Kauai

Brock and I decided to go on vacation to get some much needed time away from our crazy schedules. Well I say "our" schedules but really it's mainly Brock's. Between a hectic work schedule and MBA night school he is usually swamped. We decided not to take Carter which was really sad, we missed him so much but it was really nice to have time just the two of us. We happily left six inches of snow and headed for 78 degrees and the ocean.

We survived the tsunami!!

We arrived around 2:00pm and after we checked into our hotel we got something to eat and walked on the beach for awhile. Since we didn't sleep much the night before we basically passed out in our room at 6:00pm. My dad called at 8:00pm (Hawaii time which would have been 11:00pm Utah time). He said he heard about the earthquake in Japan and was worried about possible tsunamis. We told him we would be careful and then went back to bed. At 11:00pm the hotel staff came around and told us we were being evacuated to a nearby high school for the night. Seeing all the footage of the Sumatra tsunami I packed up all our stuff and took it with me. The high school was only about a quarter of a mile inland and I was a bit worried that wouldn't be far enough especially since we had no information of how large this wave would be. The news was on in a classroom so we stayed and watched for a while. They gave no specific information - probably so they wouldn't scare everyone but not knowing made the situation even tenser. Finally at 3:00am when the wave hit Kauai it was reported as high as 6-8 feet with no damage to the island. We then went to our car and slept until the roads were opened at 7:00am. This is the front of the high school the morning after.


The next day we had to call everyone to let them know we were ok

Day Two

Besides our first night's sleep, the tsunami really had no other effect on our trip. They advised us to stay out of the ocean the next day since there were still some large waves coming in. So Brock and I decided to hike to Kipu falls. This place was amazing! It is a perfect 20ft wall and has this beautiful pond the waterfall empties into.

To the left of Brock in the picture is where you can cliff jump - just in between two waterfalls. The far end (blocked by trees) is a rope swing. We were too chicken to go off of that but we did jump.

It is hard to get a good view of the falls because to get to the side facing the wall you have to jump and swim to the other side.

The two dots in the water are Brock and me.

Kalapaki beach

The grass just before the sand felt like a putting course. Brock and I fell asleep here after Kipu falls. Later we ate at Dukes, right on the beach then got shaved ice.

Day Three

We went kayaking up the Wailua river. It's a couple miles up with no current either way. We went to a bird sanctuary then docked our kayak to hike to secret falls.

Crossing the river to get to the hike

The trail was a bit muddy. We tried taking the high road but it was so slippery. We saw a few people covered head to toe in mud. Brock figured he may as well start in the mud.

It looked like we had dipped him in chocolate.

After the hike, we kayaked up another fork that led to a part of the river where a high spot in the river bed creates a pond. Brock and I tried out the rope swing.

Another section of the river leads to Fern Grotto. It's a cliff wall with a small cave at the bottom that has ferns and greenery growing all over.

The view from the kayak

Anahola Beach

I think Brock is attempting to do a Polynesian dance.... not sure.

Day Four

We drove to the "end of the road" on the west side of the island. There is one main road circling the island and if it weren't for the 10-15 miles stretch of cliffs it would connect. Since it doesn't there are two "end of the roads" about an hour and a half apart driving from one end to the other. From the picture above you can see the island of Nihue and a couple other small islands.

This is called the Grand Canyon of Hawaii

In the center of the picture you can see a waterfall. We guessed it had to be at least 1,000ft.

Between the two "end of the roads" is the Na Pali coast. This is the western end of the and no picture can do them justice.

We hiked along the ridge that connected to two mountains above the valley but as we were about half way through heavy clouds came down. This picture is at a vantage point and we couldn't see more than three feet off of the ledge.

This is the trail to the vantage point. However, at about this point we took a wrong turn and ended up in alakai swamp.

Day Five

Anani beach

There is a long coral reef about 200 ft off the shore so it illuminates any waves. It really looks like a swimming pool. We went snorkeling and saw a bunch of turtles and fish.

View of Hanalei Bay

Day Six

We went hiking along the Na Pali coast. The first two miles windes around the mountains to get to a beach where you can continue on to finish the full eleven miles and turn around (camping along the way) or hike up two more miles to the waterfall. We opted for the later.

From this view point we could see whales jumping out in the ocean.

A view of the mountains above us

Hanakapi'ai Beach - two miles in

The waves here were huge, definitely not a swimming beach

Along the hike to the waterfall

Hanakapi'ai Falls about 200 ft high

Four miles in and four miles out

On our way out we kept stopping to look at the view behind us. It was unreal.

The bed and breakfast we stayed at was located on an orchard and we were invited to go and pick whatever fruit we wanted. Brock grabbed a yellowish, brownish fruit the size of a grapefruit which turned out to be an orange and a really good one too.

Sunset at Hanalei Bay

The rainbow after a mist came through.

Day Seven

Beach day at Hanalei Bay before our flight

The bed and breakfast provided beach chairs which we discovered at the beach that we grabbed kid chairs. The picture doesn't do it justice, Brock looked hilarious.

Inside a cave across from the beach