KAUAI DAY 4

I slept terribly the night before, so Alan found me passed out on the couch around 8:30 a.m. We kicked off the morning with breakfast at the condo (a huge money saver, btw), and then read up on hikes in Waimea Canyon. Everything we read said to go in the afternoon when the light was better, so we took our sweet time getting out the door. First we hit a mess of traffic in Kapa'a. Then on our way through Lihue we stopped at K-Mart to see if they had a Kindle in stock, and to buy a larger SD card for my camera. I looked for shorts since I was woefully ignorant in my packing this time (six dresses and two shorts was a bit disproportionate), but didn't find anything that was worth standing in line for. Then we got lunch at L&L Hawaiian BBQ - strangely good back home, terrible here. By the time we made it to the Koke'e Museum to talk with a park ranger about our hike we were about two hours behind schedule.

Now, about this hike. Before coming out here we read up on several and decided Waimea Canyon had the best options for me. Several options under 4 miles, all rated either easy, moderate, or moderately strenuous. I can tackle these. Based on what we'd read we had picked a hike called the Canyon hike that would take you to a waterfall. We talked with the lady at the park and she gave us the downlow on said hike. Basically, it would have us walking along a four foot wide ridge at the top of the canyon with a straight drop down to your death on either side. If you slipped, you were doomed. You've all seen my recent spate of bruises. I slip, a lot. I am what is known as a klutz. We had to call an audible and do a different hike. Before that though we drove out to the Kalalau overlook - just outstandingly gorgeous. Unreal. There's a hike you can take there as well that takes you out through the valley but there was a lot of wet red mud and again, majestic drops to your death. And apparently my fear of heights is just getting worse and worse. I was trembling being as far as three feet away from the edge for the pictures you'll see below. That said, these are some of my favorite pics of me from this trip so maybe fear makes for better pictures.

After a short hike (more of a mildly strenuous walk) through a Koa wood forest, we found a nature loop that had you overlooking the red striated canyon. Just gorgeous. We walked it, took pictures, and then hopped in the car. On our way down the mountain we picked wild guava (something that had been on my list to do since a fruit stand lady said, "oh yeah, they're everywhere this time of year - you can get 'em on the side of the road"), and then drove down to Salt Pond Beach to play in the water and watch the sun set.

We drove home another 2.5 hours in complete pitch black, winding up at Kalypso for dinner. We'd gone in 2008 and had a really great meal. I ordered the same thing again but they seemed to have changed their recipe. Still good, but slightly odd with the addition of olives and cheese.

Came home, showered, and promptly fell asleep. And spectacularly, I slept through the night! Hooray.