Semi-Coherent Ramblings Of A Vagrant: Stacey's second full day

We woke up fairly early on Stacey's second morning.

First thing on the to-do list was to go hit up a local place that was supposed to have the best loco moco in Lihue, possibly in all of Kauai. Stacey had never tasted it, and I wanted her first bit to be good.

We went to a restaurant called Tip Top. It sits in the bottom of one of Kauai's oldest hotels, and honestly it kinda looks like it. I didn't get a picture, but I'm sure there's one on Google Earth or something. After stepping into the bottom floor where the restaurant was supposed to be, we weren't sure if we were in the right place. There wasn't much to see but a long partition (it could've been had a third-hand office store by it's appearance) and a single counter/desk in the center of a large space. It gave the feeling of a bachelor apartment; stark and minimalist not out of choice but by limited resources, using cheap and/or found furniture. However, asking the lady at said desk proved that we were in the right place, we just needed to round the end of the aforementioned partition.

It was open seating, so we found a booth and sat down. There were more locals than tourists, which made me feel better - if the locals love it, I owe it to the restaurant to at least try their fare, if not outright fall in love with it. There was also a person busing the tables. They were using a small cart and continuously circulating through the booths. I wholly expected the person pushing the cart, a small, elderly Asian woman, to yell "dim sum" at any second.

Once at the table we settled in and ordered. I got the loco moco, Stacey being ever so cautious about a new and scary food, ordered a Denver omelet. After my coffee arrived I started hunting down some sweet-n-low when I saw a label on a bottle that made me laugh.

Are they being sarcastic, or possibly trying to tell me something?

When the food came, Stacey tried the loco moco and decided it was "ok". I said I hoped she thought slightly better than that of it, as I planned on making it when we got back home. Her Denver omelet was ok, even though it was lacking cheese thus making it more of a scramble than an omelet. Oh well, with breakfast nommed, we grabbed an awesome, huge cookie by the register, and it was time to hit the road to the Kauai Coffee Company.

How we knew we were on the right road.

The estate was on both sides of the road (note the rows in the background).

The KCC was pretty cool, especially as I have never been to a coffee estate or plantation before. Come to find out, the KCC has the largest coffee estate in the US (3,300 acres), and produces around sixty percent of all coffee produced in Hawaii. I had no idea that coffee was even grown on this scale anywhere other than Kona, or even that Kona wasn't the only game in the islands.

The rows from the main building.

Once inside we immediately hit the free coffee tasting area. They provided all the little, winged, paper shot cups you could need (you can see one, bottom-left in the above picture) and about eighteen or so types of coffee.

The tasting area.

It was a bit of an experience, tasting coffee on the grounds it was grown on, with a view to boot. I would imagine it's not unlike wine tasting, though I haven't had a chance to do that yet.

The front lawn of the estate.

It didn't take us long to find our favorite, Estate Resrve Kauai Sunrise. We then decided to start the self guided estate tour, guided by the coffee-stamped sidewalk.

Just follow the coffee road...

The tour was informative, as well as scenic. To walk among the rows of coffee plants is reason enough to go.

Eight feet tall, and miles long. And Stacey.

We saw everything from green coffee cherries...

I was surprised at the densely packed clusters.

To ripe coffee cherries...

Well, ripe-ish.

To gratuitous plumerias.

It's a good thing we love them, since they're everywhere...

...Even in Stacey's hair.

After the coffee company, we headed to the beach so Stacey could finally go swimming in the ocean, which meant another trip through the tree tunnel.

You remember the one.

Along the way we stopped by a a meadow to take what is possibly one of, if not the nicest pictures of our trip.

Twelve megapixels of awesome.

Initially we tried to go to Shipwreck Beach, but wound up making a wrong turn and found ourselves fortuitously at another, much better beach for swimming.

I don't know why I look like that. Maybe I was dropping a deuce. Or drunk. Hard to say, really.

The water was clear, the waves not insane, and the sand uncrowded. We didn't see any signs for the beach name, so we weren't really sure where we were.

So clear you can see the bottom - through a swell.

After a while of swimming, we saw something in the water. I thought it was a snorkeler at first, and there were probably better places to snorkel (out of the waves). That's when Stacey and I realized what we were seeing; a sea turtle. Then we saw another one, about fifty feet away from the first one, and another one a hundred feet from that. Our first trip to Hawaii, first time swimming there, and we see three sea turtles. And they got close too; not close enough for a picture or to touch, but within about ten feet. And good luck trying to swim over to them, they're faster than they look. Since we still had no idea of the beaches name, we dubbed it Turtle Beach.

The edge of Turtle Beach.

Stacey, toes in the air, ass in the sand. (for the less-than-cultured, that's a song reference.)

After swimming we headed back out to find Shipwreck Beach, which as it turns out was just down the way from where we were. One of my favorite things about Shipwreck is the shaded lawn, but it's also known for good boogie boarding waves. This is the beach where I cut my hand up after eating sh-t in a wave while boogie boarding with a local pilot.

This lawn and some rum, possibly some nudity, and you got yourself a party.

Also at Shipwreck is trail that takes one to a huge rock you can jump off of. Honestly, I don't know how people jump off, as their huge balls would seemingly get in the way...

The jumping-off rock in the background...

...And me photobombing Stacey on the trail to the rock.

...Or smashed on the rocks on the bottom.

From the top of the rock (shaded lawn at the top). Maybe those aren't rocks, maybe they're huge testicles, sheared off by the impact force of those who jumped... Also, I tore up my hand in here.

Surprisingly, there was a ton of wild basil at the top of that rock. It smelled far better than the stuff you can buy in the store. If I lived there, I would totally cook with it. All the damn time.

One of about fifty stands of wild basil on the rock.

After the beaches we headed home, showered, and head out for the evening activities. First on the list was something I wanted to do the first time I was in Lihue but didn't have the ability to: rum tasting at the Koloa Rum company, located on the Kilohana Plantation.

I freaking love this building, and not just for it's rum storing properties.

They even had an example still set up, though I was a little disappointed; the still there was a reflux/column still, which is perfect for vodka. However, for rum (or whiskey, cognac, etc), where the flavor needs to come out with the spirit, a pot still is preffered.

A functional column still, with the tasting room in the background.

Offered for tasting were their three types of rum (light/silver, gold, and dark), their Kukui brand muy thai mix, macadamia nut rum cake, and rum chocolate sauce.

She pours it (while Stacey apparently makes an odd face)...

...And we taste it. (that's the shop and still behind us, we were in the tasting room.)

The inside of the store was nice, with most of the cabinets and such made from what looked like maybe Koa (a local hardwood). Even the rum cabinets were cool.

So much rum, so little liver.

We wound up buying a rum cake, jar of chocolate sauce, and two bottles of dark rum (the best tasting of the three). After leaving the distillery, we went to the Kukui'ula shopping center to check out some stores and have dinner at Josselyn's Tapas and Grill. After walking around the shops and stopping in a few (including Bungalow 9, a cool decor shop owned by the wife of one of our pilots), we looked at the dinner menu for the tapas place.

The Kukui'ula center.

Unfortunately, there was a lot of fish and dairy, and since Stacey doesn't eat fish (I'm still working on that), and can't really do dairy, we decided to cancel the reservation and go to Dukes for dinner. The best part of that decision was the drive through the parking lot access road. While we don't have any pics of it, beleive you me that anyone with less than eight inches of clearance on their car would be severely ill-advised to so much as attempt it.

The Duke's menu, courtesy of Stacey.

I had been to Dukes before and knew Stacey would like it for the view if not as much as the food. I recommended the mango ribs with a couple of muy thais.

When this guy suggests food and drinks, you shut your word-hole and listen.

During dinner, it rained pretty good. With the tiki torches, the rain, the view, we had an awesome time.

Best view ever.

The mango ribs and white rice were good, but honestly the muy thais could have been a little stronger. Especially at seven dollars a piece. Even Stacey, the super-lightweight commented on the minimal amount of liquor in them.