australian company :-)). We checked out the markets outside the cute church and went into our first ABC store of the trip.

I’m sure we missed quite a few places here because many were tucked into little alcoves and laneways or behind other stores. Luckily it’s close enough that we can come back another day.

Leaving here we headed South getting caught up in a bit of traffic. Didn’t worry us though as we weren’t in a hurry and got to see things like a palm grove, lots of chickens and even baby chooks beside the road and The Sleeping Giant.

Lunch today was at a cute little plant based cafe called Russells (named after the owners Golden Retriever).

The seating is outdoors in a lovely covered area surrounded by plants. I had the tempeh bacon BTL – somethings I’ve never had before but really enjoyed. And Kevin had the Monkey Milk (banana & peanut smoothie) and samosas, which he also really enjoyed.

In addition to the great food it feels good to be able support local businesses, especially vegan ones. I hope we get the chance to eat here again or get some takeaway.

We briefly stopped in at the Island Country Markets (basically an ABC store with some extras) so Kevin could something to add to his bread/bagels for breakfast, then we headed back to our resort.

Though it was still windy at least we had some pockets of blue sky. We relaxed for a bit before Kevin headed off a nap. I should have gone for a swim or read my book but I was keen to get started on editing holiday vlogs so I did that instead.

At 6pm we tried to facetime with Athena and Christy but Athena had forgotten all about it & was not at home, and Christy was nextdoor having lunch with Nan & Pop, since it was Mothers Day there in Australia. We did catch up with Christy shortly afterwards and it was nice to see all the puppies.

Just before 7pm we finally made it out for our “morning” walk. Not the best day for taking photos but was nice to check out the resort. It’s actually a lot bigger than I realized but I definitely think we have one of the best apartments looking over the pool.

We walked down to the windy beach to get a few photos before heading back to our room.

Stopping to take photos of some of the beautiful flowers (again, I will have to do a more thorough job on a sunny day).

Back in our apartment Kevin cooked some Gardein Mandarin “chickn” (one of our favs) with some microwave rice, which we enjoyed while catching up on some vlogs. At 8.30pm we headed to bed for some reading before lights out.