Here's a sum up of Hawaii. Check out WAY more photos on my flickr account (I needed a way to upload a ton of pictures, is there a better option you guys have used?) I will post a link shortly.
We arrived Monday evening in Lihue, Kauai with out incident.
The resort was beautiful and over looked the island’s main bay.
We determined that the best way to adjust to the 5-hour time
difference was to spend Tuesday lounging on the beach a few steps from the
resort. And the pool bar. I will admit (somewhat begrudgingly) that on this
trip to the tropics I frequently ordered and consumed
frozen-girly-often-multicolored-sweet-tiki-bar style drinks with a whole fruit
salad garnishing the rim. And I liked it. I surely will more than make up for
it with copious amounts of more respectable drinks in the coming months in
Ireland.
Wednesday I went for a morning walk down the beach, had a
incredibly relaxing and invigorating yoga class by the ocean, tried
paddle-boarding, and went to a local farmer’s market where I got some lovely
bananas, mangos, and avocados (but not a lovely bunch of coconuts). Stand-up
paddle boarding was an experience. I was learning in quite large waves, and for
the first 15 minutes I could barely stand up straight and my legs were shaking
like crazy. I fell completely off twice. I came close to falling much more than
that, but I have perfected my “oh crap I’m about to fall- I should do
something- run forward- run back- stick butt out- thrust hips forward- lean
back- and miraculously don’t fall” technique. After 15 minutes I couldn’t remember what was so hard about
it. It was a great way to see the bay and very peaceful aside from the sporadic
giant (by my southeast Texas gulf standard) wave that rolled by under us- but
hey, something had to mix things up.
Thursday Mom and I went to the McBryde Botanical Gardens
(which is giant by the way) and saw acres of breathtakingly beautiful or
downright weird plants. The gardens work to protect native and “canoe” plants
from other introduced plants or animals and other dangers to the rare
varieties. “Canoe” plants refer to the varieties that the first Polynesians
brought with them on canoes. All of these plants play an important role either
in cultural, spiritual, or medicinal practices. I was fascinated by the uses
for the different plants and the lengths that the garden had gone to save the
disappearing varieties. After the
garden we had great intentions to explore other beaches on the island, but
somehow that morphed into an extended nap time.
I started off Friday with another great yoga class. (The
instructor asked if I had a regular headstand practice, but I don’t think that
the random headstand by the rock wall or on a soccer field counts). After lunch Matt and I took off up and
extremely steep road with more switchback than anyone even mildly prone to
motion sickness could take (Wiggles you would not have liked it). This very
steep and windy road brought us to the Pihea trail-head. We hiked about 2 miles
out to the Alkak'i Swamp Trail, which took us a very long two miles to Kilohana
Lookout. The area we were hiking is one of the wettest places on earth and the
world’s highest swamp. We were up on top of a mountain but walking through a
bog. It was bizarre. The trail was a bit tricky at times because there were
very steep portions of slick, smooth, wet clay. About half of the trail was a
boardwalk going over the swamp. We saw very old telephone poles atop the
mountain in the swamp and wondered at how difficult of job that must have been.
The poles are certainly not functional. The Kilohana lookout was breathtaking.
Soon after we arrived a large cloud rolled in and obscured everything and we
watched as it dissipated. After we had seen the end we headed back double time.
Literally. It took us two hours to get out to the point, but we made it back in
one. It was a fun challenge scrambling up the inclines; Matt had the added
challenge of having shoes with absolutely no traction. We felt accomplished afterwards
and I am sure in the retelling the hike will stretch from the original 8 miles
to 15 or so. Overall it was a great experience.
Saturday began with a massage at the spa and ended with a
very long plane ride. With a few logistical things thrown in. More on my
air travel portion of the adventure shortly!
