Kauai - Hawaii with Kids - page 377

Kauai Children's Discovery Museum
This is every parent's dream: an enthralling, hands-on learning adventure
to take kids to on rainy days. (Hey, it's so much fun, the kids will beg to
come back even on sunny days.) The Kauai Children's Discovery Museum,
located under the Whale Tower in the Kauai Village Shopping Center in
Kapaa ( & 808/823-8222; www.kcdm.org), offers hands-on, interactive
exhibits that range from playing with Hawaiian musical instruments to
participating in virtual reality television to hiding out in a “magic tree
house” and reading a book. (There's even a baby area for kids 4 and
under.) Not only is it thrilling for kids, but it's also a great place for them
to interact and meet children from Kauai. The 7,000-square-foot play cen-
ter is open Tuesday to Saturday from 9am to 5pm; during school breaks
they also are open on Monday from 7am to 5pm. Admission is $3.50 for
kids and $4.50 for adults, with family memberships available.
Hawaiian village on the riverbanks, these falls are what the tourist-bureau folks
call an “eye-popping” photo op.
Near Opaekaa Falls overlook is Poliahu Heiau, the large lava-rock temple of
Kauai's last king, Kaumualii, who died on Oahu in 1824 after being abducted
by King Kamehameha II. If you stop here, you'll notice two signs. The first, an
official 1928 bronze territorial plaque, says that the royal heiau was built by
menehunes, which it explains parenthetically as “Hawaiian dwarves or brown-
ies.” A more recent, hand-painted sign warns visitors not to climb on the rocks,
which are sacred to the Hawaiian people.
SLEEPING GIANT
If you squint your eyes just so as you pass the 1,241-foot-high Nounou Ridge,
which forms a dramatic backdrop to the coastal villages of Wailua and Waipouli,
you can see the fabled Sleeping Giant. On Kuhio Highway, just after mile
marker 7, around the minimall complex Waipouli Town Center, look mauka
(inland) and you may see what appears to be the legendary giant named Puni
who, as the story goes, fell asleep after a great feast. If your kids don't see him at
first, help them visualize him this way: His head is Wailua and his feet are Kapaa.
PARADISE FOUND: THE NORTH SHORE
ON THE ROAD TO HANALEI
The first place everyone should go on Kauai is Hanalei. The drive along Kuhio
Highway (Hwy. 56, which becomes Hwy. 560 after Princeville to the end of the
road) displays Kauai's grandeur at its absolute best. Just before Kilauea, the air
and the sea change, the light falls in a different way, and the last signs of devel-
opment are behind you. Now there are roadside fruit stands, a little stone church
in Kilauea, two roadside waterfalls, and a long, stiltlike bridge over the Kalihi-
wai Stream and its green river valley.
If you don't know a guava from a mango, stop in Kilauea at the cool, shady
Guava Kai Plantation, at the end of Kuawa Road ( & 808/828-6121 ), for a
refreshing, free treat. After you take a walk through the orchards and see what a
guava looks like on the tree, you can sample the juice of this exotic pink tropi-
cal fruit (which also makes a great jam or jelly—sold here, too). The plantation
is open daily from 9am to 5pm.
Birders might want to stop off at Kilauea Point National Wildlife Refuge,
a mile north of Kilauea, and at Hanalei National Wildlife Refuge, along Ohiki