Trip of the Decade: Part II

 We booked our trip to Hawaii on July 4 departing for December 10.  Let's just say we had a lot of time to plan.  I thoroughly enjoyed the entire planning process.  I subscribed to every newsletter, I read every review, I bought the travel guide and read the entire thing cover to cover.  I emailed companies.  I asked for suggestions.  We weighed pros and cons and costs and finally decided on a few things that were must-do.

 One of those was the helicopter tour.  Most of Kauai can only be seen by air.  It is inaccessible otherwise.  We didn't know when - if ever - we would be back to this specific island and decided if we were going to be there, we'd better see it.  So we bit the bullet (and dished out a chunk of change) and booked the helicopter tour.  Don't worry.  We had only been in the air for about 15 minutes when I got severely motion sick.  And we still had 50 minutes to go.  About 45 minutes into the flight I was thinking it would be better for me to jump out of the helicopter to my death than endure the nausea any longer. 

 Jeff even started feeling sick before it ended.  While I sat with my eyes closed trying to take myself to a happier place, Jeff got some amazing pictures of the island.

 When we flew into this "crater" there were pencil waterfalls all around us, everywhere you looked.  I have never seen so many waterfalls in all my life.

 And look!  I survived.  Despite feeling so sick, the beauty was literally breathtaking.  When we left Waimea Canyon and flew over the NaPali Coast, I felt like myself gasping for my next breath because it was so amazing.

 After we recovered from our flight, we walked through the shopping center in Lihue.  We say this self-serve yogurt joint with all sorts of exotic island flavors and decided to give it a try.  Let's just say Jeff went a little overboard filling his cup and had a lapse in judgement about the whole weigh-to-pay concept.  Let's just say our yogurt cost almost $15.  Yum?

 After shopping and eating, we drove over to Spouting Horn near Poi'pu. 

 This ended up being our favorite part of the island.  We said if we ever make it back to Kauai, we will stay in Poi'pu.

 There were some really fun shops in Koloa.  We had such a good time walking around looking at all the different stores...just the two of us.

It was easy to forget that Christmas was around the corner while we were in paradise.  Thankfully there were a few reminders here and there that it really was December.