kauai

Its hard to believe I was on a tropical island just days ago. Kauai was definitely one of the most beautiful places I have ever visited. I've been to other islands of Hawaii- both O'ahu and Maui, but there was something magical about Kauai ( it is Puff the Magic Dragon's home base ya know?). Ben and I had so much fun just laying on the beach, eating at the locals favorite spots, surfing (Ben), drinking mai tai's (me), sailing, and people watching. It was a badly needed vacation (especially for him), and nothing feels better than spending time with the love of your life on an island. Lucky for us, we have a pretty good time together even with 20 inches of snow on the ground and frozen snot on our faces :) {Ben ran a half marathon the third day we were there. He did quite well considering the first 8 miles were up huge hills!}
{The second day we were there, we took a 5 hour catamaran out along the Napali coast. This can only be seen by foot, water, or plane. It was absolutely gorgeous and breathtaking. We also snorkeled on this tour and had some close encounters with spinner dolphins!}

{We took advantage of all the fresh fish and tried many tasty things like fresh Ahi, fish tacos, garlic shrimp, sushi, mahi mahi, and bags of nori rice crackers.

{We bought some fresh ahi and grilled it up one night with some white and brown rice. It was one of the best meals we had while there}

{One of the gardens on the farm we stayed at}

{For three nights we stayed at North Country Farms. An organic fruit and vegetable farm that rents out a cottage right on the property. Its owned by the nicest family and we were encouraged to pick all the fruits and vegetables we wanted! I would love to come back and stay here again. The cottage was so charming and had a kitchen so we could prepare some of our own meals like the one above}

{We spent an afternoon visiting a botanical garden near our cottage. It was filled with Koi ponds, mazes!, and all sorts of trees and exotic plants. This orchid was growing right out of tree!}

I wish I had more pictures to share, but we didn't bring the camera along much. If you ever decide to go to Hawaii I highly recommend Kauai. Especially the north shore (around Hanalei) where its more rural and very lush.