Kauai, As Promised

Why Don't I Live Here?
That was my first thought when stepping off the airplane in Lihue, Kauai. This place is amazing.

A few days ago I got the balance of photos from our Cousins' Kauai Trip.View from our lanai (porch)

Michelle, Allina, and I went to Kauai for 8 days at the end of July and I finally have all the photos, organized by activity into webalbums for your viewing pleasure.

Near the heart of Kauai.

I did not include the entire 2000+ shots, but there are probably many more than you are interested in looking at (except if you're either really interested or really bored).

If you want the sampler platter, here's the summary album first, which has photos from the entire trip.

(Drumroll please!)
Here's our trip by event:

Boogie Boarding Trip
We tried to boogie board a second time, even though it was pouring rain and freezing, but a guy on the beach advised against it because he had just rescued some foolhardy tourists. So, we decided against it. I would love to do it again, though.

Snorkeling
I could NOT believe how close the fish would swim to us and how many fish there were. Also, I found a $10 bill floating around in the water. I know, sweet! We snorkeled at Poi Pu and up north at Tunnels after our hike to the beach. It was amazing. At one point Michelle and I were surrounded by nearly 100 fish. It was like I was in a school of fish.

Hike to the Beach
The Napali Coast is only accessible by hiking, air, or boat. So we decided to hike down from the north to the beach. It was a 2-3 mile hike each way and it was pretty steep. We all love to exercise so we had a great time. I brought my music playing phone so we jammed out on our hike. What surprised me was how much I was sweating! Unlike Arizona, in Hawaii, when you sweat the water just stays on your skin until you feel like you stepped into a shower. When we got down to the beach, we played in the water. The ocean is warm, but the stream that runs from the mountains to the ocean was cool and refreshing. There was a native hippie-type woman on the beach with her 6 children (two breastfeeding) reading a book while her kids played in the waves. I was amazed because the signs everywhere said how dangerous the waves were, but her kids were good swimmers. They built an awesome sand castle so I took a photo. Watching her made me want to raise my kids on the beach in Hawaii.

Boat Tour of the Napali Coast
By far, my favorite part of the trip was our boat trip up the Napali Coast. We had VIP seats w/o paying VIP prices. We sat at the bow with our feet dangling near the water. The blue-green color of the water was absolutely unreal. I would love to do that again. We went in caves, under waterfalls, and got to snorkel and eat lunch on the boat. On the way back the water was choppy and the ride from the front was way better than a roller coaster. Disneyland has nothing on the Napali Coast!

Kayaking and Hike to Secret Falls
This trip was fun because we got to go to a local swimming hole, kayak around, hike over the river and through the woods, then see the most breathtaking waterfall. From my research (google, anyone?) it looks like it was 100 feet tall, but it seemed higher, especially when I was under it. In case you're wondering, I was the only cousin who was adventurous enough to swim under the falls. Totally thrilling.

Me under Secret Falls. It feels more like hail than rain!

Tour of Allerton Gardens
We heard from many people that these gardens were among the most beautiful in the world. And while we enjoyed our visit, I don't think I would go back. It was just under $50 and it took about 2 hrs to make it through (the tour guide was SUPER irritating, making canned jokes the whole time). I went hoping to photograph something especially beautiful to print on canvas for our wall as a souvenir for Mark, but he hasn't picked a photo yet. One really cool part about the Allerton Gardens is the trees that were used in the filming of Jurassic Park (also, did you know that Kauai has a film person in their goverment to cooridnate with all the people who want to shoot movies there?). Look for the unusual trees in the webalbum.


Kauai holds so many fun memories for me. I enjoyed myself tremendously, as I'm sure you'll see from the photos.
I recently talked my sister-in-law Katie into leaving her kids with us so she and her husband could go to Hawaii without children. I hope that she's glad because it would have been a lot harder (and sometimes impossible) for me to enjoy my trip with my small children. (But someday they'll be bigger then we can all go to Hawaii).

Anyway, for those of you who have never gone, I wish you could go. Unlike so many places I've been, Kauai was much better than I expected. The water was warmer, the sand was softer, the breeze was sweeter, and the air was less salty. :)

I loOoved it!