1-26-19  A day on the West side

Greeted the morning with this little guy this morning.  He and I watched the waves from our patio.

wind is still up, but at least the sun is out today.

Decided to head to Kalaheo Cafe for breakfast.  Had wanted to go to Grinds Cafe in Ele Ele, but found out it is another restaurant that has gone by the wayside.

Had never had breakfast at Kalaheo Cafe, but thanks to the recommendation from TripAdvisor, we gave it a try,

Our breakfast was very good.  I also like that you order at the counter and pay then, so no waiting around for bills. 

After breakfast, we continued on our way---to the West side.

But first we rode through Hanapepe.  I had read that the truck planter had been repainted and wanted to check it out.  Found it.  I remember the first time we saw it about 20 years ago.  Pretty neat to see it still around.  Too bad the flowers weren't doing too well.

Then we continued up the canyon.  I love this view of Waimea town.

looking down the road

one of the pretty wild flowers we saw along the road.

our first stop.  Carolyn was amazed.  I told her it gets much better.

We stopped by the red dirt with the waterfall, but looked towards the canyon first.  I don't remember seeing the stacked rocks before.  Sort of neat that it's only done in this one area----that I know of.

Love this little waterfall.

stopped at more views of the canyon on our way up.

It was pretty cloudy and hazy, but still beautiful

Love seeing all the wildflowers along the canyon road

Made it to Kalalau lookout expecting it to be totally clouded over.

to my surprise, the clouds were high so the ocean was visible.

so were more wild flowers.

King of the table.

looks like cherry blossoms!?

I found this very interesting.  I've never seen bikes on a carrier upside down before! 

Even saw a little quail up in the canyon.

another look towards the ocean.

a look down the trail.  It was damp so there was no way I was going to go sliding down it.

The first of 2 mice we saw---the other was in our room back at Kauai Beach Villas!

These were in full bloom when we were here in late Sept. a couple years ago.  They were so pretty. 

but, so are all the wild flowers that are in bloom now

bet this is a neat hike.

looking into the canyon from the last view point.

orange lichen?

another view of the canyon and the distant waterfall

zoomed in view of the waterfall.

After seeing the canyon, we headed down the highway to Kekaha beach.  Love that long expanse of beach.  Hoped to see some whales but haven't had much luck with that this trip.

Did see this plane fly by---Go Air Force!

Now I know why the rooster crossed the road!

We also went to the Waimea pier.

I got some outstanding sunset pictures from here several years ago. 

more wildflowers.

Seems the water here is always murky

A sunset cruise?

We also drove by Saltpond.  Another place I love to go for sunset when we're this far West.

I knew my sister would love the coffee plantation.  She's quite the coffee snob, so I took her there.

cute little place.

Even bought some coffee for my daughter in law.

My sister thought she was in heaven!

I hate coffee, so I sat and watched the video of how it's made.  Very interesting.  Tried to buy some malasadas, but they were out.

Thought we would take the walking tour, but she was happy drinking coffee, and leaving.  But I did get to see these plumeria

Now it was time for dinner.  So we went a couple miles up the road to Brick Oven Pizza.  I still  think they make great pizza---even if they have to do it twice!  After waiting a while, the waitress came and said they burnt our pizza so they were making us another one and deducting 20% off our bill. 

Were there for happy hour too, but didn't get any of the pupus.

When we got there about 4:30, the place was pretty empty!  Had me wondering.  But it was full when we drove by after sunset.

I did partake in a happy hour brew.  I am an IPA fan and find the Hanalei IPA to be quite tasty.

Our pizza---my half with salami and bacon (that's another thing I like---I can get salami on a pizza here), for Carolyn, pepperoni and ham.  Even at 20% off, the medium pizza and my $4 beer was still $23, but it'll probably have to tide me over for another couple years.

Since it was nearing sunset after dinner, we headed back to Saltpond.

Santa was even there!

Almost sunset.

I was surprised how chilly it was at Saltpond.  Usually it's warmer when we're here. 

sun rays

almost gone.

With the lack of clouds in the sky, we didn't linger after sunset.  Wanted to get back to the East side before it got too late.  Glad we didn't have to drive all the way to Princeville.  This is why I booked the 2 extra nights at KBV.  Tomorrow---back to our Princeville condo. 

 Glad our day up the canyon turned out so nice.  I don't like to plan ahead for that, but since I had to make reservations at KBV ahead of time, it worked out well.