Our Hawaii Trip

Wes and I got back from our trip to Hawaii last Thursday. Even though I was so stressed out that I wasn't even excited to go, it was a wonderful getaway. I needed it. Now that it is snowing here, I'm wishing we wouldn't have come home. I hate winter. Especially when it should be spring. Did I mention that I hate winter?

Anyway, it was a wonderful vacation. (They say that when going out of town, if you take the kids it's a trip, if you leave them home it's a vacation. This was definitely a vacation.) I don't remember the last time I felt so relaxed.

Here is a recap:
Friday: Arrived at our condo at 11:00 (7 Hawaii time). We were exhausted. I was too tired to even eat, even though we hadn't had dinner. Wes was starving though, so we went to the nearest restaurant, ate, and then went straight to bed.

Saturday: Woke up early. Not by choice. The entire island of Kauai has built in alarm clocks. The batteries never run out, you can't unplug them, and they go off, every day, at approximately 4:00 am. They have no snooze button either. Yep, that's right. Roosters! They are everywhere. They have no predators on Kauai, so they have pretty much just taken over. Did you know there are no snakes on Kauai?

After being so rudely awakened, we got ready and headed out to do some site seeing. We stopped at a local farmers market and bought some produce from the locals. Some of it was mighty tasty-some of it, not so much. Left because a fierce wind picked up and it started raining-a lot.

Rain stopped. Went to Spouting Horn.There is a huge hole in the lava bed. When the tide comes in, the force shoots up waves of water every few seconds. It was pretty cool.

Stopped at a scenic overlook. Beautiful! We were going to come back later and visit the lighthouse, but we never did.

Drove to the highest point on the island. It overlooks a huge canyon and was just stunning:Went shopping for groceries and a few things we forgot to pack.

Sunday:
-Drove halfway around the island to go to church. Everyone was so friendly! It's so nice that you fit right in no matter where you go. I love being a Mormon!

-Drove home and ate some of the groceries we had purchased. Drove around to do a little more sight-seeing. Found a church that was right around the corner from where we were staying. Oh well.

-Relaxed, listened to some talks Wes brought, and read books.

Monday:
-Explored beaches.

The water was a little cool at the beach on Hanalei Bay.At Ke'e beach we came across a Monk seal resting on the sand.It is a common "sunbathing" spot for the seals, so they have ropes up so people won't get too close to them. We sat on a log and watched for about 30 minutes. The ocean is very relaxing!

Stopped at an underground water cave:Tuesday:
Stopped at Opaekaa Falls:Took a tour of an ancient Hawaiian village:From there, we took a guided canoe ride up the river to Fern Grotto. Our guide was AMAZING! Knew all kinds of interesting facts about the area, the village, and the plants. When we got to the grotto, no one else was around. He told us that they used to let people actually walk up inside the cave, but in 1992 a hurricane hit and loose stones started falling occasionally. So they put up new railings at the bottom so now you can just view it from a distance.

I mentioned what a bummer it was that you couldn't get closer. His response: "No one else is around here, would you guys like to go up there? I think I can make a path." So he hopped the fence and found a "path". We climbed the fence and followed him up. It was incredible. It was slippery and I got filthy dirty, but it was so amazing.

Here is a photo from the bottom below the railing:He ran back down the hill, hopped the fence, and took this picture of us at the top:We're those two little specks in the middle. Wasn't that cool of him?

On our way home, we rented a tandem bike and rode a bike trail up the coast. Stopped and took a few photos:It was lots of fun, but I don't know how people can go biking on a regular basis. My tushie was still sore two days later!

Wednesday:

-Took a 6 hour catamaran tour of the Na Pali coast. It was absolutely fabulous and the highlight of our entire trip. We saw some amazing scenery (the Na Pali coast can only be accessed by boat). We also went snorkeling, but didn't have a waterproof camera, so no photos. The best part was watching the wildlife.
We saw lots of dolphins right up next to the boat:Not the greatest picture, but we switched to camera mode, so that's all the still photos we got.

We also saw a mama and baby humpback whale. This is the baby:It was an amazing vacation!