The clam chowder bread bowl was tasty!  They had a tomato soup bread bowl that looked equally as yummy, so I will have to try that next time.  The bakery makes interesting bread creations, such as a turtle.

After lunch, we walked over to the Aquarium of the Bay.  In my opinion, it is not worth the price; luckily our tickets were free, so I cannot complain.  The aquarium is very small and has a limited number of animals.  They did have this cutie porcupine though.

Since we were at Pier 39, we decided to walk around and look for the sea lions.  Not sure if you can make them out behind us in the picture, but there were hundreds of them sunbathing.

As always, San Francisco was a blast.  We had a great time with S and K (they do not like to take pictures).

Aquarium of the Bay - Pier 39 at The Embarcadero, San Francisco, CA
Boudin Bakery – 160 Jefferson St, San Francisco, CA 94133

steak and shrimp on the grill

the grub: steak, shrimp, corn on the cob, zucchini

LL & J

Hubby & I

banana cream pie

The last few times we went to Marie Callender’s, they were out of banana cream.  So, the morning of my birthday, Hubby called to make sure they had one available and then drove all the way to pick it up.  Such a great hubby!  THANKS!

It was a fabulous birthday.  Thanks for all the birthday wishes, calls, texts, emails, presents, etc.

Opaekaa Falls

Wailua Falls
It is kind of hard to see, but can you see the rainbow at the bottom of the falls?

Anyways, hiking the Sleeping Giant trail was the main event for the day, so we enjoyed a Burger King breakfast for energy.  I tried the french toast sticks for the first time, and they were actually pretty good.  We made our way to the trail head to hike 1.75 miles up to the top of the mountain.  This led to the picnic area, but we passed some hikers who told us to go to the left and continue the trail to the top of the Sleeping Giant’s nose.

Sleeping Giant
Can you see the Giant’s face behind us?

The picture above was taken at the beginning of the second part of the trail that led up to the face.  A little further along the path, there were these rocks that we had to climb up.  I decided that there was no way I was going to be able to come down even though I could make it up the rocks, so I waited for Hubby while he went to the top of the Giant’s nose with Domo.

Domo at the top of Sleeping Giant

The round trip hike took us about 3.5 hours.  The path zig zags up the mountain, so hikers have created several shortcuts along the way.  Most of the path lacks tree cover, so it was extremely hot under the direct sun.  Definitely, bring lots of water and wear sunblock.

To cool down from the hike, we snorkeled at Poipou Beach.  The fish were actually quite large for such shallow waters.  I was reminded of Dr. Seuss’ book  One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish as there was a wide variety of fish.

We worked up an appetite after hiking and snorkeling, so we enjoyed dinner at Brennecke’s Beach Broiler.  It was right next to the beach and on the second floor, so the view of the water was fabulous.

Burger King- 4440 Kukui Grove, Lihue, HI 96766
Brennecke’s Beach Broiler - 2100 Hoone Road (Poipou Beach), Koloa, HI 96756

Previous Aloha Posts
Diamond Head Crater, Aquarium, Hanauma Bay
Pearl Harbor, Aloha Tower, Waikiki Beach
Kauai’s North Shore
Waimea Canyon, Spouting Horn, Poipou Beach