Trip Planner: Kauai
By: Smith Schwartz |
Recently, we found out some good friends of ours are headed to Kauai for their honeymoon. We put together this list of resources and thought it might be a fun thing to share them here. Enjoy! Before you go * Guidebook/app: Kauai Revealed. We had both the book and the app- highly recommend. Found some great hidden beaches and trails because...
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Wiki Wiki to Wisconsin
By: Smith Schwartz |
Seriously with that guy? Amazing. So, we are back in the good ol’ Midwest for a short stint. We came back to Chicago about 2 weeks ago, but have really spent most of our time here in Wisconsin. Since we’re not quite ready to admit we’ve actually left Hawaii, it’s been nice to get out of the city a bit....
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How to Choose the Best Hotel, Schwartzography Style
By: Smith Schwartz |
For as much as we’re on the road, we really don’t stay in hotels all too often. We usually try to make our trip as much like ‘home’ as we possibly can. But since we took a little time off while we were in Hawaii, we did a few shorter stints at hotels around the islands. Hotels aren’t always worth...
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Remembering the U.S.S. Arizona at Pearl Harbor
By: Smith Schwartz |
It was a cloudy, rainy day when we headed out to the U.S.S. Arizona Memorial. Despite the typically sunny Hawaiian climate, this day’s weather seemed to lend itself to the somber nature of this visit. The memorial is beautifully and respectfully designed above the wreckage of the ship by Honolulu resident and architect Alfred Preis. Previous to designing the structure,...
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Honolulu: A Very Brady Brutalism
By: Smith Schwartz |
Honolulu is a crazy city on a tiny island with that same weird pluralist feeling that many port cities have. It’s a little bit Marseilles, a little bit Tokyo and a little bit LA. It’s big, bustling but not quite settled into a singular identity. The one thing that is repetitious about this town are the crayon-colored “Corbusiers” all over...
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On the Edge of the Kalalau Trail
By: Smith Schwartz |
OMG- we can’t stop hiking! I have to say, this is a pretty fantastic addition to our travel repitoire. We’ve never really done lots of hiking before, mostly because I refused to buy the proper footwear. This time, we made sure to stock up on ultra-dorky hiking sandals before heading out to Hawaii. And seriously, it was the best decision....
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Hangin' Loose in Hanalei Bay
By: Smith Schwartz |
After spending some time on the south and west sides of Kauai, we headed up north to Hanalei Bay. This is an idyllic setting, a peaceful beachfront surrounded by lush flora and cliffs and shorelines for days. It’s a quaint little town that’s only somewhat overrun by tourists and only accessible by a one-lane bridge. Even though the main business...
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Hiking the Waimea Canyon
By: Smith Schwartz |
Seriously, it is incredibly unfair how beautiful Kauai is. Hawaii’s oldest island is a treasure trove of discoveries. It’s really hard to illustrate the scale of how vast this canyon is by photos alone. You really have to go. My fear of heights was put to new tests as theses “trails” just kind of rolled off the side of the...
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Waimea: The Texas of Kauai
By: Smith Schwartz |
After a few soggy days on Kauai, we were desperately seeking sunshine. We had moved on from the industrial seaside town of Lihue to the lush, fertile hillsides of Lawai Valley. It’s a strikingly beautiful area, but since it is ‘wintertime’ on the island, it rains almost all the time. Our gracious host, Traci at the Strawberry Guava Bed and...
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From Red Mud to Roosters: Touchdown in Kauai
By: Smith Schwartz |
Aloha from Hawaii! We just finished up two weeks of honest-to-goodness vacation. It felt good to take a “screen break” and not look at things like laptops and phones and email (too much). This is the first time we’ve taken a serious chunk of time to relax since planning for and embarking on this nomadic journey. Not that anyone should...
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