April 2024 - Kauai Part 2

Thursday we left early to catch the shuttle to take us up to the Kalalau trail to see a bit of the Napali coast. We thought the area waiting for the shuttle was beautiful (below) and the boys were matching so I snapped a photo. Little did we know the beauty we were in for!

I about died of exhaustion on the uphill portion of the trail, but the view was worth it!

While Timmy, Joey, Will, Mark, Allison and I hiked to the ocean and had our lunch, Brian, Jordan, Caitlin and Dave hiked way further to see the waterfall.

Brian said this was one of his favorite parts of the trip. I am so grateful Dave was willing to take them another 4 miles up the trail!

We finished our lunch watching the waves and then headed back out.

The views were just as stunning going out as coming in!

I was the slowest of the group, but didn't want anyone to wait for me so I sent them all on. 

I do enjoy taking my time though. I like to stop and take pictures and notice the life around me. There are a large number of stray (now wild) cats in Kauai.

I survived the hike and barely made it back to the beach where I rested while the other went snorkeling and we waited for the longer hikers.

We saw this resting sea turtle while snorkeling. Brian was able to take a pictures of it. It was his favorite turtle the whole trip.

The walk back to the shuttle was gorgeous.

After getting off the shuttle, be went over to Hanalei Bay to check it out.

We were all very tired and hungry at this point, so we went to Calypso for dinner. 

That coconut shrimp was so good!

Another epic Kauai day in the books! We slept well that night!

April 2024 - Kauai Part 1

Our Spring Break this year aligned with my sister Allison's family's break. They were already going to Kauai and let us tag along. It was the most amazing trip! Especially because the Scotts were our tour guides! They knew all the best places and things to do!

It was so much fun to be there with the Scotts. Even the airport in Oakland was fun!

We flew into Kauai and stopped at Walmart and then went to our condo. We stayed in the same complex as the Scotts. Timmy and Joey both felt travel sick so while they rested for a bit some of us walked down to Anini beach close to our condo.

First time in the Kauai ocean!

The kids were messing around in these trees. Do you see that horizontal branch in front of Brian just over his head? At one point he jumped and grabbed that branch. It snapped right off and pancaked him pretty hard on his back. Luckily it was sand below and not rocks!

The next day we headed to the Ho'opi'i Falls hike. There are a series of waterfalls along the Kapa'a stream. First we stopped at a very fun place to waterfall jump! It was so much fun!

After playing in the falls we continued up the jungle trail.

Stopping to swing on the vines.

The next waterfall was larger. Here's the view from the top.

And the view from the middle.

At the bottom of that waterfall is a pool of water with a rope swing.

The hike out included more vine swinging and another stop at the jumping falls.

And some really big bugs. That is a bright yellow spider on a web in front of Timmy.

Timmy loves little creatures like I do and is usually happy to stop and check them out with me. Brian is usually way too far ahead trekking like a mountain climber to stop and notice. Here's a cute toad just hanging out on the tree. He's pretty camouflaged so everyone else walked right on by.

We were blown away by the amazingness of that first morning in Kauai! It made us all the more excited for the adventures to come.

We then made our way down to Poipu Beach. The huge sea turtles just hanging out on the sand were my favorite!

We did some snorkeling and playing on the beach.

Then we headed over to see Spouting Horn.

Afterward, we drove and visited the amazing Wailua Falls on our way back up to our Princeville condo.

We were tired at the end of the day, but we had to stop and get some shave ice in Kapa'a. It was good, but after trying different places throughout Kauai, we all agreed that the Taiwan shaved ice is better. I think Taiwan was the original, so it's not surprising.

That concludes our first full day in Kauai. It was absolutely incredible!