Trip of the Decade: Part IV

 Wednesday was our back country tour with Outfitters Kauai. Of all the tours we booked and activities we planned, I was most excited about this one.  We checked in at 8:00 AM ready for a full day of adventure.

 First thing we did was climb into a tandem ocean kayak.  It was the first time I had been in a kayak.  It took us a minute to figure out how to paddle in sync, but we got it down and had a blast.  The kayak up the river was gorgeous.  There is so much vegetation.  I don't think I've ever seen so many different shades of green.

 After splashing out of the kayak, we hiked up through the jungle.  I kept thinking I was on the set of Tarzan or something with so many swingable vines everywhere. 

 I've never hiked through the jungle before, but with everything so dense and lush you'd expect danger to be lurking around every corner.  But no, Kauai is paradise, so there is nothing out there that's gonna get you.  No poison ivy.  No snakes at all.  No poisonous spiders.  No jaguars ready to eat you for dinner.  Just exotic superfruit that can heal all your ailments...like this noni fruit we picked and tried.

 The destination of our hike?  Zipline, baby.  Like everything else on this day, I had never ziplined before.  I didn't expect to get so nervous since I had been so excited, but once I got up on the platform I was scared to death!  Don't worry, the tour guide gave me a little shove and I was off across 800 feet of zipline over a small canyon.

 The next zipline we hiked to was tandem - an 1800 foot mammoth zipline done side by side (and even upside down...boo-ya!)  And we both looked so good in these red safety helmets that I had to post the photos online for all the world to see.

(and those are Jeff's UnderArmor, not underwear in case you're wondering.)

 We only took one camera with us on this part, and it was easier for me to carry because I could strap it to myself.  I ended up using it more on video mode than still mode during the zipline, so I don't have very many still shots, and I don't have any of myself.

 The last zipline we did was into a pool.  Everyone stripped down to their bathing suits and ziplined and high dived into this beautiful jungle pool prefaced by a small waterfall.

 The pool was shallow around the edges, so we could sit on underwater logs and just pinch each other to remind ourselves that this was real life...we weren't dreaming.

 The hike out was just as beautiful as the hike in, and slightly more muddy.  It rains nearly every day on Kauai and so nothing ever really dries out, which is part of what makes everything so brilliant.

 We stopped at some east shore beaches before heading back to our condo that night, but we were pretty dirty and tired.  We even took pictures of our feet and legs because we had mud up to our knees.  As we drove that night and talked about our day, we kept saying, "Is this place really this amazing?"  Yes, it is.

Trip of the Decade: Part III

 Everywhere you look on this island, you see immaculate beauty.  Impossible to capture with the camera, too difficult to describe with words.  It is the most beautiful place I have ever been.

 

 We headed to the other side of the island to witness the "Grand Canyon of the Pacific," Waimea Canyon, on Day 3.

 The colors, sights, and vegetation were all so beautiful.  This side of the island was so much different than the East shore.  We couldn't get over how huge it was...it's just an itty bitty island, right?

 We ate at "The Westerner" which was right up our alley.  The food was GREAT!  And every time we ate anything I kept thinking how nice it was to sit down and eat an entire meal - while it was still warm - without having to clean up spills, refill plates and drinks, and break up fights. Not that my kids WWF at the table, but you  know what I mean.

 After Waimea Canyon, it was off to our whale watching tour.  We took a catamaran out on a sunset dinner cruise.  We saw whales right away.  It was so exciting!  So exciting, in fact, that I was too busy watching to get any good shots.  The video I shot is all of the ships sails and ropes because I was trying to watch and use my still camera and my video camera all at the same time.

 After the helicopter incident, I was worried I would get sea sick.  But I loved being out on the water.  It was thrilling as we we splashing over the waves and the salt water was spraying us in the face.  It was relaxing as we sailed slowly through the ocean watching the sunset. 

And I realized why some people come here and never go home.

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.

Trip of the Decade: Part I

Have you ever spent ten days with your spouse?  I mean ten full uninterrupted days just the two of you.  My guess is that most of us have not.  When you're dating you spend lots of time together, but someone goes home at night.  Then you get married and you have work and school and, compared to when you were dating, it feels like you never see each other.  Pretty soon you have kids and life sets in and you are lucky to get a date night in, and really lucky to squeeze in a weekend getaway.  When Jeff and I got married in the middle of the semester, we didn't have time or money for a honeymoon.  So we said that in ten loooong years we would make sure to take a big anniversary trip.  Well ten short years later we found that we didn't have any more time or money than we did when we got married...maybe even less.  We were pretty sure our big ten year trip wasn't going to happen, and then Tina, our family friend, offered her time share in Hawaii.  We thought about it for three seconds before we booked our flight.

 We've only flown together once before, nine years ago with my whole family.  It's a good thing we love each other, because sitting that close to someone you didn't like for that long of a flight would get a little uncomfortable.

 When we finally landed in Hawaii we loved the Christmas trees all decorated with seashells.  Mele Kalikimaka!

 Neither of us had ever been anywhere tropical before and we couldn't  get over how everything was completely open-air.  Walking through the airport you couldn't tell when you were indoors or outdoors.  It was all the same, and it was all beautiful.

 Our second day there was Sunday, so we headed to the next town for church.  Hypocrite travelers that we are, we hit Bubba's Burgers before the meetings began.  The Christmas tree behind us was decorated with fries and onion rings.  And Bubba's was just as good as everyone said it would be.

 After lunch we walked down the sidewalk to look at some of the local shops.  We crossed a bridge and Jeff thought he spotted something in the water. I reassured him that it was just a rock.  After much debate and a lot of teasing we moved on, purchased a few souvenirs and then walked back across the bridge to church.  Only when we got to the bridge, the 'rock' had moved.  It was an endangered Hawaiian monk seal!  I was so shocked I dropped the bag I was carrying into the water below.  Thankfully plastic bags are illegal in Kauai and the paper sack our purchases were in floated.  With the help of a palm frond I worked my way under the bridge and successfully retrieved our bag...and hopefully didn't disturb the seal too much.

 Jeff will never let me live down the 'rock' seal incident.

 We couldn't get over all the wild chickens on Kauai.  They are everywhere!

 We drove up to Opaekaa Falls after church.

 We ran into some people we know from Utah there, who took this picture for us.

 Then we drove on up to Wailua Falls, which was absolutely gorgeous.  We were wishing we weren't in our church clothes so we could hike down a little closer, but seeing it from the lookout was still great.

 That night we headed to the highly recommended Duke's Canoe Club for dinner.

 The restaurant is right on the beach.  We couldn't help but walk down and dip our toes in the water.

And we even decided to tackle the Hula Pie.  Don't worry...it was no problem for the two of us.  Chocolate, macademia nuts, fudge, ice cream, lets just say it was divine.

We were kind of surprised how much fun it was to have only the two of us to worry about.  We ate where we wanted when we wanted and did whatever we wanted.  It didn't take us long to figure out what everyone had been telling us.  Kauai is paradise.