Saturday, September 10, 2011

Kauai

So we just got back from Kauai this last week. And yes I wrote down what we did everyday so I wouldn't forget. So now I'm going to blog about it and it might be kinda long (just a warning)... But it was seriously sooooo beautiful!! I had no idea what a jungle it is there. I knew Hawaii had palm trees and beaches but I didn't realize how many different kinds of trees/plants there are in a 20 foot radius!


Anyways, about the trip. The morning of our flight neither of us woke up to our alarms and had to grab everything and rush to the airport. Luckily we didn't miss our flight! We got to Hawaii at about 11 am so that was nice because of the time difference we still got most of the day to play. The first day there we just went and ate and played at the beach and got some groceries for our hotel room.



The next day we went to the beach again. Then we went to a waterfall called Kipu Falls. We picked up a local hitchhiker on the way there.. little did we know he was actually a monkey! But I'll get to that in a minute. So we get to this beautiful place and hike a little bit up to the waterfall. At the waterfall you can jump off and there is also a rope swing. It was so great watching people jumping into the water below. I even worked up the courage to jump off.. and it wasn't as bad as I thought! But this monkey boy was crazy on the rope swing and he was climbing a big tree out to the very end branches and jumping into the water which is about a 50 foot drop I think (I don't judge distances very well). So this was one of my favorite parts of the vacation. We went to the beach and a couple other places this day and then in the evening we went to the Marriot and played frisbee on the beach there and swam. We got this amazing dessert called Hula Pie... best dessert ever! It was an ice cream pie with oreo crust and macadamia nuts, whipped cream, and hot fudge. I'm craving it right now.




The next day we went snorkeling at Tunnels Beach. This was my first time snorkeling ever. Let's just say I didn't catch on immediately. I was so scared of that water getting in my snorkel tube. And so scared of everything basically. But when I finally got out there and saw the amazing fish and everything under the ocean I LOVED it!! We even swam with a sea turtle for a while!
Right after Tunnels we hiked the Na Pali coast. It was actually a pretty big hike, and all we had for shoes were water shoes that were falling apart so it was a bit uncomfortable. But it was so cool when we made it to a private beach on the Na Pali coast. It was just the most beautiful hike.


Saturday we played tennis at the hotel in the morning and then went to the beach. We played at the beach most of the day, and then went shopping and to dinner.

On Sunday we went to church in the morning. It was really fun to go to a Hawaiian ward. At the end of the meeting they stood up and sang all the visitors a welcome song and gave us a homemade lei! After church we went up to see spouting horn. It wasn't super interesting- just ocean water that shoots up from rock- but I'm glad we went and saw it. Then we went to see Waimea Canyon, which is called the "grand canyon of the pacific." It really was like going to the Grand Canyon, it was so pretty. After we went to dinner that evening we sat out on the beach and watched a gorgeous sunset. I have so many pretty pictures of it!






Monday was the day of our expedition! We were going on a sunset sail to the Napali coast. This was so much fun- mainly because I love boats. The boat ride over to the Napali coast was so much fun, there are trampolines on the front of the boat so me and Preston sat on those in the sunshine with the water misting us, while we were served fruit! We stopped along the Napali coast and went snorkling. There were so many fish around us! The captain of the boat would tell us about landmarks along the coast and where movies were filmed. We stopped the boat and had a dinner onboard and then we started back home. On the way back the sun was setting behind us. It was so great.





Tuesday is the day we came back to Utah. Our plane didn't leave until the evening so we went to the beach in the morning and then hung out by the pool until we left. We had a red eye flight on the way home that was pretty much the worst experience ever. We were so scrunched in the plane and couldn't sleep, so it was a long, long night! 




So that is our vacation in a nutshell! It was so wonderful and I am already dying to go back!