Kauai with Mom & Colleen 5/6-5/7/07 (video)

5/6/07 - 5/7/07

I loved Kauai so much when Johnny, Lish, and I attempted to hike the Napali Coast in February that I couldn't wait to share it with my Mom when she came to visit! Colleen flew to Hawaii for graduation so we invited her along to share in the fun!









We started off checking out a little bridge...I don't quite remember why, but we had fun! (no surprise there though!!!)








We then headed to one of the local beaches and enjoyed playing in the tide pools and the protected cove.




Next stop, the Kauai Canyon (Waimea Canyon). Many people refer to it as the Grand Canyon of the Pacific! It is 10 miles long and 1 mile wide. When you are standing at its rim you almost forget you are on a tiny island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean!

















There are chickens EVERYWHERE on Kauai and my Mom was obsessed with getting pictures of them, but they are fast little buggers and it proved to be more difficult than we had originally though!












Even though there were so many chickens, there were signs for the Nene...an endangered bird that lives on the islands...












Finally we made our way to the Kalalau Valley lookout point (this is the place Johnny, Lish, and I were attempting to hike to during our muddy, washed out, February trip). The only way to get there is to hike in, or if the waves are not too huge, which during most of the winter months are gigantic, then by boat. A group of people set up residence and some have been living there since the 1970's...kinda of a little hippie, tree village from the stories I have heard, but I have no first hand knowledge - YET! Someday I will get there!!!


Then we headed back to our tent (yup, I had my Mom camping too!) to rest up to kayak the Napali Coast!

5/7/07

Unfortunately, when we got to Napali Kayak bright and early - Nope, take that back...it was EARLY - in fact, it was well before any glimmer of bright! Anyway, when we go there we were informed that the swells were still too big to venture out. BUT Ivan, the owner of Napali Kayak and a GREAT guy - originally from the Chicago-land area actually, was nice enough to let us take the kayaks to Hanalei Bay and up the River. So, we still got some kayaking in!





After kayaking, as I was loading the boats back up on top of our mini rental car, my Mom got some great snap shots of Hanalei Bay...





Once we returned the kayaks we decided to brave a bit of the Napali Coast...even without the mud it was a bit of a mission...and Colleen, not prepared for hiking, decided she would rough it in her flip-flops! Well, lets see how that turned out for her...watch the video below (bottom left)!