Kauai continued! A Visit to Kapa'a

Lydgate State Park Beach

A lot of drift wood!

Playground designed by the children of Kauai

Opaeka'a Falls

Old Hawaiian eating implements

Mating dance of the peacock

Male peacock

Mermaid's Cafe in Kapa'a

Yummy ahi nori wrap at Mermaid's

On my first day off the resort, we drove up the east coast to Kapa'a, making a few stops along the way. Our first stop was Lydgate State Park, which is right on the coast. It has a beautiful beach that's littered with a ton of drift wood. The waves here are intense, but they have a small reefed cove for people to safely swim in. There's also a children's playground on the mauka (mountain) side of the park. The playground was designed by the children of Kauai, and built by the people of Kauai. If I were a kid, I'd want to play there!

Afterwards, we drove up to Opaeka'a Falls, which is really only a view of the falls, but there's a lot of pretty flora and foliage at the viewing pull-off. And just a little drive further and you can see the Kamokila Hawaiian Village, which has peacocks all over the place, as well as all kinds of the various fruiting trees that Hawaiians, including the ancients, used and ate from. 

Then we drove up for lunch in Kapa'a, and ate at Mermaid's Cafe, on the recommendation of Yelp. (So glad I had my iPhone!) Their ahi nori wraps were so delicious that we went back another day to get another one! Their pad Thai was delicious, also! Seats are limited, and it always seemed to have people lining up, but it's totally worth it. They use locally caught fish and fresh local produce here. YUM!!

And while we were in downtown Kapa'a, we walked around and did a little shopping. There are some cool stores here, which we ended up returning to another day. It's really a cute little town to visit! Lots of shops and nice little restaurants to check out, and it has that comfy island-feel to it that I love!