Arrival on Friday

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I left Los Angeles around 5pm and 5 hours later, I arrived at 8pm in Lihue, the town in which the airport is located.

After collecting my luggage (I was picked up by members of my family), we drove to the town of Kapa'a, which is the next town north of Lihue.  My folks had arrived a couple of days prior to myself and had a good place to grab a bite in mind.  The Lounge Lizard is a decent bar where you can also get food.  We all got a beer (local Hawaiian brew - can't remember which one) or wine with our local fish sandwiches.  I think mine was okay.  Fish seems to be good on Hawaii no matter where you go.

I was practically exposed to the elements, the heavy humidity, the cacophony of the birds, including the crow of the feral chicken, and the buzz of frustrated mosquitoes.

Sitting at the airport...
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After that, we continued to drive up to Hanalei, which is on the North Shore of Kauai.

To describe Hanalei is easy.  It's a small beach town with plenty of roadside charm.  It hasn't gotten overgrown by the resorts and too many excursion-vendors.  There are plenty of touristy shops in the downtown, offering restaurants, Brazilian food (In Hawaii??), tapas, Bubba's Burgers, Shave Ice, Fish Sandwiches and kabobs, alongside Jewelry, crystal and gemstone stores, art gallery items, painted silk, Polynesian artwork, and clothing stores.  The clothing and home decor shops have a little bit more of a resort flavor and less of a surfer or scuba/snorkel flavor.  Hanalei doesn't appear to have the huge waves that other beaches in Hawaii and on Kauai, specifically have.  But that was okay.  I'm not a surfer.  I am a relaxer.

Airport drawings for an environmental project of mine...
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Hanalei also has a little food store called The Big Save, a small supermarket, which is handy if you need to pick up food items here and there.  I do recommend the Foodland in Princeville (the town that you arrive at before Hanalei), as it's a giant food market and the prices, while still higher than the mainland, are less than The Big Save.  However, buying and preparing your own food will be significantly less than going out every day, regardless.

We arrived and parked outside of the carport at the rented house that my family had been staying at for a couple of days already.  We had stayed at this particular house before.  I already knew that I would be sleeping out in the sunroom with the twin bed.  I was practically exposed to the elements, the heavy humidity, the cacophony of the birds, including the crow of the feral chicken, and the buzz of frustrated mosquitoes.  (They were not able to get in due to decent screens over jalosied windows.)

The upper left-most character reminds me of me...
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Exhausted by travel, we all hit the hay.