Kauai love | Hanalei Bay

   On the north shore of Kauai is Hanalei Bay. 

  We didn't stay right in town by the bay, but about 15 minutes west of it.  Lots of one lane bridges to get to our place.  This is the highway!!

   I have two more posts on Kauai, including this one.  Today is all about what we did in Hanalei Bay and tomorrow is the other random stuff and our day trip to the south shore.

   Beautiful overlook of the bay.

   This bay is very calm and shallow, would have been PERFECT for our kids.  There were kids learning to surf and I couldn't help but think of bringing our kids here.  I also took a little swim here because it was calm and not open ocean.  Because open ocean creatures are real.

Do you see me?

This area has a lot of taro growing.  Here is a field just in the main part of town.

You also see it in the foliage growing in all of the gardens.

  I am so glad I took this pic.  This was on our last full day.  We were on our way back from swimming in the bay.  If you know anything about me from my blog, I take an overload of pictures.  This was just another angle of the same scene I had seen multiple times, but I was just so enamored with everything I wanted to keep capturing it in every way that I could.  I have to be honest and say that I am not sure if there was always a waterfall here.  As you will learn below, waterfalls come and go.

  The day we stuck around Hanalei was on and off rain.  Did you know that a mountain on the north shore of Kauai gets up to 450" of rain annually?  It rains a lot on the North Shore!  It never stopped us from doing anything because it comes and goes quickly, but when it rains it sure rains hard!  We never took the top off our Jeep, would have been fun to, but we would have been caught trying to zip it back on in the torrential downpour a couple of times and that would not have been fun!

  It's warm rain, so I was embracing it!  Also, everyone does everything in a swim suit and that is pretty much heaven to me.  Shopping, groceries, etc.  Always in a swim suit or beach dress, sandy feet, and flip flops.  That is my style.  100!

  The rain also provided for some beautiful rainbows!!

  Which I may have asked Mike to pull over real quick so I could run on the side of the road to get that pic above!  The title of his pic he sent to my sister and brother-in-law:  crazy local running up the street with a dress on.

   Rainbow over Hanalei Bay.

  The local church in town.  Rainbow in the background.  I mean seriously.  God keeps his promises.    Hallelujah.  Amen.

More rainbow!

  Eating sushi/apps at The Dolphin along the river.  It gets busy quick, so the trick is to get there by 5, eat outside while you wait to get the full menu.  The full menu is only available inside after 5:30.  We know because we went here twice!

This is inside where you can get a rainbow poke bowl!!!  Yum, yum, and yum!

   And then when you walk out from dinner, there is no longer one waterfall like that pic I talked about earlier, but 8 or so because of the heavy rain.  How crazy and cool is that?  Wish I had taken a pic right before dinner because there really was only one just a couple hours before!

  And then on your last night you decide the rainbow poke bowl appetizer wasn't enough dinner and you go to your other favorite restaurant in town, Baracuda.   Which is a tapas and wine bar, and yes, its as our 2nd visit there as well.  Double YUM! 

  Lastly, we have to highlight our other favorite spot in town, Hanalei Bread Co.  Cute little coffee shop with yummy bread and pastries.

  On our way out of town, we planned enough time for Mike to stop for one last coffee and honey sticky bun!  Last taste of Kauai before we got on the plane.

Hanalei is in our hearts!