This morning dawned overcast, and after a bit of coffee and yoga on the beach I wandered the grounds a bit with my zoom lens to get a few bird photos.
this is the first time I've seen a red crested cardinal on the grounds here
I chased a few of these Japanese White Eyes around the trees trying to get a good shot, then when I gave up and headed back to our lanei I realied they were hanging out in the bushes just about 10 feet from our door. I suppose they like the wind break that our building provides.
Once everyone was awake, we decided to head out to breakfast, Oasis on the Beach, our onsite restaurant, serves breakfast now so we decided to give it a shot.
G, D, and our 360 camera. The restaurant is somewhat open air, though they had a few of the glass doors closed this morning to protect us from the wind.
My breakfast: granola, greek yogurt, and local fruit. The smaller white "grape" looking fruit is the longan - which is the fruit I was trying to remember the name of before.
After breakfast we spent a little time in the room getting ready for our ATV adventure, and putting our gear together for the trip. I condensed my camera gear down to just the small pinhole camera and my DSLR with a couple of landscape lenses, as we were taking a tour that promised good landscape views.
We drove down to Lihue and stopped for lunch. After a little hit-and-miss with looking at some menus, we settled on a place called JJ's Grill. This place has a bit of a view of the protected bay and lovely beach in Lihue.
We had to order and eat fast, because at this point we were getting a little short on time. I had grilled fish of the day, which was ahi, served with steamed rice and a butter/wine sauce on the side.
It wasn't bad, but the overall menu was pretty slim, and it was mainly a sports bar kind of place, so I doubt we'll go back.
Onward to our ATV adventure! There is no parking lot for Kipu Ranch ATV, so we had to park on the side of a dirt road and go back to the ranch for a parking permit. Once we were all checked in, we were given our bandanas (to keep!) and safety gear... helmets and googles. G was so amused by some of the sparkly helmets that the guide gave her one of the sparkly ones.
Slightly apprehensive about what is to happen
Here is our gathering place.
Our tour guide, Manu.
The fleet of ATVs.. which are normally green, I think.
I told her to smile, even though I can't see her face. All buckled in and ready to go!
The road starts flat, through some pastures. I thought this would be the "easy" part of the trail
We were pretty muddy within the first 10 minutes of riding.
Here are a couple of minutes of trail riding. Sorry it is so bumpy, I'm honestly a terrible videographer. Plus... ATV.
Shot with my DSLR, the field where they shot scenes from Jurrasic Park (among other movies. The mountain range is also the mountains seen at a distance in Lilo and Stitch)
Family shot in front of the dinosaur field.
This is how you bring gear in an ATV... padded camera case inside a dry bag, strapped to your leg. The ATV had a lovely handle which I used to help hold on... my legs were too short to reach the floor so I braced myself against the front of the vehicle. My right calf was pretty sore by the end of the day.
Another shot of the mountains from a higher viewpoint.
Family photo at stop #2, Haupu Mountain
Stop #3, looking down the valley to the bay in Lihue. Our tour guide told us about some storm scenes from Jurrasic Park - apparently Stephen Spielberg went out into Hurricane Iniki to grab some footage of the storm and it was used in the movie. We also got to see the spot where Newman from Seinfeld slid down the hill while trying to get to the boat launch in Jurrasic Park.
The cows of Kipu Ranch are unimpressed by our ATV riding.
The trail was slick in spots, but we all agreed that a bit of splattered mud was better than driving through dust.
The Indiana Jones rope swing!
I did not opt to swing, due to the muddy conditions of the water, but I did get to hold the rope for a photo.
This was the reason we took this particular tour, we ascended Haupu to get to our last stop up above Kipu Kai, a beach completely surrounded by private property and unable to be seen by the general public, except on this tour.
The memorial above Kipu Kai
Kipu Kai - where they filmed the InGen military types coming on land for Jurassic World
A view of the island while coming down Haupu
I have to say, out of just about every excursion we've done both on Kauai and Jamaica, this tour was the best value for our money spent. Our tour guide was fantastic, the tour was full of fun adventure and lovely stops, and we walked away totally happy with our experience. The next time we come to the island I want to do one of their other tours for sure.
The ranch provides hoses to rinse off the red dirt, so G and I did a quick rinse of just our shoes and my dry bag, and we draped towels over our car seats and sat gingerly inside so that we could drive back to the condo for a proper (and warm) shower.
After cleaning up, we decided to head into Kapa'a for some sushi at Sushi Bushido.
Though we had a reservation, we were seated outside.. which had somewhat odd shaped uncomfortable tables and kind of felt like we were stuck in a back alley. Our food came out in weird intervals as well (edamame appetizer came out almost last?) We've had good service here in the past, but I think sitting at the sushi counter, not outside, make a big difference for that.
I started with the himachi and maguro nigiri
G actually ordered a tempura shrimp roll. What a difference a year makes, last year she wouldn't touch rolls even if they were all cooked.
My dinner... grilled fish of the day, which happened to be ahi (same as my lunch. Must be in season?) Their Ahi was a better doneness than the stuff I had a lunch
Not kidding, on our walk back to the car we saw a T Rex. He was a little far away from the ranch... someone must have turned off the power to the electric fences!
After dinner we headed back to the condo for the night.
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