Sunday, November 04, 2007

Back to Hawaii: Day 6

Now that the weather is starting to cool off, I thought it would be a good time to finish posting pictures from our Hawaii trip... Ahh, the memories...

On Wednesday morning we headed to the airport early to catch our flight to Kauai. We sadly said goodbye to my brother and his family. They were such gracious hosts and tour-guides. It had been over two years since I had seen my brother and his family, so it was great to have five days to visit with them. However, I always hate saying goodbye as I never know how long it will be until our next visit.




One last picture of the mountains on Oahu. Kind of looks like Jurassic Park, don't you think?



After a quick 37 minute flight, we were off to explore Kauai!




Since we couldn't check into our hotel until later in the afternoon, we decided to drive to the north part of the island. Our first stop was in the small town of Hanalei. After some shopping, we stopped at this quaint little place called the Gourmet Deli for some lunch (and pina coladas!)




After lunch, we continued driving along the shoreline to Lumaha'i Beach. It was very secluded with only a couple other people there. It was absolutely beautiful. Here's Kim "striking a pose."





The waves crashing at Lumaha'i Beach... Looks like one of those motivational posters. :) By the way, this beach was the backdrop for the movie, South Pacific.



A few miles further to Wainiha Bay...



The entire drive around the north part of the island was on windy, rural roads. There were several one-lane bridges along the way.



There is not a road that goes entirely around the island. Once you get to the Na'pali Coast on the West side, the terrain is too mountainous for roads. You can only view that part of the island by water or air or hiking. Therefore, we had to "retrace" our route back. On the return trip through Hanalei, we took a picture of this beautiful church- the Wai'oli Hui'ia Church. I absolutely love the architecture of this building, as well as the colors.


Just outside of Hanalei was this National Wildlife Refuge.



These wetlands serve as a sanctuary for endangered Hawaiian waterbirds. From above, it looks like a field of assorted crops. However, those are all swampy areas filled with lily pads, etc to serve as a home for the waterbirds.




After our day of driving, shopping, and beach walking along the north shore, we headed to our resort to get checked in. The place was breath-taking! We were glad that we had seen so many sights that day, because after we got to the resort we didn't want to leave! Here is a picture of the main lobby.




The entire place had lagoons, small pools, and rivers going through it. After getting checked in, we headed to one of the bars for a cocktail. This was the view from our table. You can see all of the small swimming pools and hot tubs throughout the grounds. In the distance is the ocean. It was by far the most beautiful place either of us had ever been to. We were also pleasantly surprised by how uncrowded the place was. I'm not sure if it was due to the time of year or what. However, we never had any problem finding an empty swimming pool or hot tub. This was nice in comparison to some places we've been to in the past that were filled with screaming kids splashing around. Don't get me wrong- I love kids. However, there are definitely some places and times that it's nice to have some solitude.



Scot posing on one of the bridges at the hotel.



We ended the day going to dinner in a nearby town. The food was really good, but compared to the bill- nothing could taste that good! We had been spoiled by eating dinner at my brother's house for the rest of the trip. Everything is just so outrageously expensive in Hawaii. Scot and I had to suppress the tight-wads in both of us to just splurge and enjoy the experience. Afterall, who knows if we'll ever make it back to Hawaii again.

Thursday, November 01, 2007

Happy Halloween!

What was on the menu for dinner? Why, witch hands, green witch brains, and blood sauce, of course! :)


Andy was invited to a boy/girl party on Halloween night, so for some reason he opted to go there instead of hanging out with Scot and me. So we let Matt invite his girlfriend over for dinner. She lives out in the country, so they don't get trick-or-treaters. She was happy to come help pass out candy at our house. Here they are humoring me and enjoying their creepy dinner.

If you can't tell from dinner, I got a little more into Halloween than I normally do. It has been a couple of years since I've had trick-or-treaters, so I was looking forward to it this year. Scot helped me to get the house decorated, too. We turned our plant bed into a little graveyard and our walk-way lights into pumpkin luminaries.

Here's a shot of the front door. It's kind of hard to tell from the picture, but there is "blood" coming out of the glass in the door, and there are spiderwebs all over. The neighborhood kids really seemed to enjoy the decorations. Well, all except for one little girl who wouldn't come to the door because she was scared of the spider hanging from the light!


Hope everyone had a safe and fun Halloween!