My husband and I have been going to Hawaii for years. Oahu has been our go to island, but we’ve been to Maui, and Kauai also.
Our first trip to Kauai was one year prior to the devastating hurricane Iniki that hit the island full force on September 11, 1992. We stayed at the Coco Palms, a sprawling plantation-like resort that was on the older side, but comfy. Elvis Presley had filmed the last part of his movie, Blue Hawaii, there in 1961.
Our second trip to Kauai was in 2005 right after my husband had lost his job. The trip had been planned and tickets purchased prior to our getting the bad news. We decided to go for it, we had enough Marriott points to cover most of the stay; and what better place to get our thoughts together and our action plan. We stayed at Marriott’s Beach Club on Kalapaki Beach with gorgeous grounds and view of Nawiliwili Harbor.
We were absolutely right. Our week in Kauai in 2005 gave us the time away to completely get ourselves together. We were both nervous about finances and how long it would take for my husband to find another job, so even though we took the trip, we were frugal with our spending while we were there. I bought one pair of flip flops and a Keali’ Reichel CD one day after a long walk and feeling really down. My husband bought me a lei at the airport after we landed while waiting for our luggage. We had forgotten our camera and I refused to buy a disposable one. A drive by the Coco Palms was sad, still boarded up and overgrown with weeds. It never was re-established after Iniki. My husband took only one picture with his cell phone that I asked him to take of a large stone female buddha on the lawn along the beach walk in front of the hotel. I had fallen in love with this “goddess” as I thought of her, and the night before we left I put my lei around her neck and told her we would be back.
We are planning our return to Kauai later this year. We are staying at the same hotel, and we plan to have some fun. I plan to visit my goddess and let her know that the years since we left have been good to us.
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