This island has no major sites, no national parks, and no major colleges. But, for some reason, I have long wanted to visit this island, probably moreso than any other island of Hawaii.

Since there was little to see on Kauai, I only planned for two nights here. That was sufficient time to cover the rather small island although I did skip taking one entire extra day just to see Waimea Canyon State Park.

Now that I have two islands visited to make any comparisons, here is what I see:
Whereas drivers on Oahu drive over the speed limit, Kauai drivers drive under the speed limit
While there were a few wild roosters on Oahu, there are hundreds (perhaps thousands) on Kauai. I learned why: native Hawaiians kept roosters and chickens. Hurricane Iniki (1992) devastated the island and scattered the roosters. They continue to survive in the wild. I saw maybe 100 of them today.
While Honolulu makes a big deal of countless pedistrian walkways across streets, Kauai hardly does. So what people do is a new term I invented for them: No-Look Jaywalking. They do not look at on-coming traffic but simply walk across the street from any point (not an intersection). Dangerous. Gotta wonder how many get hit each year.
On Oahu, once you get away from Honolulu, traffic congestion is quite light. Kauai is the extreme opposite -- a driver will usually be one vehicle among twenty of more going down the road. And since there is almost never a place to pass the vehicle in front of you (only two-lane highways here), this is where their penchant for driving below speech limits can make for a long drive.
While driving around Kauai, I often encountered (maybe half a dozen) a part of the road where one lane was closed. So vehicles would be lined up 80 - 100 deep (I counted one of them as I passed by).
For reasons unknown, Kauai seems to have many more big trucks on the road than Oahu. Maybe because of the traffic congestion difference.
Kauai folks have better taste than Ohou residents. Why? While I saw several PT Cruisers on Oahu, saw zero on Kauai!
Once I got to the southern part of the island, I noted that Kauai seems more "Hawaiian" (per my definition, or, mental picture) than Oahu

My room here faces the ocean. Well over 100 people were on the beach during daylight. What a great place to bring kids ages 8 - 16 for a lifetime memorable (in a great way) trip. I saw one dad take his six month old child out into the waves to dip its toes in the water.

People showed up for the sunset (although the sun hid behind some clouds much of the time). Then within ten minutes after the sunset, the beach cleared. Despite the many (gas) flamed torches lit, it was rather dark along the beach. I stared for a couple of minutes and saw no one move.

Since my hotel room faced the ocean, and, this is always-warm Hawaii, I kept my sliding door open all night so I could be mezmerized by the sound of the waves. What I discovered is that it sounded more like cars going down a city street immediately after a downpour rain that left big puddles. A bit different mental image than the expected.

Since it was forecasted to rain all day my second day here (and it was a deluge rain in the morning), I bailed on the west coast travel. Besides, total overcast days make for blah photographs, even of spectacular nature scenery. But, despite the downpouring rain, a (very) few people still walked the beach and a couple were even body-floating in the water! The highlight of the day, in fact, everything for this island, was the hula show. 5:30 pm was showtime. Since I figured people were likely stuck inside all day that this covered event would pack them in. Wrong. 5:30 pm and I was the only one there. No audience. No performers. I asked at the desk and she said she spoke to them earlier in the afternoon and were planning to perform. No-shows. Hope they were all okay. Head east tomorrow to the Big Island. This mondyrt dyptm will go there too. Thus, Thursday and Friday forecast is rain all day long both days.

On my way to the airport in Lihue before sunrise, it was raining pretty good. Narrow two-lane highway that often curved. Many cars going the other direction. As I was almost to the gas station to fill the car before returning it to the rental place, ten cars in a row, some with those annoying-to-my-eyes blue headlights, really cut my already bad visibility. What I did not see soon enough was that my single lane going north split into two. To my total surprise, a line of those bars that divide lanes (thus, direct traffic), was immediately in front of me. The car smacked two of them before I could pull off to one side. That collision totally knocked off some piece of metal between the hood and bumper. My insurance will handle it but I get to pay my high deductive and probably have a rate increase in the spring.