Beautiful Kaua'i

Na Pali Coast, Northern Kaua'i. Absolutely breathtaking - and the hike took my breath!

As promised, here is the blog on our trip to Hawaii - and I'm actually getting to it before next year! (barely). We stayed a week on the island of Kaua'i, which is called the 'Garden Isle' for good reason. It has to be the most beautiful place I've ever been. It doesn't have the big cities like some of the other islands, so most of the country is still very pristine. The east side of the island is all green and jungle - ly. The west side is dry and kind of reminded me of Southern Idaho (ha-ha). We stayed at a resort called the Pono-Kai which means 'Good Seas' in Hawaiian. It was right on the ocean in a quaint little town called Kapaa'. Tom and I had a very nice, traditional plate lunch at the Pono Market and visited with some of the locals there. It was really cool because when they found out that we were WSU Cougs the football talk went crazy. The store owner's son went to WSU for a semester, but transferred to OREGON to go to school because Pullman was too cold! Imagine that - from Hawaii to Eastern Washington, yeah - Brrrr.

The Pihea Trail on the Na Pali Coast - not for the faint-hearted, or bad knees!

We did a lot of sight seeing. We went with Paul and Amber, and it was great fun to do all of it together. We went hiking up the Pihea trail. We were told that they once tried to link both sides of the island by road here, but the Na Pali is so steep that the equipment kept falling down the mountains so they gave up. It is absolutely georgous and well worth the wild hike to get there, even though it about blew my knee out. We also got to go on a Catamaran ride around the Na Pali Coastline. That was a blast - I loved every minute of it and laughed my head off when Tom's lunch flew away! We did some snorkeling off the boat - saw some turtles and dolphins. On the trip back to the other side of the island, Tom and Paul rode on the trampolines on the front of the catamaran and it was quite funny to watch when we hit some big waves! I think I want to live on a catamaran, somewhere where it's warm.

Dolphins, swimming next to the catamaran. They are really fast!

We also got to go to a Luau at the Smith Family Gardens. It was a very lovely place, even though it was raining most of the time we were there. The rain was warm, though, so it wasn't too uncomfortable. We got to see them take the Kalua Pig out fo the pit and we listened to several of the family members sing traditional Hawaiian songs while we ate. Then they put on a show which included an erupting volcano and lots of traditional Polenesian dances. It was very nice - and the landscaping there was wonderful with lots of fruit trees and palms. It was very interesting that you could drive down the road in Kaua'i and see banana and coconut trees just growing along side the road. Anyone could pick them. We got a lot of sun time in, too, at several beaches on the island. We spent the two days before heading home on Oahu at Waikiki Beach. We got to go see the Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor, very thought provoking and humbling.

The Japanese Buddist Temple on the north side of Oahu.

Tom and I drove to the north side of Oahu and visited the South Beach area where the waves are tremendous! We also stopped at a Japanese Buddist temple, which was very pretty and the gardens were, too. There was a bamboo forest there - the stalks were very, very tall! When the breeze picked up they would slam together and it was very loud, but really cool! On Halloween we were on the streets of Waikiki where people from all over the world come dressed in various costumes. Some of it was very fun, and some was a bit wild... I lasted a couple of hours, then had to go back to the hotel. It was a lot for this country gal to take in. But you can't beat the sunsets on Waikiki - postcard perfect every night! This was truly a trip of a lifetime for Tom and I, one we'll remember always.