Kauai Post Offices
7 September 2003
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Alan and Mandy have a close friend who works for the Post Office and Teri already thinks Post Office buildings are pretty cool, so we decided to visit every Post Office on the island of Kauai, Hawaii and mail ourselves a post card from each one.
After consulting the Kauai yellow pages, we were surprised to find that there were 16 Post Offices on a island of 60,000 people!
Some P.O.'s were literally just a hole in the wall (like Puhi). Makaweli P.O. was a tiny shack by the side of the road. And we drove past Hanama'ulu P.O. several times before finding it. Kilauea P.O.'s address is simply "Keneke Road" -- no # -- making it a tough find. Most Post Offices were on the main highway (either Kuhio Hwy or Kaumuali'i Hwy).
We started at Kekaha and ended at Hanalei.
Coming soon: actual postmarks
When you get up for the sunrise you can get an early start. We stayed at Alan and Mandy's timeshare, the very nice Kauai Coast Resort. |
Every good trip starts out with a visit to Wal*Mart. 20 postcards for $2.36 ! And another bag of Lappert's coffee, and rubber slippers for Allyn and, and, and... |
Kekaha 96752 We saw no tourists in Kekaha |
The bldg name is completely obscured by the silk tree. |
Waimea 96796 |
We debated whether using the "local" mail slot would guarantee the local postmark or just frustrate the mail carriers ("darn tourists!"). Here it was marked "Waimea and Waimea postmark." We decided we would always use the Local slot (this didn't fool Koloa). |
Makaweli 96769 Small but it did have a flagpole. Not all of the P.O.'s had one. |
Across the street was a huge mango tree. |
Kaumakani 96747 |
This building looked pre-Iniki vintage. |
Hanapepe 96716 |
When we saw "Hanapepe postmark" we felt vindicated in our choice of slottage. |
Ele'ele 96705 |
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Kalaheo 96741 |
And the "Super" pizza at Brick Oven Pizza was awesome ! |
Lawai 96765 |
This whole exercise was just Teri's way of getting over to Lawai for piecrust manju. Yum! |
Koloa 96756 |
The Koloa postcard was postmarked Honolulu. :-( |
Puhi 96766 |
The mail slot was In the corridor under the "Wine Garden" sign. The zipcode was not displayed here. |
Lihue 96766 |
Oh, the complexity of *4* slots instead of one or two ! |
Hanama'ulu 96715 What looks like a mailbox is simply a transfer box with no exterior slot. |
Behind the locked door is the mail slot (lower left). Inset: P.O. signage (very hard to see from road). No zipcode displayed here also. |
Kapa'a 96746 (note Sleeping Giant in background) |
While Alan looked for Sugarloaf pineapples in Big Save, we posted our cards. |
Anahola 96703 |
The locals were clearly puzzled at our picture-taking at Anahola. |
Kilauea 96754 No signage on this very new bldg. |
This was the only P.O. that we had to ask someone in order to find it.s |
Hanalei 96714 A very handsome P.O. |
We did it ! And before sundown ! |