Kauai

We just took the funnest trip with a group of friends to Kauai!  We went with the Browns, Chalks, Flints and Aguirres and had an absolute blast!  Thanks to everyone at home who helped all of us with our kids so that we could get away for a week.  Here are the highlights of our trip...

After a long day of traveling and trying to sleep on the plane, we finally made it to Kauai tired but excited to be there finally! 

 One of the things we all wanted to do was hike the Hanakapi'ai' trail on the Na Pali coast.  We stayed in Hanalei on the north side of the island which is really close to the trailhead and the Na Pali coast.  The first full day we had in Hawaii we went out for our hike.  It was a little cloudy and cool but great weather for hiking.  Throughout the week we kept finding notes and pictures from Rease and Rhen that they had stashed in our suitcase before we left.  Love those girls!

The hike along the Na Pali coast is some of the most picturesque scenery in the world.  We could not get enough of the view from up there and the mountains plunging into the ocean.  Gorgeous.

Once the trail turned up the mountain and away from the coast we saw different terrain.  Lots of tall bunches of bamboo, huge old trees and also lots of rain and mud.  The clouds that we had in the morning finally broke open and we basically hiked the rest of the way in a downpour.  It wasn't too cold but we sure did get wet.  At first we tried to wait it out and stay away from the rain and mud, but finally realized we couldn't and might as well just embrace it.  So we did!

We made it to Hanakapi'ai falls and rewarded ourselves by jumping into the frigid water and swimming out to and around the falls.  It was amazingly cold but beautiful!  The hike back home was just as rainy as the way up, but definitely produced some of my favorite moments of the trip and unforgettable memories.  One of which, Mark compared Aubrey to a blind person up on the trail because she couldn't take off her prescription sunglasses (even though no sun was in sight) and she had sprained her ankle so was basically being carried down the mountain by Sim and Jared.  I can't look at pictures of her on the trail or think about hiking that day without cracking a smile at the "blind person on the mountain."

The next day we took a boat trip out to see dolphins, whales and the Na Pali coast from the ocean.  I will say, it was a really pretty view but the ocean was not super calm and a few of us got pretty bad seasickness despite the dramamine and ginger we took before hand.  I fell asleep on one of the benches inside the boat and slept off my seasickness luckily.  But we did get to see lots of dolphins and whales which were really awesome.

Part of our boat tour was a snorkeling stop.  It was fun and nice to get off the boat for a bit and see the sea life.  We saw and followed a sea turtle around for a while and that was pretty amazing.  

And one of our favorite places to eat was Duke's and we hit that restaurant 2 or 3 times while we were there for the week.  I could not get enough of the fresh fish that was served and we all treated ourselves to Pina Coladas at each meal.  Hey, we're on vacation right!

One day we kayaked along the Wailua River and hiked up to secret falls.  That was SOOO fun!  The kayaking was surprisingly fun/challenging and I will never admit to tipping an unsuspecting stranger over while we were racing with the Flints and the Browns.  Somehow Josh and I got the blame for it though and were left to help them pick themselves back up amidst their swearing and cursing at us.  I still think the Flints boat nicked them but who knows?

The hike to Secret Falls ended up being much harder than I anticipated, mostly because it was super muddy.  I ended up just taking off my sandals and walking in the mud in my bare feet.  Nicole and I looked like we had on hiking boots!

But the hike was totally worth it and we had so much fun playing in the waterfall (once again - frigid) and the pool.  

We loved staying in Hanalei.  It's a quiet, sleepy town on the north side that is almost the very last stop along the road.  But the quaint little place was home for us for the week and we loved it.  We had fun shopping at the farmer's market, running along the pier, eating shaved ice at the local stand and just enjoying the amazing and beautiful place we were in.  

Most of the week was pretty rainy and cloudy but we did wake up one morning to sun and warm weather.  So we took that day and spent it at the beach at Hanalei Bay.  You could not ask for a more beautiful beach.  It's surrounded by green mountains and hills and perfectly blue water to swim in.  We had a blast on the boogie boards and just hanging out for the day.

The house we stayed in was right next door to the church.  Sunday morning we got up and walked over to church and enjoyed the meeting the members and visitors in this little branch.

I won't admit how many cups of shaved ice I had during the week.  But I do know that I had more than the number of days we were there.  Is that bad?

We drove around the island and spent an afternoon in Waimea Canyon.  Again - gorgeous, breathtaking, amazing views.  How many places on this island can I say that about?  Such different scenery depending on which part of the island we were on, but all equally beautiful.  We had a blast exploring around the canyon on one of the last days we were there.

Our very last day we spent doing some last minute sight seeing.  Our flight didn't leave until late that night so we had the day to do a few things.  Josh and I got our hammocks out and relaxed, Chalks rented bikes for a couple hours, we ate at Duke's one last time and we all said goodbye to a little piece of paradise that we were able to be a part of for a few days.  We had the best time and had great company to enjoy it with!  Can't wait to go back!