We spent most of the day at the resort, swimming in the pools. Hsuan went down to the pools early to get us some good poolside seats near the entrance to the lazy river, and later, W and I had breakfast while J and Hsuan skipped breakfast to enjoy the pool. We had reserved a couple of cabanas at the lagoon for Friday, but we wanted poolside seats for today.
Our plan was to visit Waimea Canyon by car; the concierge who had arranged for our helicopter tour told us that Waimea Canyon was close enough and convenient enough to visit on our own, so around 3 PM, we washed up and left for the drive. It was about an hour’s drive, and halfway through, in the town of Waimea on the coast, I decided I was too drowsy for it to be safe for me to drive, so Hsuan took over driving, and I napped a bit on the way up into the canyon itself.
We stopped at Waimea Canyon Lookout, the last stop on the road that buses were allowed to drive. Elevation about 3400 ft. There were a couple of tour buses there. Lots of tourists. We walked up to the lookout areas and took a bunch of photos. I don’t think I ever visited the Grand Canyon, but Waimea Canyon is definitely impressive. Unlike the Grand Canyon, it’s also lush and green.
We watched helicopter tours fly through, and we spoke briefly with a dad about our tour; he was going on a tour the next day.
After getting a snack at a food truck set up in the parking lot, we drove on to the next lookout point. I think it was signed as Na’Pali lookout, though I don’t know if it had anything to do with the coast. We were still several miles south of the Lodge at Kokee, but in looking at Apple Maps, it’s clear that it was the last lookout on the Kokee Road (550) that overlooked the Canyon itself, at least for many more miles.
A sign at the parking lot indicated distances for a number of trails, but the only trailhead we saw was for the Canyon Trail, which was the longest by far and which apparently landed at a waterfall. We went down maybe a quarter of a mile before I decided that Hsuan was too inexperienced and I was too out of shape to continue, though the boys could no doubt have continued for more miles. I felt that the, given the descent we had undergone already, the climb back up would be too much if we went further. I was definitely too tired to continue.
After returning to the parking lot, we went to the lookout point and took more photos, then we returned to the car and the drive back to the resort. We could have gone on to the Lodge at Kokee, but I wanted to return to our resort by sunset, and I decided I didn’t want to drive back down the canyon in the dark.
For dinner, we stopped by The Shops at Kukui’ula, in Koloa, the town next door to Poipu. The Shops is a nicer and more extensive outdoor shopping mall than the Poipu Shopping Village, and it’s just a short drive farther down Poipu Road. Nothing wrong with Poipu Shopping Village; it’s just smaller and has less to offer.
We noticed the Eating House 1849 by Roy Yamaguchi, and we always love a good dinner at a Roy Yamaguchi restaurant. However, they didn’t have seats available for a couple of hours, so we ate at Merriman’s Gourmet Pizza & Burgers nearby. However, we did make a reservation for the next night at 1849.