We awoke bright and early around 6:30 AM. We quickly threw on some clothes and headed out to see the sunset. Our balcony has wonderful western views of the sunset but not enough of a view to the east to see the sunrise. We walked down the oceanside pathway to the public Poipu beach. We went out on a peninsula but were unable to see a horizon sunset but it was pretty nonetheless.
We have discovered how popular sunsets and sunrises are around here - there are usually crowds of 10-20 people waiting to see such views, even before 7 AM. After the sun rose we played in the tide pools for awhile before heading back.
We got dressed for the day and headed out to breakfast at a locals type eatery - Kalaheo Cafe and Coffee. We enjoyed some food and the freshest tasting smoothie ever, while dreaming of owning the beautiful $1,000-1,900 paintings that hung on the walls. After that I set out to find a nail salon as I ran out of time back home. I discovered that everywhere I called was all booked up for that day or closed. This was quite disappointing as I envisioned my perfect manicure for our wedding day photos (hello rings and bouquet pictures!) and of course a pedicure is needed for all that sandal wearing. We took off to see the spouting horn, which was labeled a must see in multiple locations. Upon arrival it was a sight to see, but not what we would consider a must see.
We then headed down to check out Shipwreck Beach where our wedding ceremony would occur a mere 24 hours later.
This was a beautiful beach that was bordered by a steep cliff. There are rumors that many a foolish people have jumped off said cliff. After looking around on the beach we took the short hike up the cliff and checked out the magnificent views. Scott deemed the jump doable while I confirmed I was his primary beneficiary.
At this point we had not put on sunscreen and it was almost mid day. Since most of our activities were in and out of the car I hadn’t thought it necessary. Atop this cliff with the high sun beating upon us I realized my mistake. I quickly said let’s go and we headed back down. We did one look through on the beach, finding the ceremony sight marked with corral and lava rocks in the shape of a heart.
On our way back down the beach I picked up the pace as I was feeling hot and red. I was just short of a sprint to the shade before Scott deemed me bridezilla material as my main concern was not being burnt for our photos the next day. We headed back to the hotel, changed into swim gear, generously applied ample amount of sunscreen and played in the water and on the beach for a short while. We even got to see a Hawaiian monk seal sunning themselves on the beach just yards from us.
While rinsing off the sand in the foot bath I saw a critter on the sidewalk. I called for Scott to come back exclaiming, “look it’s a slug with a shell!” Scott informed this Alaska girl those were called snails. :)
We then had to pack up again and head to Lihue, where we flew into the day prior, for our marriage application verification process. En route to our appointment we checked in with our wedding coordinator who assured us that everything was set and the weather forecast looked good with only a 20% chance of rain. We were further assured of this probability as the current day’s forecast had read 60% and was obviously bright and sunny on our nuptials beach. We quickly finalized our marriage application with one hiccup. The agent stressed how important it was that the parents' information be correct. Scott, nor his mother, were confident about Scott Sr.’s birth place. We left it to chance that our original thinking/guess was correct and went on our way.
I made one last chance at a nail appointment and luckily found a quiet salon that was awaiting my arrival. Scott made friends with workers at the Feral Pig, a local pub, while I made friends with Wendy the friendly salon worker. By the end of the appointment Wendy had invited herself to our wedding ceremony the next day as my local stand-in Mom - I laughed it off and promised to send her wedding photos but I would not be surprised if she was hiding in the bushes somewhere (with my sister Lisa) come our ceremony.
We then went in search of a late lunch - we tried a local fish vendor but their grill had closed for the day and the offerings they had left intimidated me. We went to another local fish vendor, Mark’s Place (take-out only), and munched on some yummy local plates from the car while watching feral chickens and roosters do what they do (hint, hint). We started up the GPS and ending up heading the wrong direction which costs us some time in end of day Hawaiian traffic and construction.
We made it back to the south shore, checked out a local dive shop and headed back out to the hotel front beach. We sunned ourselves (again with ample sunscreen) while reading and relaxing. When the sun went down we played in the hotel’s luxurious salt water pool and made a quick did in the whirlpool spa. We now find ourselves winding down for the night again by 10 PM. Our thinking at the moment is after our wedding we will stop being old fuddie duddies, which is quite the opposite of the norm. It is hard to believe that tomorrow will mark our lifelong commitment to each other which has been 7 years in the making!
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