The Honeymooners

We met Kristen only a week before she married Kevin, so we were thrilled to have the two of them to ourselves for the week and a half after their wedding. Kristen's family had Kauai timeshares, so we only had them at our house for one night, but we had plenty of time to hang out, get them sick, and direct them to our favorite Kauai destinations.

They were both so sweet and hands-on with Zachary. Zac was diggin' it.

Kevin braved some big Brennecke's waves. He'd come out of the water looking like he was going to die, then smile big and go for it again. He caught some stellar rides.

These two were not overly lovey-dovey, although every time Kristen pointed out something and called it pretty, Kevin kept dropping lines like, "You're pretty." Very appropriate for these adorable newlyweds.

We went to Hanalei for the day the Saturday they were in town. Zac probably had the best time, getting thrown around and playing "knock the boys into the water with a simple touch of my hand." Kevin also caught a few waves on a surf board, but was so far out that we couldn't capture them with a camera.

Kristen and I never made it to 20 in a row, but we were getting close.

My fav shot from their trip:
Waiting for Duke's and some Hula Pie:Their last day, we went up Waimea Canyon for terrific views and a few minutes of hiking. We were lucky--clouds were rolling in and we almost missed the clear lookout. We capped it off with Jo-Jos, and then spent the rest of the day looking for Kevin's wallet. Never found, but it turns out you can get on a plane without ID.

Sporting Kev's shades.

Love you guys. If you ever want to feel good about yourself, just invite these two over. You will never hear as many compliments on your cooking and hospitality, however meager and simple.

The Kalalau Adventure

We finally did it! We hiked the Kalalau Trail in its entirety--11 hard miles there, 11 hard miles back. We spent 3 days, 2 nights, and most of our stamina, but we loved it. Our good friends Matt and Megan joined us on the adventure. We made arrangements for the kids and we were all smiles at the trailhead. Notice Karen's enormous pack.
We have hiked portions of this trail several times, but the color of the water along the Na Pali coast is always breathtaking. At one point we could see a pod of 26 Spinner dolphins jumping and twirling 200 feet below where we were standing.

We all had a bit of anxiety for mile 7. This portion of the trail is known to be a little dicey--narrow trail, steep cliffs, and loose rocks. If you look closely at the picture below you can see a couple of hikers hugging the cliff wall, gently making their way forward. I affectionately named this portion of the trail "Trechor".

Can you spot the trail? Here's a shot of Karen, Megan, and Matt carefully making their way through Trechor. I've determined that this was a calculated risk. Had it been raining, we would have turned around. The weather was good, the trail was in good shape, and we all felt comfortable making our way through Mordor...um, I mean Trechor.As soon as we made it to mile 8 we were rewarded with this view--the beginning of Kalalau Valley. Notice that Karen and I switched packs. There is slight possibility that I miscalculated the weight distribution of our packs. Karen hiked the first two strenuous miles with the heavier pack. Once I reevaluated at mile 2 we made the switch and the hiking was much better.

A trail favorite was the tropical fruit trees in abundance. Had I known I would have packed less food. We splurged with guavas and oranges, and sampled a tart passion fruit. Karen especially likes guavas.

We were thrilled when we made it to the sign. Our smiles quickly faded when we realized we still had a mile and half from this point.

At least we could see our destination. Kalalau Beach is located on the right of the picture below.

We dragged in to Kalalau Beach around 3:30 pm. The beach was beautiful. We were tired, dirty, hungry, and thirsty. Our tents went up quickly and we collapsed on the warm beach for an hour--a perfect remedy.
I almost thought my legs were tan until I washed off in the ocean. I wouldn't have liked the tan line anyway.

Our efforts were rewarded with a beautiful sunset. Filled with Easy Mac and jerky we were ready to turn in and get rested for the next day's activities.

We woke up early excited about the adventure of the new day. We first explored the Kalalau Beach area. Matt and Megan enjoyed a morning stroll. This beach comes with all sorts of amenities....

... a refreshing mountain shower,
...high class restroom facilities (you have to hold it on Tues, Thurs, Sat, and Sun),
...and a variety of entertainment such as sand mounds. Isn't Karen so graceful? Karen and Megan graceful together.

Matt and I had other ideas. Look, an abandoned kayak?! Does it still work?

I saw a glowing green light coming from the center of the cave, but left my wand back home so didn't worry about it. The kayak floated just fine, but there were no paddles.

We did, however, find a better way to propel the kayak.

Another neat thing about Kalalau Beach is the caves. These are only accessible in the summer/fall.

A highlight of our adventure was Honopu Beach. The only way to access this beach is to swim from Kalalau Beach around the cliff to the sandy shore. It is illegal to land a kayak or boat on this beach. Our guide book states that this "is the most beautiful beach in all the islands, maybe in all the Pacific....There is none finer. Period." I have to agree. We made the swim in the morning when the ocean was calm. We were the only ones there. I couldn't bring the camera so the pictures are taken from a distance.

If you look closely you can see an arch in the distance on the beach. The arch is about 80 feet tall and is a passage way to a beautiful secluded waterfall.

In the afternoon we took to the trail again making our way up to the Kalalau Valley.

The destination--Big Pool. Matt tested the waters without hesitation.

We also found a new flower we had never seen before. Any ideas? It is the flower that blossoms from a passion fruit vine.

We arrived back at camp in the late afternoon. The ocean looked inviting and we needed cooling. Karen and I body surfed for nearly an hour. This was our backdrop.

The sunset proved to be even better than the night before--and so did dinner. We broke out the canned food (that's right, Matt packed in canned stew, pork & beans, and black beans). We also cooked up some Top Ramen that never tasted so good.

We all ditched our camp that night and slept on the beach. Well, almost. It started sprinkling at 3:00 am and we had to finish out the night in the tent. I'm convinced that sleeping on the beach adds time to your life. It was serene. We packed up early the next morning and began our journey home. Matt and I convinced the women that walking sticks were absolutely essential for this kind of hiking. They believed us on the way home.

We made it back to our car 2 hours faster than our hike in to Kalalau. It came with a price, though. We were parched and famished. The first stop was a grocery store to load up on Fuze and Powerade. The next stop was famous Scotty's BBQ where we reloaded on protein and fries. It was a perfect end to a perfect adventure.