It's Kauai in April... and I'm wearing a sweater and thinking about putting my jeans on. I knew it wasn't going to be hot for our visit, but I at least thought it would be *warm*.

We're here because the Darling Husband rolls another decade at the end of the week, and this is how he (always) wants to celebrate those b-day milestones*. We were supposed to fly in on Thursday with friends, but after a comedy of errors we wound up arriving a day early because our plane arrival time changed and we could no longer meet our scheduled connections. Instead of flying down to LA and from there into Lihue, we wound up with three legs: San Jose to Honolulu to Lihue. Ignoring the multi-hour layover in Honolulu, this actually worked out well. We were able to sort out the car and had Wednesday evening to get acclimated before picking everyone up the next day.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rainycity1/sets/72157629762088127/

* so far, we're two for three.

The first night was spent at the Aston Aloha Resort. Except for a few minor details, like not being able to open the sliding door to let some air in and never figuring out how to turn on two of the lights, it was just what we needed. The resort was right across from Lygate Beach Park, and the next morning we had time to walk through the park and take pictures. There was also the surprise of finding that adjacent to the resort were several Old Hawai'i sacred spots.

Thursday (2nd Day) we picked up the O'Ls without incident, did some light shopping, got lunch and headed up to the Wyndam Bali Hai Resorts up in Princeville. Thursday evening was spent with various parties splashing around the pool while the rest of us played spectator. Various resort cats were found and petted.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rainycity1/sets/72157629765535111/

Friday (3rd Day) was spent exploring the North Shore in between rain showers. The original plan was to drive all the way to the end of the road at Ke'e Beach to provide an overview and then stop at places on the way back, hopefully after it had stopped raining. Plans evolve, however, especially where the DH is concerned. and we wound up driving only as far as the Maniniholo Dry Cave, where we stopped and got out to go look at the petroglyphs. (Side note: while searching for information on the drawings, I found stories about how the cave was built by the Menehene and named after one of their master fishermen, but I didn't find anything that confirmed that the petroglyphs were authentic... interesting.**) Since the rain passed while we were in the cave, we went ahead and spent some time playing in the waves on the beach at Haena Beach Park. This wound up working well, as about the time that we were wrapping that up, the rain returned and we drove the rest of the way to the end in the rain. Parking was none existent at Ke'e Park, so we turned around there and headed back.
**http://voices.yahoo.com/northshore-cave-adventures-kauai-3852052.html

Another sun break coincided with Lumahai Beach, where most of the party played in the surf while I sat on the beach and played photographer. After a particularly large wave knocked over the littlest O'L, her mother and the DH while they were exploring the rock ledge, as well as snatching away a pink croc as tribute, we packed up and left just as the next downpour started.

Lunch and a replacement pair of slippers were found at Hanalei, then we headed back to the room to get dressed for our luau.

The luau was more elaborate than the one we went to 10 years ago at Princeville Hotel, but I felt the previous one was more intimate. This luau had gardens to walk around beforehand and live entertainment on a small stage while we had dinner, including the prerequisite hula lesson. The open bar served what they claimed were mai tai's, but if they weren't virgin, they certainly weren't very experienced. After dinner we all trooped over to a fairly elaborate theater, where we saw samples of a variety of dance styles associated with the island, including Hawai'ian, Polynesian, Samoan, Chinese, Japanese and Maori. We were well fed, well entertained, and it was very late when we finally made it back up to the North shore and our rooms.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rainycity1/sets/72157629773780179/
(first group of photos - more to be added)