Sunday 7/29
We arrived in Kauai and headed straight to our room at the Hanalei Bay Resort. This is the view from our patio. Not to shabby!
Starving, we headed to Kalypso for lunch. Immediately after, we headed back to the room and passed out for the day. So tired!
Monday 7/30
We started the morning off with a trek up to the Princeville shopping center to get some breakfast. It rained most of the way but this lovely rainbow popped out!
We got acquainted with the roosters.
And took a walk on the beach.
Which included a little bit to meandering through some shrubbery.
Eventually, we headed down to Hanalei Bay to try to catch some rays, but it ended up being more rainy than sunny so we gave up.
The clouds finally broke in time for the sunset, so we ran down to the beach to enjoy it.
And of course I had to check out the cool flowers.
Tuesday 7/31
The sun finally came out so we took a hike!
We hiked the first two miles of the Na Pali Coast along the Hanakapi’ai trail. What a view!
Later that day we met up with the bride (Megan) and groom (Mark) and the rest of the Megan’s family on the beach. They, along with a few others, headed to happy hour later on and Nick and I headed to Nanea at the Westin for dinner. I don’t have any pictures from that, but the food was awesome and very filling.
Wednesday 8/1
The morning was kicked off with the bridesmaids brunch. Again, no photos. I was enjoying the company more than I was interested in snapping photos. After a wonderful brunch with Megan and the other bridesmaids, we headed down to the beach for a little bit before we all got ready for the bachelorette party.
We went to a luau at Tahiti Nui. It was a blast. Although they kept the Mai Tai’s flowing, I never finished my first one. My taste buds have changed over the years; while mixed drinks taste yummy, they end up being way too sweet for me these days. Anyway, the food was an array of Hawaiian and Pacific dishes that was fun to try. Being buffet-style, I tried a little bit of everything, just for the experience. The hula dancing was pretty cool too. Megan, the bride-to-be, even got pulled up on stage.
Thursday 8/2
I started the morning off with a 9-mile run, followed by some quality beach time!
Thursday evening was the cookout/potluck/bonfire on the beach with just about all of the wedding guests.
The bride and bridesmaids did fun sunset/shadow shots.
Friday 8/3
Nick and I had the morning to ourselves, and being the last bit of free time, we decided to check out the “Secret Falls” which included a kayak trip up the Wailua River.
We made a pit stop along the way by the much smaller waterfall.
And then we finally arrived to the main attraction: Uluwehi Falls.
We busted our butts back to Princeville to get ready for the wedding rehearsal and rehearsal dinner so if we ever come back to Kauai, we’ll have to do this kayak/hike again so we can enjoy the waterfall more.
While the wedding party was rehearsing, Nick made a little M and M sculpture in the sand with some driftwood (for Megan and Mark).
Upon two rounds of rehearsal, the wedding party moved on to Common Ground for the rehearsal dinner. Common Ground is a field to table sort of restaurant, which I loved! Nick and I went exploring in the gardens.
Taro root!
All kinds of yummy herbs and veggies growing!
And we met a very friendly goat.
So cute!
Kisses? Or maybe he was hungry and was tempted to eat me? Who knows.
Anyway, the food at Common Ground was amazing! I wish we had an opportunity to go back there before we left. Loved everything about it!
Even the flowers and table-scape came from the farm.
The night continued with the lovely dinner, music, and hula. Megan and the bridesmaids were pulled “on stage” to do a hula dance. I had no idea what I was doing. Haha.
Saturday 8/4
Wedding day! Courtney, one of my college roommates, and Emily, one of Mark’s friends, and I headed to the farmers market first thing in the morning to pick up a package of cookies for us bridal party to munch on while we got ready. While at the farmers market, we took our time and checked out all of the vendors.
Coconuts.
Fresh citrus.
Fresh flowers.
Assorted veggies.
The Hanalei Farmers Market is located right next to the Wai’oli Hui’ia church, which is a gorgeous building.
Courtney, Emily, and I had some time to kill before we were meeting up with the rest of the bridal party so we took a drive out to the Kiluaea Lighthouse.
What beautiful colors!
Before we knew it, it was time to head to the Botanical Gardens to meet up with the rest of the bridal party and start getting ready.
This is the only photo I have on my camera from the wedding festivities for the day. Megan is in the middle and Courtney is on the right. College roommies together again (unfortunately we were missing Clarissa who just had a baby and wasn’t able to make it). I put it down and enjoyed Megan and Mark’s beautiful wedding. Nick did take photos on his camera but I have yet to see them. He told me that I wasn’t being too photogenic, either looking down at the ground (trying as hard as possible not to cry) or making a “stink eye” face because it was so sunny. So I’m sorry it I look horrible in the photos, Megan 
Once I get ahold of Nick’s phone/camera, I’ll check out the wedding photos he took and post them for you guys!
Sunday 8/5
Departure day 
.
We were kicked out of our hotel required to check out of the Hanalei Bay Resort at 10 AM and our flight wasn’t until 4 PM so we headed over to the other side of the island to kill some time. While I think the North side of Kauai is much more beautiful, more tranquil, and less touristy, views in Lihue (where the airport is) still beats the views in Dallas any day! Farewell Hawaii. Until next time.
Stay tuned for Photos from Vacation Part 2: Seattle and the San Juan Islands!
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