Tuesday, November 4, 2025
The plan was to spend the day at the beach, but a thick cloud cover killed that idea. We ended up driving to Koloa and stumbled onto Break + Fast. Solid choice — we liked it a lot. I had some work to finish up, so I knocked that out until the housekeeper showed up. We moved to the lobby, sat in the rocking chairs for about an hour, then headed back to the room. Both of us crashed for a nap before heading to the Allerton Gardens.
We’d toured Allerton once before — the Best of Both Worlds tour — and loved it. This time, I was curious about their Sunset Tour, you visit the Allerton House and have dinner. Sure enough, we ended up with the same guide who is very funny with a contagious laugh and knows his botanicals.
Quick refresher: Robert Allerton was born in 1873 into an absurd amount of money. He wanted to be an artist, wandered Europe for a while, eventually gave up, and on a whim stopped in Kauai. Weeks later, he bought the 62 acres that are now the Allerton Gardens. He created these outdoor “rooms,” built structures, and threw extravagant parties. I could never find much info about those parties online, but our guide said former estate workers told him that when the parties started, the staff basically vanished from sight. That tells you enough.
I expected the Allerton House itself to be ornate and over-the-top. Nope. It’s simple and understated — the gardens were clearly the real focus.
The gardens have been used to film scenes from a long list of movies. I immediately recognized a few areas used in Jurassic Park along with Pirates of the Caribbean. The tour guide had people pose by the Jurassic trees and while taking the pictures, pulled out a dragon puppet.
The light dinner on the tour ended up being too light. So, we drove to Keoki’s Paradise afterward. I had sashimi, and Sophon managed to put away yet another full meal. We finished with Hula Pie — because you don’t see Hula Pie that often on the mainland.
Recent Comments