Saturday, June 15- Sunday, June 16
(*until we meet again)
Saturday was our last last day, though for all practical purposes I considered Friday our last real day. However! Our flight was not until 7:30 p.m. Saturday evening, so technically we still had a big chunk of the day to enjoy.
The evening/ overnight flight thing was probably not exactly my ideal flight schedule, but given the location and time change, it seems to be very common for the flights back to the mainland to be like that.
Also, our condo in Princeville was over an hour away from the airport. I really didn’t want any kind of early flight (or even quasi early, like a 10 am flight…). We needed to do all the condo clean up and check out, drive to airport, return rental car, and arrive 2+ hours early. I didn’t like the idea of our last morning in Hawaii involving a super early wake up and racing to the airport, etc.
One perk of the evening flight is obviously having “almost” another day! Sort of. I mean, the vibe is definitely different knowing we’re packing up to leave. And of course we needed to check out of the VRBO… (regular check out was 10, but I asked for late check out and we got it extended to 12! Yay! This was so helpful and a game changer.) But still, once we check out, obviously we have all our luggage with us.
Hanalei Bay
Knowing we had no morning rush, this allowed time for Ivan and I to go back to Hanalei Bay Saturday morning. We had mostly packed our stuff the night before.
I just really wanted to see this place one more time. It’s just so, so beautiful. We packed up coffee and tea in the nice travel mugs the VRBO provided and headed to the beach. 🙂
It was maybe 7:45 or so by the time we got there. It was delightfully mostly empty, save a handful of other people doing the same thing we were.
It was sooooo pretty!!!!!!! I am very thankful that we made the trip back over there.
We just spread out towels and sat on the beach and talked.
I feel like I struggled the whole trip to really capture the nuances of these mountains here- the lighting can just be tricky! In many photos I think they sort of turned out like big dark blobs. But the sun seemed to hit them just right here:
At one point I waded out into the nice, clear water. Must have been the tide but it was super shallow WAY out, just to my knees or so.
Then I walked down the beach around the corner to the Hanalei River. I saw a local dad with 3 young kids. He was just sitting on the beach and the kids were having a blast climbing all over this huge piece of drift wood in the water. Haha. You can kind of see them here in this pic below. What a strange and different life that would be! Wake up on Saturday morning, head from your home down to….. this:
You can rent kayaks and kayak the Hanalei River, which I REALLY wanted to do one day. But we just didn’t end up having time I guess. See, people often think our trips are too long, but I swear we always still run out of time to do everything I’d like to.
Finally we sadly realized we should probably get going. We knew the boys had wanted to go in the pool one more time, so we thought maybe we could still catch up with them there for a little bit.
Pool + Check Out
Luckily, we did. My parents and the boys were just heading over there when we drove up. We joined them for one last soak in the hot tub/ pool dip from about 10-10:30.
Then we had to the un-fun part- get ready to go, clean up, etc.
We showered, threw our suits in the dryer, finished packing, cleaned out the fridge, took out the garbage…. the usual. It definitely is a little bit more work to stay at a condo vs hotel (no kitchen or dishes to clean up at a hotel!).
But it was worth it. Loved this condo! I think if we were moving around a lot it in multiple short stays it might be annoying, but then I guess in that case you might not have as many groceries and such anyway.
We checked out right at noon on the dot. Now we basically had some time to kill. We didn’t “need” to be to the airport until ~5:00 for our flight, but in actuality we had to return our rental SUV by 3:15 (or else we’d get charged for another day).
This gave us a few hours.
Kilauea Lighthouse
I knew we’d have some time Saturday, so I’d planned to stop by the Kilauea Lighthouse which was basically on our way south. You can tour this lighthouse up close (but you can’t go inside), however a reservation is needed and there’s a fee.
I hadn’t reserved a slot, and wasn’t sure I wanted to pay if I couldn’t go inside the lighthouse anyway. Besides, I had read that there are nice views of the lighthouse from the (free) parking area/ lookout. So that was the plan.
We drove to the entrance, parked and just enjoyed these views for a little while!
A gorgeous spot! I’m sure it would have been neat to go up close, but we’ve seen many lighthouses in Maine already up close…. (shrug)….would it be much different?
Anyway, from there we made our way down closer to Lihue where the airport is. On our way, we passed through Kapa’a. We had more time to kill, so we figured we’d stop for a mid-afternoon lunch.
Napali Brewing Company
We stopped at Napali Brewing Company in Kapa’a, a place we’d wanted to try the other day (but ended up at the beachfront Lava Lava Beach Club instead).
This was a perfect choice for right now, because they had a parking lot and a parking spot just outside the window from our table- which meant we could easily keep an eye on our car with all our suitcases in it.
It was a very nice place! Not busy at all and they had a live guitarist playing. I was not very hungry since I’d had a PBJ in the condo (trying to eat up our bread…), but I got a kids mac and cheese which was good.
We lingered and basically killed time and just hung out. A little before 3, we drove over to the airport, gassed up the SUV and turned it in. All of that went smoothly. We took the shuttle from the car rental complex to the airport check in.
Got through security etc with no issues and were to our gate WAY WAY early. Lol. This part of the trip was pretty unexciting. I worked on a blog post, and everyone else basically just puttered around on their phones playing games, watching movies, etc. We were in for a long night….
I took this pic at 6:55 p.m., so about 3.5 hours after turning in the rental car.
We took off on time or even a little early- time stamp 7:22 p.m. Bye Kauai!!! 😥
We weren’t all seated together, but were nearby and in pairs. I had the window seat with Ivan in the middle.
I enjoyed the sunset from the sky and did a little contemplating on how crazy life and time and all of that is. I don’t know, maybe it’s just me, but I always get a little sad/emotional at the end of a trip. There’s just so much build up and then it’s like- whoa. It’s all over? Did all of that great stuff really happen? I can’t fully describe it, but I get this weird sensation every time. (It also always hits me when I’m standing at home in my bedroom- I’ll feel this strange time warp sensation like, Ok, wait, pinch me- where am I? Was I actually out on an island in the Pacific just 12 hours ago? And now I’m in Wisconsin? 🤔 It’s kind of mind boggling.)
We had an uneventful ~6 hour 45 minute or so flight to Denver, where we had a 4 hour layover. 😩 The flight options for our dates were NOT GOOD. Very expensive and the schedules were fairly mediocre. This was by far the best itinerary I could find. (Actually, I’m not complaining. The fact that we could fly directly into Madison versus Chicago’s O’Hare was HUGE. HUGE!!!!)
We got breakfast, milled around, and then mostly ended up doing this outside our gate for a long time:
Blech, I kind of hate how people look when staring at their phones. (Even though I guess I was, too…). Ultimately I decided I didn’t really care how much time they were spending on their phones at this point. It was probably an obscene amount, but honestly, literally everyone else in the airport was doing the exact same thing and it had been a long, active trip.
Our flight took off around 10:30 a.m. I think, and then we just had a couple hour flight from Denver –> Madison and we were HOME! Ivan’s sister picked us up and ~15 minutes later we were home home.
Phew! A long trip with not much sleep. (I maybe got a couple hours on the overnight flight, if that.)
And that’s a wrap on our trip! It was pretty incredible.
I am so, so, SO happy with how everything worked out. I’d like to just give myself a big gold star for how well the planning all panned out (haha) and I’d like to thank our lucky stars, too, because in reality, a large portion of a “good trip” can really boil down to luck. Lol. (Example- I can’t control the weather!! And we had amazing weather.)
I have a couple of other “Hawaii” related posts I’d like to write still- primarily, my observations and thoughts on how we thought Hawaii compared to Costa Rica! Just thought that’d be a fun topic to unpack.
I know you may all be bored silly by Hawaii posts at this point, but let me know if you have any Hawaii-related questions or anything else you’d like to me to write about! 🙂
Thanks for reading! As always, I mostly write these posts for myself, but I do enjoy knowing that others find the travel posts interesting or beneficial, too. So thanks to those who have followed along! 🙂
GRATEFUL KAE 
I definitely get the post-trip blues. Every. single. time. And coming off an extra-long, extra-awesome trip I suspect yours would be even more intense than usual.
Gorgeous pictures and a wonderful trip. I totally agree about the weird geography whiplash of being in one place and a day later being back home in our regular setting. It’s BIZZARE! And, obviously, a very recent thing in human history!
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Very very bizarre! I still think there’s room for improvement…if we could get teleporting up and running, that’d be even better. Haha!
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I’ve love reading about your trip, especially since our Kauai trip overlapped a little and we stay in the southern part of the island when we are there (we’ve gotten to go to Kauai a few times – it is our favorite place). You guys did many different things so it was fun to see and makes me want to explore the northern part of the island a little more on a future trip.
We’ve been to Hanalei Bay twice, last Sunday and last year and I think most of it is just weirdly shallow. It is the best beach scenery ever though!
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Oh how cool that you were just there too!! I would love to hear more about the southern side of the island. I don’t feel like we really had enough time to fully explore that part, just given the distance and not wanting to spend all our time driving back and forth. I know the south side is very popular and it seems very convenient to I think more of the good hiking, etc.. However, I may be biased since we stayed north, but the north seemed so much prettier!! (Then again- I am pretty sure we missed out on a lot of good spots on the south side, so I am likely not qualified to make a true comparison. 🙂
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I enjoy reading your hawaii posts because it takes my mind off work, as if I get the vacation feeling through your posts!
please compare it with Costa Rica, mostly because there are things that overlap while one is in a developing country vs. developed country with good infrastructure.
I’ve been noticing the last couples of days how many people look at their phones when in the elevator, bus, walking. like they can’t let their brain to not be occupied by something. Obviously I know everyone does that, but noticing how many people do that was new to me. I am enjoying the devise free walks/errands, I do start to noticing things more. Our girls don’t have dedicated phones with wifi. sofia usually takes her kindle on trips and read all the time, which I think it’s less bad than tiktok.
Welcome back to routine. what’s the rest of the summer for you?
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We don’t have any other major plans for the summer, to be honest! It sort of took up all my mental energy to plan this trip. I think mostly just the boys are hoping to work a bunch, and also have some pre-high school sports practices, etc going on. School starts for Ethan by mid-August, so I feel like it will fly by. Asher was swim team until end of July, too. We just have misc stuff to deal with around the house too! Looking forward to a fairly low key summer, hopefully.
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I would love to hear your comparison thoughts!! I have loved these posts. You are making me want to start saving up for Hawaii. It sounds like it was worth it!
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It’s a beautiful place! I will try to put together a Costa Rica vs Hawaii post soon. 🙂
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I got the post- vacation blues just reading this! I always love your trips recaps, and this Hawaii trip was amazing. I’ll be happy to hear more!
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Aw, thanks!!! I hope to carve out some time for a couple more posts soon 😉
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I have really enjoyed your Hawaii posts. It is so beautiful there. Would be interested in Hawaii vs Costa Rica. We have not been to CR (yet) but spent a month in Panama which is, I believe, similar. I get that weird sad feeling after many big events and used to after travel. However being self-employed/semi-retired our trips are long now. Have spent as long as 6 weeks in Portugal, a month in Spain —so very very fortunate I know!— and 3 months in Mexico so it always feels good to get home!
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OOH wow!! This all sounds amazing!!! I have heard Panama is great! I will definitely add there to my list. Having long, extended stays like that sounds like truly the best way to really slow down and explore a destination. I mean 2 weeks is decent, but you still can’t REALLY experience it all in just a couple weeks.
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I love your travel recaps – I think if we end up any destinations you’ve gone in just going to email you for your itineraries! Plus my mom and I love seeing you and your mom – she says hi!
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Awww!! Hi!!! 🙂 🙂 And please please do email me if you ever plan to go to any of these places! I love travel planning and would be more than happy to share any other details or itinerary lists.
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We are going to Kauai next week, so this has been well timed. We are staying in Hanalei, so this made me so excited! I always enjoy reading travel recaps 🙂
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Ahhhh seriously?!! Have the best time!!! I loved the north shore area and Hanalei. So rustic and cute and just incredible scenery! Do you have any specific plans? Is this your first time there?
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I think I got the post-vacation blues on our honeymoon since it was such an amazing trip! We love Hawaii so much and especially loved where we stayed in Maui. But on other trips, I don’t tend to get that sad feeling, especially now that we are traveling with young kids as I am usually ready to get back to their schedules/have them sleep in their beds. I have learned that I cannot comment to Phil on what we should do for our next trip… I’m always thinking about the next trip and that does NOT go over well with Phil who just wants to live in the present and not think to far into the future.
I’ve enjoyed your Hawaii posts so much!
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Haha, Phil…I’ll admit it always crosses my mind to start thinking about the next trip whenever I’m on the current one! We don’t have our upcoming year travel plans sorted out at all really yet. A few ideas but after this really big trip, we’ll see- maybe will keep things a little more low key. Especially with Asher starting high school too, different schools for each, lots of unknowns with schedules etc…. I’m not sure I have the energy to do anything too crazy. We’ll see! I know the boys really want to get back to Panama City Beach, Florida- that’s their FAV place ever and we haven’t been there in several years now. But we only do that in the summer since we like it to be nice and hot if we’re doing a beach/pool trip! So would have to be next summer sometime.
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One word: amazing. So happy to read about Hawaii and to see the pictures. Like Lisa, I need the next trip to look forward to but I cannot mention it to Tony LOL
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HAHA, so funny about the next trip! Yep, same here…. hehe!
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I just finished catching up on all your Hawaii posts – SOO fun to see you enjoying so many familiar places (and some that we’ve never been to!) We just got back from Oahu yesterday, and you inspired me to add Waimea Valley (except we skipped the actual waterfall part – way too crowded and better waterfalls elsewhere) and Byodo-In Temple to this trip’s itinerary. I loved the grounds of both places!
Your whole trip sounded amazing, and I continue to be so inspired by your travel research and planning, and the joy with which you seem to enjoy the trips themselves (and the photos! you do such a great job of capturing it all). Also, when I’m a parent to adult children and eventually a grandparent, I want to be as cool as your parents are to jump right in on all these adventures 🙂
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I didn’t realize you were going so soon after we were there! I hope you had a great time! Agree, that Waimea waterfall is so crowded, but I was unaware of others in Oahu that you could swim in…. though maybe they exist and I just didn’t know about them. Thanks again for sending over tips! I feel like we had a pretty long trip at 15 nights and yet there still were plenty of things we never got around to doing! That’s always the way. 🙂
And yes- my parents are such good sports! They try to keep up and stay young and it’s the best! 🙂
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I would LOVE to see a Hawaii v. Costa Rica post as I can definitely see pluses and minuses to both! I also get the end-of-trip blues but I have to say that these have diminished a bit now that we have a dog. Getting greeted by our dog when we return is seriously SO fun that on our last day of any trip we can’t be TOO sad.
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