Hawaii Day 11 Thanksgiving Day

We spent Thanksgiving Day in Hawaii.  The night before Jared and I watched Jurassic Park, we knew that Jurassic Park was filmed on Kauai, so I did a little research to find where we could go to see some of the film sites.  I found out there was a road very near to us, that was perfect for jeeps - yes that is what is said on the web site.  So I didn't have to do too much persuading to convince Jared and Dave to do the drive.  We had so much fun testing the limits of the Jeep.  These pictures do not do our adventure justice.

 At the end of the trail we found this beautiful stream and little waterfall.  If we had the time we could have spent another seven hours hiking two miles deeper to the blue hole - one of the wettest places on earth. Maybe next time :)

Can you see the cement pole in the middle of the picture - that is all that is left of the main entry gate for Jurassic Park, but hey, we were there. :)  The drive was so much fun, full of joking, bumping, splashing, and surfing. :)

 At 1:00 we met at Wyn and Dee Ann's condo for Thanksgiving lunch - a turkey and potatoe casserole. :)  Then we dressed for a boat ride and luau.

 The boat ride was relaxing and beautiful.

 The boat took us to the fern grotto, another beautiful site.  I am amazed at the beauty of Hawaii.

 We had a little bit of time in between our boat ride and the luau so we took all the others part way to the Jurassic Park trail.

Then we were able to go into the park and tour the grounds before the luau.  It was beautiful.  Oh what would it be like to have a 30 acre garden.

 

The dinner was wonderful, complete with kalua pork, and turkey. :)

And the show that night was beautiful.

Wyn with the fire dancer. :)

That was our last night in Hawaii, it was a wonderful way to end our trip.
On Friday we had a bit of time before our red eye flight, so we went back to Anini beach to snorkel with Jodi, Megan, Ann Dee, Wyn and Dee Ann.  I am SO glad we did.  I really hoped to see whales or sea turtles while we were in Hawaii, unfortunately we were a few weeks ahead of whale season so we didn't see any, and our three previous snorkeling outings didn't have any sea turtles.  Fortunately we saw two different sea turtles at Anini beach, it was AWESOME!! 

Our trip to Hawaii was wonderful, so many great memories made.  Hawaii is beautiful and the people are very kind and friendly.  I love the warm weather, sunshine, and beaches.  That being said Hawaii is not my paradise, Utah is.  When I compare pictures of our hikes during October and the pictures of our trip to Hawaii, I love them both, but the pictures of Autumn in Utah are the ones that sing to me.  Jared on the other hand is all about Hawaii.  We will have to agree to disagree on that one and simply look forward to lots of tropical vacations for Jared.  I do love Hawaii and hope to visit several more times.  Brandon and Grant seem to think we can and should take them to Hawaii right now, if only. :)

Special thank you to Wyn and Dee Ann for providing our accommodations, and affording the PCC and Smith Family Luau.  We would not have been able to go otherwise.  Special thanks to my parents and Natalie and Kevin as well for taking great care of our boys while we were gone.  Our boys had a great vacation as well, just spending time with family.  Mom took them to the Natural History Museum, the new Shiels store and swimming.  Natalie treated them to Thanksgiving dinner with the Wieler family and Chandler's birthday party.  The boys were so busy and entertained they didn't have time to miss us, too much. :)

Hawaii Day 10

Wednesday was a busy day for us.  We went with Dave and Jill exploring, just to see what we might find.  We found this 52 foot Kilauea Lighthouse first, I love lighthouses!

 Then we happened upon this beautiful beach, which we latter found out was Anini beach. 

 It was a beautiful white sandy beach, very quiet!

 Then we stumbled upon a rice plantation.  I have never seen one, it was beautiful, especially with the towering mountains for a back drop.

 After our exploring adventures, we went to our zip line tour.  We decided to spend the extra money on the Zip and Dip adventure.  It was a lot of fun, though not as exciting as we had hoped it would be.  It was fun to travel over several zip lines and see the beautiful landscape.  But I must admit I was hoping for a thrill, and the ramps that we jumped off were a little too mellow.

Dave sporting his fancy GoPro camera - can't wait to see the videos ;) hint, hint.

This bridge was a bit of an adventure, very wobbly.

 

Mid way through the tour we were able to stop at this little pool for a swim and some lunch.  You had to jump into the pool from above the waterfall which was a bit scary, but fun, and the water was refreshingly freezing. :)

 The last zip is the King Kong zip, you had to climb this ramp to the top, and then you could jump holding hands for a 1200 foot zip.  That was definitely the most fun of all of the zips.

 It was a very fun day.  Made even more fun, because in the nearly 12 years of marriage Jared and I have never really done anything with Dave and Jill, just the two couples.  It was a lot of fun to spend a full day, hanging out with them getting to know them better, and creating great memories.

On our way home Jared and Jill bought coconut drinks. :)  Super Fun Day!!!

Hawaii Day 9

On Tuesday we made the drive to the other side of the Island to see the Grand Canyon of Hawaii, Waimea Canyon.  It really does look just like the Grand Canyon, beautiful!

 Following the Drive we visited Opaekaa Falls, very pretty, but disappointing when you can't get any closer.

Hawaii Day 8

Monday was our first full day in Kauai, we spent it resting, doing very little until the afternoon when we went to the beach for more snorkeling, and playing.  We were amazed at the chickens and roosters everywhere in Hawaii - everywhere.  I wanted so bad to get a picture of a chicken crossing the road, but I was never fast enough with the camera.  I did however get one of this chicken who thought our towels and flip flops looked interesting. :)

Ann Dee had a great time covering Megan in sand, Megan had a great time too - sort of :)

Jared did boogie boarding, and had a great time doing it. :)

 This was the view from our balcony, delightful!