No Doors!

The best (and most expensive) activity we did while in Hawaii was to take a Helicopter Tour of the entire island of Kauai. There are parts of the island, like the Na Pali Coast, that are only accessible from boat or Helicopter. We even splurged just a little and made sure to get the helicopter with no doors! This made it just a bit more exhilarating, and it also means there was no glass window between the camera and the scenery, so the pictures turned out really nice.

Our tour guide and pilot was from Italy, and had a fantastic accent and a little dry humor. The tour provided stunning views and was a memorable experience. There is something about flying that lures me. After exciting the helicopter I found myself toying with the idea of learning to fly one...

Here are a handful of the pictures from our tour in no particular order, plus one video where you briefly see all 3 of us in the aircraft. Kauai is so beautiful.

The Slaying of an Aggressive Predator

Although Hawaii was absolutely fabulous, we did have a not-so-great time our first morning there. It began really early when the neighbors upstairs let their alarm go off for over an hour really early in the morning, I think it was about 5am-ish. I managed to doze through most of it. However I was jerked into consciousness when I felt the slight tickle of something moving up my arm near my shoulder. I glanced toward my arm and saw a dark blob about an inch and a half long (my eye sight wasn't exactly the best without my glasses on). In one swift move I gasped from being startled that it was there, sat up quickly and flicked it away from me. This immediately brought my two travel companions to full alert. Andrea was sleeping next to me and wanted to know what happened. Erica came running in from the next room with the same questioning face. It was a cockroach. Eww. I felt violated. And the worst part was I didn't see where it had gone, so all we knew was the fact that there was one lurking around our bedroom.

I was done being in bed at this point and got up. I felt gross. But our morning surprises were not over.

Within a couple minutes I turned around to see Andrea leaping out of bed grabbing the blankets with her to reveal the ugliest thing ever. A 5 inch long centipede scurrying over our mattress!! Andrea is no girly-girl and can handle bugs, but apparently not things with that many legs. I immediately dove into my luggage and pulled out one of my hiking shoes. Armed with shoe in hand I flicked the pest off our bed and onto the floor where I proceeded to introduce it to its doom. A good 5 or 6 hard whacks later and it finally stopped moving.

I'm sorry to say I did not think about getting a picture of it at the time. All I wanted was for it (and every other bug) to get as far away from me as possible. However I did find a similar looking picture online. My apologies for posting something so hideous on my blog, but really you need to see it to know how gross this was. This... was in our bed.


Later on we read in our guidebook about these centipede's where it labeled them as an "aggressive predator". It also said if bitten the victim will feel excruciating pain for several hours, possibly as painful as a gun shot wound.

Eww and eww again.

I can handle bugs, but I can't handle them in my bed with me.

Queen's Bath

The first thing we did our first morning in Hawaii (just after slaying the aggressive predictor, post to come soon) we made the hike to Queen's Bath.

Queen's Bath is a unique ocean-connected swimming area in Kauai. It is positioned on the edge of a cliff and the "pool" is surrounded by igneous rock. The swimming area is accessible via a short trail. During the winter season, when the waves pick up, it is considered dangerous. Several people have died. When the surf is cooperating—usually in the summer months—the water is calm and clear. Views of the ocean and the rocky shoreline here are fantastic. Even when the surf is fairly calm, waves crash on the rocks shooting spray high into the air.
source.

The beginning of the hike looks so friendly. Just look at those nice stairs Andrea is standing on. This won't be too bad...


The nice friendly stairs quickly turned into a steep trail full of slippery mud with the fresh rain we'd had through the night and early morning.


As usual I was wearing the wrong shoes for such an adventure so I carried my cheap flip flops and went barefoot the rest of the way.





Once you get to the sign that keeps track of the number of deaths the muddy slopes turn into a rocky cliff.




A short way further down and finally, Queens Bath. It took us a little time to figure out the best place to scale the cliff down to the Bath, but once we did we jumped right in and enjoyed the refreshing water after that treacherous hike. The water was beautiful here. Every once in a while a wave would come and splash over the rocks into the pool.


The sign was right, it was a bit treacherous. And, as usual, we ignored it until after we'd returned triumphant up that muddy slope again. My feet paid the price for it that day. I made sure to have better shoes with me the rest of the vacation.

The Road to Hana

I still have so much more to share about my trip to Hawaii, so here's another little piece.

Once on Maui we decided to get up early and take the day trek out to Hana. Google Maps seems to think this will take about 2 hours. What Google Maps does not include is that the whole reason anyone wanders out to Hana is for all the stops along the way.

View Larger Map

Lucky for us Erica had her trusty guide book with directions for several cool things to see. Even where to stop and find the best homemade banana bread on the island (which we enjoyed at a little place called Half Way to Hana).

I considered buying a t-shirt that said, "I survived the Road to Hana" after our trek and here is why.



The majority of the road looks just like this. It does nothing but wind in and around the hill side. It's 15 mph (unless the curve is really tight where they lower it to 10 mph) with signs saying, "Honk around this curve" so others know you are coming. The road is narrow and has about 25 to 30 small narrow one-way bridges to cross.


Our first stop had us pulling off to a small trail, we hiked a short ways to find a beautiful waterfall.



We made several stops, but I'll keep it to the major ones or this post will be way too long.

The Seven Sacred Pools

This place was just a little ways after Hana (which we drove through and almost missed because we blinked). The Seven Sacred Pools is a beautiful place. There was a short-ish hike down to find a pool perfect for swimming so we dropped our bags and jumped in. The pool was nice and the waterfall fun to play in.

Homoa Beach

This beach was supposed to have the best body surfing, but I hear it's best if you go in the morning. We missed the morning and by early afternoon the waves were just a bit big for body surfing. I did enjoy the bigger waves until one managed to pick me up, bend me backwards and then slam me into the ground where I received several scrapes on my leg. As usual, I find a way to injure myself everywhere I go. :)

Red, Black, and White Sand Beach

I'm pretty sure this beach had a name, but I don't recall what it was. The sand on the beach is a mixture of red, black, and white sand which looks really cool.

Black Sand Beach

This beach is exactly what it sounds like.

The Road to Hana was a lot of fun, there was so much to see and not enough time to see it all. If you find yourself on Maui, it's a great day trip to make. But bring some dramamine if you get car sick easily on windy roads...

"W"

Tonight I did a lot of driving. Between all the driving I saw one of my all time favorite bands: Weezer!

They were fabulous, which was to be expected. One of my favorite parts from the show was when Rivers performed Island in the Sun on his own. The rest of the band exited the stage and Rivers started by playing some drums. He had the beat recorded and then looped. Rivers then added in the tambourine, recorded and looped as well. Then the bass, then the rhythm guitar. Then with a little help from the audience on the 'hip hip' parts he got the song going. The rest of the band did re-join half way through for the bang up finish.

I also loved that they ended their set with a cover of The Clash's song Should I Stay Or Should I Go. Perfect ending to a great show!



As a fun side note, I had a chance to meet up with a friend I'd not seen in years at the Weezer show. This is me with Lee and his new wife Carla. Lee and I served as missionaries together in California, he was one of my District Leaders and an awesome guy.

30

Today is my birthday. Or was as the day is just about over.

When I was younger I would always wait up late so I would know the exact moment it was my birthday. I don't mean when the clock strikes midnight, but at the same hour and minute I came into this world. I was born at 1:17am on September 7th in the Central Time Zone. I would then write a note in my journal for my birthday and go to bed.

Only now I live in the Pacific Time Zone. (Do a little math...)

Technically this means at the precise moment I turned 30 years old it was actually on September 6th at 11:17pm. Does anyone else think about things like this? No? I'm not sure which day to celebrate. So instead I spend the entire month celebrating.


I'm sure there is a better baby picture of me somewhere, but this is the one I found right off. My Dad and me in the Hospital the very day I was born.

Henna Tattoo's

It's vacation, so Erica and I splurged a little and got a Henna Tattoo each. Before you flip out, Dad, it's only a temporary tattoo. Typically they will last a few weeks, but mine was gone before I got back from our vacation.




Mine actually wrapped all the way around my arm. The funny thing is that I got a sun tan while the tattoo was still bold so I now have a faint tan line of the design.