7 Days and 7 Nights in Hawaii

Sometimes I still can't believe it.

Even when I was there I couldn't believe it.  Hawaii is one of those places you dream of going someday --like Alaska, Becky ;)  And I was there, and I saw one of the youngest ecosystems on the planet, compared to the really old one I came from here in Utah.  It was all so much to take in.  Hawaii.

Several people told me Kauai was the island to see for scenery, and that was definitely true.  It was really beautiful there, with so many amazing beaches, as well as fun little communities, gorgeous waterfalls, and trees and plants that were so interesting.  I don't believe I really got a decent picture of the trees out there, and that makes me kind of sad.  Truthfully, I have a few regrets about things I didn't manage to see or do while we were there.  I guess that will just be my motivation to get out there again.  And I certainly did manage to take several pictures--almost 600, although several are action shots of Britt surfing; so, after I delete half of those, the number is probably around 400.

Just a few of those pictures:

 

These guys were hilarious.  They were playing in some pretty big waves.  Actually, they had the lifeguard pretty nervous, especially since Britt wasn't wearing his swimsuit, so he didn't know whether or not Britt could swim.  The lifeguard said swimmers have broken their spines when hit by a pretty massive wave.  Apparently, one year when Jeff and Alisa were in Hawaii, they spent a bit of time in the emergency room, because he broke his collarbone playing in the waves.  So, we definitely believe in the power of strong waves.

It was a little bit ironic that after telling us the story of Jeff visiting the emergency room on a previous trip to Hawaii, we ended up taking him to the dentist on Martin Luther King Day for an emergency root canal.  That guy doesn't seem to have the best luck when traveling.

But it gave us an opportunity to view this lighthouse--such a gorgeous sight (yes, this is the same lighthouse I posted earlier, just a different picture of it)

An interesting cave

The real flowers look just like the fake ones you can buy as souvenirs 

At A'ni'ni Beach, Britt took me snorkeling

 Aren't we a cute couple?

I didn't know if I would enjoy snorkeling.  It seemed like it would be awkward.  I hate swallowing sea water, and all that.  But it was actually really enjoyable.  I had a few moments when I took my mask off and ended up with a ton of salt water in my eyes, but if I hadn't messed around with the mask, I probably would have been fine.  Britt is a stronger swimmer, so I held onto his ankle and he pulled me along.

For a long time, we were just looking at sand and a little bit of coral, with a few tiny fish.  And then suddenly, we were swimming right over a sea turtle.  It didn't seem at all bothered that we were following it.  We swam directly over it for quite a while.  Then, we decided to head back, and we came across another sea turtle, just hanging out below us.  That was a pretty awesome experience, I thought.

One of the nice things about our trip to Hawaii is that we had no set agenda, no list of things we had to do.  We had a few things we were interested in doing and seeing, but there was no pressure or rush to do any of it.  We just mostly went with the flow, and that was really nice.

And every other moment, Britt and I would say to each other, "Our kids would really love this."  Some day. . .