We are a family of five that decided to leave our normal lives behind and travel around the world for 180 days. Joey and I are both physicians back home in Lexington, KY and our kids are Wilson (a smart, funny, pragmatic 14 year old who approaches life with the wisdom of an 80 year old and the mischievous grin of someone who gets the inside joke), Bailey (an opinionated, strong-willed, compassionate 12 year old who never misses anything and may rule the world someday), and Gus (an energetic, passionate 9 year old who lives every second of his waking life with everything he has and would give the shirt off his back to ease the suffering of an earthworm). We love traveling, trying new things, meeting awesome people, eating good food, and adventure sports. In this blog, we will be sharing the stories of the places we experience along the way. We will share our successes and our failures in hopes that this is inspiring, helpful, and entertaining to our friends, family, and anyone else who happens to discover us. For more on why we decided to do this, see our blog post on “Traveling is my favorite thing”. Read More About Our Philosophy.
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Ewa Beach, Oahu
When picking our place for a month-long stay in Hawaii, we made some major sacrifices on size and luxury for location. We wanted to be, not just on any beach, but on a beach with surfable beginner waves in the winter. One of the main reasons we chose Hawaii as one of our month-long stops was to fulfill our goal of learning to surf. Unprompted, Gus also shared his Hawaii goals with us the week before we left.
Gus’s Hawaii Goals:
Eat killer Ramen 2. Learn to surf 3. Catch big fish.
Lu’au Kalamaku
No first trip to Hawaii is complete without a lu’au. A lu’au is a feast that is often held to celebrate a significant life event. The lu’au traditionally involved the serving of specific dishes, often massive quantities of food, and was accompanied by music and hula. Until the 19th century, there were strict hierarchical elements incorporated into the traditions, which involved men and women eating separately and certain foods being consumed only by the royal class. Over time, the lu’au has evolved into a tourist attraction and a way for visitors to get a glimpse of some of the traditions of Hawaiin culture.
Maha’Ulepu Heritage Trail, South Shore Kauai, Hawaii
What: This is a lovely, easy trail that winds along the cliffs and beaches of the Southeastern Shore of Kauai
Where: Starts at Shipwreck Beach, near the Grand Hyatt and Poipu Bay Golf Course and extends to Punahoa Point and Mahaulepu Beach.
Distance: 3.7 miles total out and back
Difficulty: easy
Pay out: 7 (scale of 1-10)
Four days in Kauai
We had originally planned to spend a whole month in Kauai, but our month-long rental fell through the week after we booked our plane tickets, and we couldn’t find another good place to stay in Kauai. After much deliberation, we decided to book a short stay in Kauai and then spend the rest of the month in Oahu, where cheaper monthly rentals were more abundant. As a result, we only got a small taste of Kauai, enough for us to know we want to come back.
The Sun Rising over Kauai from Poipu Beach. January 23rd, 2022