Kauai, Hawaii

Almost a month has passed but don't worry, I'm still going to tell you about my quick trip to Hawaii.

Ryan and Lauren lived (yep, already past tense) in Kauai but decided to move to South Carolina (big change!), so I rushed out to visit them real quick while I'd still have a free place to stay. (Because come on guys, Hawaii is expensive!)

I arrived on a Friday night. Lauren's birthday, in fact. They picked me up at the airport and gave me a lei! I had always wanted to be greeted with a lei in Hawaii, so that was pretty exciting. We stopped by their place so I could drop my stuff off, then we went to a park at the beach where their friends were throwing Lauren a birthday party. (Unfortunately Hawaii doesn't do daylight savings time so even though I arrived at 7:30pm it was too dark to see much of anything.)

A lei with real flowers! (Nevermind they may have stopped by the hotel where they worked to get it. Also, in case you're confused about the daylight outside the window, I took this photo on my last day there, just to document the lei I was about to throw away.)

Saturday we all took Tess on her morning walk, then the three of us went to the farmers' market for lunch. I also got a popsicle. Then we took the scenic route to a river, stopping a time or two along the way at overlooks.

Lucky dog.

Cute kids.

Waterfalls!

At the river we met up with another friend of theirs, then went paddling! Ryan and Lauren rented and shared a canoe, while I used the other guy's extra stand-up paddle board. I'd never been paddle boarding before and spent the first little while on my knees, but eventually I got up. Paddling on a river in Hawaii felt so adventurous. Then we pulled off the river and hiked a mile or so to a really neat waterfall. Hiking to a waterfall in Hawaii also felt very adventurous. We took a dip in the watering hole before hiking back to our boat and boards. Then we paddled a little more down the river to check out the Fern Grotto.

The Wailua River, where we boarded. (Look carefully and you can see kayaks below.)

After the adventurous Hawaiian paddling and boarding we needed a snack, so we grabbed some poke (raw fish salad) at the store and drove to a beach to eat it. Not gonna lie, it wasn't my favorite. I hear it grows on you. After that we went home to clean up, then went to dinner at the vacation rental a friend of Lauren's was staying in with her family. They made some pretty great fried tacos. And their place had some pretty nice beach views. After dinner Ryan and Lauren went to another party with friends in honor of Ryan's leaving. But I was too tired and had just seen all those strangers the night before, so I went home to watch a little TV with Tess and go to bed early.

Sunset dinner.

The next day Lauren had to work, so Ryan and I hung out. He showed me around the hotel where they worked, including the resident nenes. (The nene is the state bird. It's a Hawaiian goose.)

Nenes!

Then we had some lunch at Da Crack before heading to a botanical garden. We also stopped by Spouting Horn on the way to see water spouting out of rocks.

Spouting Horn

We did the guided Allerton Gardens tour. It was pretty neat. I got a ton of bug bites though. (Luckily they didn't itch much after we left. I was worried I'd never be able to sleep because of all the bites.)

Trees that were in the movie Jurassic Park

Look how big they were!

Lobster Claw Flowers

Edge of the Allerton Gardens property

Sunday night we went to the luau at the hotel where they worked. It was pretty fun. Their co-worker friend (who also worked with Ryan in Utah) joined us.

Cheers!

I ate all of this. Plus some more. And dessert.

Fun show.

Photo op with the performers.

This guy juggled flaming knives. He looks pretty intimidating with his tongue out. Others of us, not so much.

Monday we woke up early and headed to a nearby town to take a catamaran snorkeling trip! We were on the boat for half the day, riding along the Na Pali Coast. The three of us sat in the front of the boat. As in, I was right there in the very front of the boat. When it got a little choppy it felt like being on a roller coaster, going way up in the air and then falling back down. So adventurous. At one point they stopped and unfurled the sail so we could sail a little too.

Sail boat selfie!

We saw lots of spinner dolphins and a few bottle nosed dolphins and several sea turtles. I also saw some flying fish, which I thought were pretty cool. They look like little birds flying just above the water. Eventually the boat pulled into a quiet spot and we all got out and snorkeled. I'd never been snorkeling before and it took me a little while to get used to going under without fearing I would get a snout full and choke. It was also weird to only breathe in and out through my mouth.

Ryan's ready for action.

We snorkeled for about 30 minutes. I swam above a couple sea turtles, which was pretty neat.

Fish!

Another snorkel boat like ours.

Na Pali Coast!

Say cheese.

After the snorkeling we got to eat hamburgers on the boat for lunch, and they started serving beer. The three of us went up top and sat with the captain for the ride back. Having a crew member come up to give us warm cookies and cold beer was pretty awesome.

After we got back on land we drove to see the Waimea Canyon, the "Grand Canyon of the Pacific." It was impressive. We stopped a few times at different overlooks.

Ryan was followed by a cloud of bugs that bothered him. I thought it was funny.

Then we kept driving into the Koke'e State Park to Kalalalu Lookout. Pretty darned beautiful, and neat to look down to where we'd been on a boat not that long ago.

On our drive back home we stopped on the way to eat shaved ice. There are lots of places with shaved ice on the island, and this place (JoJo's) serves theirs over ice cream. Delicious. When we got back to the house I took a nap while they went out to meet friends for another beach birthday party. Then when they came back for me we went out to dinner.

Tess would join me in bed each morning. Apparently she spent the nights passing between their room and mine, just to check on everyone. I love Tess.

The next day was my last day, but my flight didn't leave until the evening. It was also Ryan's last day living in Kauai, as he booked the same flight with me to the mainland. I told them I couldn't go to Hawaii without actually going to the beach though, so we went to Poipu Beach, near their house. Lauren chilled in the shade on a towel but Ryan and I hopped in briefly. The water was so clear!

Poipu Beach

Then we drove to their hotel, where they'd reserved a cabana at the pool for us. It's a pretty impressive pool scene, with a lagoon, a water slide, a lazy river, and some other pool we didn't go in. But before the pool time we ate some fancy nachos.

Hotel lagoon.

A pistachio shell sighting! I know it doesn't look like it, but that thing is under water. I spotted it immediately when I stepped into the lagoon, and of course had to go back for my phone to take a picture. You're welcome.

Water slide by our cabana. Yes we went down it.

After some pool time, which was sadly not as long as desired, we had to leave in order to get showered and finish packing. Then we went to dinner on the way to the airport. The airport part was really sad since Ryan and Lauren were saying goodbye to each other for a month while Ryan headed to South Carolina (via California and a drive to New Mexico, then on to the east coast) to start his new job and she stayed behind to finish up her old job. I know they're both excited about moving, but they also had a fun time living in Hawaii for a little while. With good reason, since Kauai is so neat.

So that was my trip. Short and awesome. I'm super happy I got to go while they still lived there.