We decided that we needed to see the Waimea Canyon on this trip to Kauai, so we made the drive from Hanalei to Waimea this morning.

It is about 50 miles, but takes over two hours.

The last half hour of the drive is full of twists and turns as you wind around the mountain to finally arrive at the Waimea Canyon Lookout Area.

If you have any problems with carsickness, this might not be the best outing for you.  By the time we were about 5 minutes into the ascent up the mountain roads, both Broadway and Imagineer were oozy.  Oozy and complainy (my made up word for the day).

Once you arrive at the top, the view is absolutely stunning.  Mountain Man and I enjoyed the view, but the kids were not fully impressed.  I think the drive took it out of them.

As you can see below, the view will knock your socks off.  The red clay dirt in Kauai is such a unique color (editors note: this dirt will stain your shoes).  The contrast of the green with the red is just beautiful.

As we were driving back, we checked out the Russian Fort in Waimea.

The kids loved the sand dunes at this beach.  They walked up and down them, slid down with boogieboards, and pretended they were king of the mountain.

If you have kids that love climbing, they will love this beach.  It was a great surprise find.  We just pulled over to see the fort and discovered these dunes as a bonus.

The kids could slide down the dunes, while standing no problem.  They also slid down on a boogie board.

Before we headed to Waimea, I have to mention the restaurant we enjoyed lunch at called Savage Shrimp.

Savage Shrimp is located in the KuKui ula shopping center near Poipu.  It used to be a shrimp truck, but moved into a restaurant space here within in the last year or so, from what I gathered.

The shrimp were amazing, and I recommend checking out this place if you’re in the area.

The discovery of the dunes at the Russian Fort was the highlight of the day.  The kids absolutely relished every moment of sliding down the soft sand dunes and falling into the warm water.