Frommer's Kauai - Jeanette Foster [159]
4101 Wailapa Rd. (P.O. Box 1134), Kilauea, HI 96754. 80 8/828-0525. Fax 80 8/828-0815. www.naainakai.com. Tues–Fri for specific tour times only. Tours vary. Advance reservations strongly recommended. From Lihue, drive north past mile marker 21 and turn right on Wailapa Rd. At the road’s end, drive through the iron gates. From Princeville, drive south 61⁄2 miles and take the 2nd left past mile marker 22 on Wailapa Rd. At the road’s end, drive through the iron gates.
Waioli Mission House Museum If you’re lucky and time your visit just right, you can see this 150-year-old mission house, which serves today as a living museum. It’s a real treasure. Others in Honolulu are easier to see, but the Waioli Mission House retains its sense of place and most of its furnishings, so you can really get a clear picture of what life was like for the New England missionaries who came to Kauai to convert the “heathens” to Christianity.
Most mission houses are small, dark Boston cottages that violate the tropical sense of place. This two-story, wood-frame house, built in 1836 by Abner and Lucy Wilcox of New Bedford, Massachusetts, is an excellent example of hybrid architecture. The house features lanais on both stories and a cookhouse in a separate building. It has a lava-rock chimney, ohia-wood floors, and Hawaiian koa furniture.
Kuhio Hwy. (Hwy. 560), just behind the green Waioli Huia Church, Hanalei. 80 8/245-3202. Free admission (donations gratefully accepted). Tours: Tues, Thurs, Sat 9am–3pm.
THE END OF THE ROAD
The real Hawaii begins where the road stops. This is especially true on Kauai—for at the end of Highway 56, the spectacular Na Pali Coast begins. To explore it, you have to set out on foot, by boat, or by helicopter. For details on experiencing this region, see “Hiking & Camping” and “Boating,” in chapter 7, and “Helicopter Rides over Waimea Canyon & the Na Pali Coast,” earlier in this chapter.
Chapter 9: Shopping
Shopping is a pleasure on this island. Where else can you browse vintage Hawaiiana practically in a cane field, buy exquisite home accessories in an old stone building built in 1942, and get a virtual agricultural tour of the island through city-sponsored green markets that move from town to town throughout the week, like a movable feast? At Kauai’s small, tasteful boutiques, you can satisfy your shopping ya-yas in concentrated spurts around the island. This is a bonanza for the boutique shopper—particularly one who appreciates the thrill of the hunt.
“Downtown” Kapaa continues to flourish, and Hanalei, touristy as it is, is still a shopping destination. (Ola’s and Yellowfish make up for the hurricane of trinkets and trash in Hanalei.) Kilauea, with Kong Lung Store and the fabulous Lotus Gallery, is the style center of the island. The Kauai Heritage Center of Hawaiian Culture & the Arts makes it possible for visitors to escape the usual imitations, tourist traps, and clichés in favor of authentic encounters with the real thing: Hawaiian arts, Hawaiian cultural practices, and Hawaiian elders and artists. What else can you expect on Kauai? Anticipate great shops in Hanalei, a few art galleries and boutiques, and a handful of shopping centers—not much to distract you from an afternoon of hiking or snorkeling. The gift items and treasures you’ll find in east and north Kauai, however, may be among your best Hawaiian finds.
To make sure you are getting products made on Kauai go to www.kauaimade.net and download the free brochure from the county of Kauai, The Official Shopping Guide to Local Products Made with Aloha, that identifies and promotes products made on Kauai, by Kauai people, using Kauai materials. The brochure lists the name, address, phone, and Web address of Kauai residents crafting local products using material from Kauai, ranging from apparel and