Aloha (super long post)

Friends and family have been telling us to enjoy the time together before a baby comes into our lives. So, we took their advice and headed off to Hawaii for a week. Darren did a good job documenting our vacation on his Facebook page . . .probably better than I'll do here on the blog. This was our first stop when we arrived on Kauai (mostly because we couldn't check in to our hotel for a long time so we went sight seeing) - not all that exciting of a lighthouse, but it was a beautiful view.






This was the view just below the lighthouse.








We went on quite a few hikes including one to Ho'opi'i Falls. Darren decided he wanted to traverse the river to see if the other side offered a better view for pictures. Being the smart guy that he is, he decided to do it first without the camera . . .
He made it over great, but the first couple steps on the way back weren't so graceful and in he went. Needless to say he did not try it again with the camera in tow.

Our big hike of the trip was the Kalaulau trail. It's an 11 mile hike (22 round trip!!) along the Na Pali coast line. I'd love to say we hiked the whole thing - but there was no way we were going to do that - you aren't supposed to do hikes of that magnitude while on vacation. We did hike 2 miles in to the Hanakapi'ai Beach - any further than that and you have to have a permit.
The island guide we used described the hike as "miles of switchbacks, hills and beautiful scenery" - we would both completely agree with that.








After the grueling hike we stopped at the Wishing Well - a well known shaved ice stand on Kauai. Oh my goodness - the shaved ice was SOOOOOO GOOD. Darren had to have a second after finishing his first.









One of the highlights of the island is Waimea Canyon (or the Grand Canyon of the Pacific as we were told by a local) It was a beautiful drive and provided us some amazing views of the island. (And Darren got to use the tripod he bought for the trip)






My favorite thing of the whole trip was kayaking the Wailua River. I think we were both a little nervous about it as neither of us had ever kayaked before, but we actually did pretty good. We kayaked for a while then pulled our boats ashore to hike to the Wailua Falls. We were the first ones there of the morning which made it all the more cool. After our guide took our picture (that's why its out of focus) we ventured out into the water and under the waterfall. It was amazing to sit right under the falls and know that its a 130 foot drop from the top.


Needless to say, we both felt a little stiff and sore the next day from the kayaking - but it was totally worth it.


There was one little occurrence that almost ruined our trip and its just one of those things where you replay it over in your head and change how you would respond. We were returning to our car, which was parked on a local street, after snorkeling and some young 20 something blonde on her scooter pulled over to talk to us. The conversation went something like this . . . "Do you know how to read?" Darren and I respond "yes". "So did you not read the no parking sign (then she went on saying some other stuff and ended with) "That's why locals like us HATE people like you" and then she drove off. Darren and I sat there shell shocked for a minute. Did that really just happen? In all honesty, neither of us saw the No Parking sign . . .it was pretty hidden by the trees. So for the next hour or so, we both sat there a stewed and replayed how the scene could have gone in our heads. I think it just blew both of our minds that someone would go out of their way like that to be that mean. Not cool.

The bratty (other meaner words do apply) blonde girl aside, overall we had an awesome trip. Now its back to work and normal life.

P.S. After some sight seeing on Sunday, we went and sat on the beach of Moa'la Bay. There we encountered a very hungry sand crab. Feeding this little crab chunks of licorice kept Darren busy for about 30 mins. Look at the lightning speed of the crab!!