Day Eighteen - Around the North Shore of Kauai

We had coffee on the lanai this morning, but had no food in yet.  Showered and dressed, we headed for the Westin, which is just down the road a mile.  Our guidebook said it had an amazing breakfast.  Which it probably did in 2009 when the guide was last updated.  But now the restaurant isn't open for breakfast, so we went into the little convenience store/deli there and got ham and egg croissants and Starbucks Coffee.  Kind of a shame about the coffee.  Every island in Hawaii grows and markets coffee that is wonderful.  And which you can sometimes only get here.  Starbucks is everywhere.  Oh, well.  We're drinking Ueshima Estate coffee from the Big Island at home, at least.

We had set out only to find breakfast and go to the grocery store.  But it was raining a little off and on, so we decided to take a drive to the end of Highway 56, along the east end of the Na Pali Coast.  I had no need to photograph our grocery excursion, so the camera stayed at the condo.  We plan to spend more time along the north shore, so I'll post photos later.  I did take a few around the condo, though.  Nene galore on the lawn here.  And a rooster, hen and chick visited me here on the lanai.  Chickens are the pigeons of Kauai.  They're everywhere.  We sat outside to eat our take out breakfast at the Westin, and two of them were begging like our dog does at home.  And as soon as we sat at the table on the lanai to regroup, along came the whole family.  One of the youngsters is waddling by right now.

At the end of our exploration drive, we ate lunch at the Lighthouse Bistro at Kilauea.  Then we finally got to the grocery store in Princeville, picked up some free books on Kauai, and came back to the condo for the day.  Pat took a nap, giving me a chance to play unhappily with electronics and get up to date with email, etc. When he awoke, we drank mai tais on the lanai, then had dinner in (salad with salmon).  We've now planned our day for tomorrow:  a botanical garden in the morning, Kapa'a in the afternoon.  And maybe live music in Princeville in the evening.

A nene family seems to live here (goose, Hawaii state bird, found only in Hawaii).

The view from our lanai. The cliff is so high we barely hear the ocean.

A visitor to our lanai (we're on the first floor).