Hawaii-- Day #3

The sunrises here keep getting better and better!!

We ate breakfast and watched the sunrise to start off day #3. After our fabulous Honey Bunches of Oats and Pop tarts, we got dressed in our hiking clothes and set off for the West coast of the island.

Hawaii's version of "Harley Davidsons"!!

17 miles west of Kauai you can see the "Forbidden Island", Niihau. This Hawaiian island only allows visitors via helicopter and this island that has no roads, no phones, no power lines, no hotels, or restaurants. The 150 residents who live on the island are Native Hawaiian, speak the native tongue, make livings by fishing or farming, they don't pay any rent, they live without electricity and travel by horses or bikes (no cars allowed). Simple life!!

This is the first view we had of Waimea Canyon aka the "Grand Canyon of the Pacific". We got there just as the early morning mist was lifting from the peaks. You know those moments when you're in nature and it literally takes your breath away? Well, we had several of those moments the week we were in Hawaii and this was definitely one of them. We pulled over on the side of a very windy 2 way narrow highway to ge this photo. Probably not the safest, but it was too gorgeous to pass up!

Then we stopped at the best lookout point you could get without hiking anywhere. When we walked up, there was the most amazing peace all around us. There were several people there taking pictures, admiring the view, and it was completely silent. If anyone did speak, it was done in a whisper. The magnificence demanded silence. It was weird and beautiful all at the same time.

We didn't want to interrupt anyone's meditation so we just snapped a picture of ourselves!

This is what we hiked. We started where I'm standing (taking the picture) and we hiked all along the rim of the canyon and (almost) all the way over to the peek in the upper left corner of the picture.

Here's John on the trail... It was beautiful and slick and the views were amazing. You can see the trail above his head at the top of the picture. On the right of us was this view...Spectacular!!

And to the left of us was this view... Don't fall off!! There were not rails anywhere. Notice the rainbow? No photo shop or anything... isn't that cool?!?

Our attempt to get a picture of both of us when there's no one around to take our picture: Hang the camera on the branch of the tree, set the self timer and smile... Here's what we got :)

Since we were hiking through a rain forest, it was very muddy. We got rained/sprinkled on several times throughout the 2 hour hike.

The end of the trail gave us the widest view of the entire Na Pali Coast. Is was fantastic to say the least!!
You couldn't tell where the ocean ended and the sky started. It was the most beautiful blue I've even seen.

On our way back down the trail we both biffed... pretty hard! John fell on and broke his sunglasses.

We came out much more dirty than we entered, but the views were way worth every slip, fall, and sore muscle!! Luckily we had beach towels in our trunk to sit on so we wouldn't ruin our rental car (a gold Hyundai Electra).On our way back to our hotel, we stopped at all of the "look out points" we drove past on our way up to our hike. This is the Grand Canyon of the Pacific... also known as Waimea Canyon.

Strike a pose!!

My handsome hubby!!

I told John I could probably sit here for at least an hour and still not get enough of the view. It was unreal.

Hang Loose Baby!!

Of course we had to do at least one kissy picture!!

On our way back we saw the famous Jo-Jo's Shaved ice. They were the perfect treat after a long hike. I got one with Macadamion Nut ice cream on the bottom of the shaved ice. Yummm

Don't mind the dirt under my nails!

Our next stop on was to Bass Frog Shop to rent our snorkeling gear. I told John I wasn't going to snorkel because of my terrible fear of underwater views but our coupon was rent one get one free so we were forced to get 2. While we were there the worker renting us the stuff handed us $100 cash and said it was ours if we sat in on a time share presentation. Is $100 worth 1 1/2 hrs of our time?... we agreed to meet with someone Friday morning.

After 30 minutes of sitting on the beach all by myself while John snorkeled, he came on shore to persuade me that snorkeling would 1) be really fun 2) be totally worth it and 3) help me conquer my fears of underwater views. As long as he promised to stay close to me THE ENTIRE TIME I agreed to give it a try. After the hyperventilating, fear, and shaking was over I am happy to admit that I actually liked it... a lot more than I thought I would (which was zero). I may have completely bitten through my mouth piece because I was so tense and biting so hard and nervous and scared... BUT hey, I did it, right? We snorkeled at Poipu beach right next to the snorkel shop and saw the most amazing fish AND we saw a sea turtle. It's an amazing world we live in. My testimony of the creation is always strengthened after days like these. The amazing canyons and the beautiful fish... there is a God who gave us such a beautiful earth to live in!! He is real, that's all there is to it.

We stopped by the hotel to ask the bell boy "Where do the ;locals eat". He warned us that is was a hole in the wall, but it has real, authentic Hawaiian food. We agreed, that's exactly what we were looking for. The name of the place was Ohana Diner and it was owned by a large Hawaiian family. They had a sign on the door said they're "open until closing, the food runs out, or we tired." It was awesome. The thing we were actually going to order -smoked meat bowl- (based on the bell boy's suggestion) did run out. So, we ordered the waitress's suggestion..."The Dream Meal". We left happy and satisfied :)

Clockwise starting with the purple stuff:

Poi-- a staple food with a very chalky texture that is made from the root of the Taro plant (which is everywhere)

Blueberry Cheesecake-- made daily by the grandma of the restaurant

Chicken Long Rice-- very interesting clear noodles with the texture of jello

Beef Stew-- warm and delicious. I was still in my wet, cold swimsuit so it tasted very good to me.

Lomi Salmon-- pico de gallo but with bits of Salmon in it

On the main plate was a ball of rice, a bowl of macaroni salad and pork. The pork on the left is called Laulau cooked wrapped in the leaf of the Taro plant and the pork on the right is Kalua Pork, slow roasted, pulled pork that is super tasty and delicious.

We left there completely stuffed, headed to the hotel and soaked in the hot tub, and shortly fell asleep anxious for our next day of lounging on the beach and snorkeling in between!!