Waimea Canyon Kauai scenic drive and must-see sights

After visiting Fort Elizabeth, we continued our drive to one of Kauai's most popular "tourist attractions": Waimea Canyon.  
 
It's one of those places, where the journey is as unbelievable as the final destination.  On the way up the mountain we were treated to a view of Hawaii's so-called 'Forbidden Island' Ni'hau.   You can see it way out in the distance in the photo below.

Another sight, on our way to Kauai's Waimea Canyon, that we particularly enjoyed was a small waterfall that poured over the reddest dirt we’ve ever seen.   We just parked along the side of the road where we were treated with this.  Doesn't it look like it's right off of Mars?

Kauai: Fort Elizabeth where the Waimea River meets the ocean & the Forbidden Island

An amber tree at Fort Elizabeth

Day 10: Our first stop on our way up Waimea Canyon was Fort Elizabeth. 

It's the spot where the mouth of the Waimea River empties directly into the Pacific Ocean.  You can see the two coming together here. 

What's even more spectacular about this area is the dirt.  In this area of Kauai the dirt is very orange and red which makes for a beautiful  contrast with the turquoise ocean, green plants and rainbow of flowers.

Day 9 - Kauai Coffee and Lau Lau

Day 9 - Tuesday September 7 - It rained this morning so we decided to check out the Kauai Coffee Plantation. It wasn't much to brag about, but Bob liked sampling all the different coffee flavors. I don't drink coffee so I just tagged along.

We decided to truly "go local" for lunch and braved the truly intimidating counter at the Koloa Fish Market for lunch. Once we figured out how to order Bob got Ahi Tuna and I got Lau Lau which is pork wrapped in tea leaves. Let's just say Bob wanted to go back tomorrow, but I opted out. Glad I tried it, but I'll stick to the Macadamia Crusted Mahi Mahi

In the afternoon we enjoyed several hours by the man-made salt lagoon and pools at our hotel. We went to Tidepools for dinner. Sitting on top of a Koi pond we had our best meal in Kauai topped off by a complimentary chocolate molton cake. Yummmy!

Day 8 - Kauai: Ke'e Beach, Queen's Bath, and Bubba

Day 8 – Monday, September 6 – We drove up the eastern and northern coasts of Kauai today making several stops along the way including the Kilauea Lighthouse and Secret Beach. We sat on Ke’e Beach which is the last beach on the northern shore before the NaPali Coast.  The beach was very crowded but was good for swimming.

We ate lunch at Bubba Burger in Hanalei Bay and just missed Shaun White, the Olympic Snowboarder, and Robert Downey, Jr.  On our way back to Poipu we stopped at the stunning Queen’s Bath.  Similar to the lava pools in Maui, Queen’s Bath is a natural pool that’s formed when lava rocks create a barrier from the ocean. Queen’s Bath was about 6 feet deep and very warm. It was probably our favorite stop on our the Eastern/Northern shore so peaceful and absolutely stunning. 

For dinner we went to the Beach House in Poipu.  The restaurant is the only place on Kauai’s southern shore where you can view the sunset and it was gorgeous.