Hawaii 50 - Kauai (Christmas Day)

We arrived early into Kauai airport, picked up the car and decided to head to the two 'must do' state parks; Waimea Canyon and Kokee State Parks. It made it easier for us that both these parks were next to each other, the only way to reach Kokee was to drive through Waimea.

We headed into Waimea and immediately were hit with multiple turn outs with stunning views of the canyon. Waimea is nick named "Grand Canyon of the Pacific. It is 14 miles across and a mile wide, not quite the size of the actual Grand Canyon but given this was a little tropical island in the Pacific, it was impressive. The canyon was formed by the collapse of a volcano during the forming of Kauai and each side of the canyon was formed by different periods of lava flows. The canyon is full of colourful rocks and sand, and is a big contrast the the tropical greenery of the 'Garden Island'.

Along the scenic route, we stopped off a Red Dirt Waterfall which was located right next to the road. Here we found a couple of small waterfalls in red coloured dirt and rocks. It's not an impressive waterfall but had unusual colours and we assume the water had some sort of 'magical' qualities given the number of people bathing.

We continued along the scenic road of Waimea Canyon until he turned into Kokee State Park. Here we stopped off at Kalalau Lookout and the Pu'u o Kila Lookout for stunning views of the Napali cliffs. We also found Kokee Lodge, a bar, restaurant and gift shop which seemed but as popular with the locals as it did with tourists.

We headed back down towards the sea, thankful that the temperature was rising again as it got very cold at such a high elevation and headed towards our hotel, via Kauai Island Brewing Company for a quick rest stop.

Our hotel was the Kauai Shores Hotel, a beachfront boutique hotel with a resort feel. We wanted somewhere to relax on Christmas Day with all the facilities needed but without the size and number of people you would get from one of the big brands. This place was perfect. There were so many little quirky touches to the entire place, which we loved. Along with a fantastic bar and restaurant on the beach.

We decided that for Christmas Eve, we would explore outside the hotel but only managed to cross the road to Johnny's Wingz N Tingz and we ended up staying here all night. Everyone in the bar, apart from us, was a local. But we were quickly accepted and included in the conversation, which mostly focused around the Women's American Football League (or Lingerie League) which was being played on the TV.

Christmas day was super chilled, with most of our time spent on the beach. We had breakfast at the hotel restaurant on the bench, sunbathed, did some swimming, and walked along the beach. In the evening, we had dinner on the beach. Then we watched the sun go down and star gazed.... on the beach. It was perfect.

Christmas in Hawaii has a very different vibe to Christmas back home in the UK. There wasn't the frenzy, there was no pressure to make it perfect, no set agenda for the day. It was just more relaxed. Shops were open, we even went to local supermarket on Christmas day to pick up a couple of drinks for our balcony. Locals celebrated with family, but there wasn't the formality we get at home, no set meal or special food. Even the presents were not as excessive as back home. Children received small gifts but that was it. Most of the locals seemed to spend their day on the beach chilling out with friends or surfing.

One last thing I we loved about Kauai were the chickens. From the moment we arrived at the airport, we were surrounded by chickens, they were everywhere. They are on the other islands too but there just seemed to be more of them in Kauai. The hens with their chicks were cute, and even the cockerels had some cuteness until they started fighting and crowing in the early hours.

Our relaxing Christmas came to an end and the next day, Lee's 50th Birthday, we headed off to the airport to catch our plane to our last Hawaiian island, Maui.