Tough to leave

We had such a great time. Everything was wonderful. Here are some pics from our last day walking the beach:

Surfing beach

Turns out that one of the best surfing beaches is off the main highway near mile marker 21. We only new about it because of the excellent guidebook we had. People just park on the shoulder and walk on a path to the beach.

The beach's nickname is Infinity because you can get long rides there. Here's a few shots of it.

Notice the people on the beach? There are none. Many of the beaches here have few people on them.

Two frogs hugging

That is the name of a store in Lihue, Kauai. Best name of a store ever. This statue was out front:

It's a home decor store.

Gecko

We heard some geckos but did not see one until the last day. Here it is:

Lighthouse and birds

We had the opportunity to visit a Lighthouse.
This is next to a wildlfie sanctuary.
There were lots of birds. Gayle took this shot through a telescope:

Kekaha Ward

We attended the Kekaha Ward today. It was their ward conference. Interestingly, on the fourth Sunday, Relief Society does their meeting in Hawaiian. This was the fourth Sunday so Gayle had a chance to sing the opening hymn in Hawaiian and hear the language for the prayers and opening. The lesson was in English.

By the way this is where we have been staying this week:















Here's our view:















Here's a sunset from the beach:

Wrangler Steakhouse

In the small town of Waimea, near we we are staying, we laughed when we saw this restaurant name: Wrangler Steakhouse. However, we actually ate there based on a recommendation we read. It was a delightful Hawaiian restaurant and we had a great salad and fish dinner.





























We had a special guest:















Here was our table out on the porch:

Weird Signs

Saw some unusual signs on the trip.
For some reason, all of the stop signs in the Windward Mall (Kanehoe) parking lot are blue:



















Here's a sign at the Marine Corps Exchange parking lot. It has a special parking space designated.















Do not feed the Hene. These signs are frequent.















This was on a post of a walking bridge over the Waimea river.



















On the north shore of Kauai there are 4 or 5 one-lane bridges. There are no stop lights, just signs like this one. It says: "Local courtesy is 5-7 cars."
















Check out the hours of this store:

Rooster Crowing

All over Kauai you see and hear hens and roosters. Apparently, Hurricane Iniki in 1992 destroyed a lot of coops so the chickens got out and they roam around the island. There's a great rooster crowing sound at the end of this video.

Spouting Horn

Here's a short video of Spouting Horn. It's a blowhole where water comes up but it also makes a sound. If you look at the water you might be able to see two sea turtles swimming. They are hard to see.

Tahitian Dancers

On Oahu, in Kanehoe, we stopped by a mall. While we were there a group performed some traditional dances from Tahiti. There were several groups of men and women. This group of little girls was the cutest. This was only their second performance.

Napali

The Napali coast is only accessible by boat or helicopter. Given our tendency for motion sickness, we chose to view the coast from a lookout that is near the Waimea Canyon. Here's a quick video of it:

River Adventure

We had a great river adventure on Thursday morning. We rented a kayak and paddled up the Wailua River and then hiked for a mile to Secret Falls. Here's Dad dressed as a banana next to our banana kayak! He loved being on the water again!! By the way, I pulled that kayak almost all the way back to the drop off site! Yes, I am strong!! It rained almost the whole way up the river but we stayed pretty dry with our hats on. At one point we ducked into the overhanging brush next to the bank to get out of the heaviest rain.

I quickly realized that paddling a canoe is very different from a kayak. I've never been in a kayak. Dad was giving me advice on how to paddle more efficiently, but I just wasn't getting it. About halfway up the river I realized what I was doing wrong! It is so fun!

We had to cross a stream on the trail. (The water was past my knees in some parts.)

Secret Falls:

We were the second couple to get there because we started the river around 7:20 a.m. We sat and enjoyed the falls and ate lunch and went into the pool to wade. As we were getting ready to leave, a lot more people came and we were happy that we got up at 5 to do this!!

Kauai

When you think of the islands you picture beaches and ocean. However, some of the best sights in Kauai are inland. Here are some shots of Waimea Canyon, referred to as the Grand Canyon of the Pacific:

Kanehoe 2nd Ward

We attended the Kanehoe 2nd Ward service on Sunday. It was a great experience. A lady in the ward gave us these leis to wear. [By the way, this is the courtyard area where we were staying.]

Bodyboarding at Bellows

The waves were better than usual at Bellow's Here's some video:

Laie Temple

We had a chance to visit the temple and visitors center.

Here's a cute display they had in the visitors center:

Pali Lookout

Still as windy as ever.

Red Hill

Well, they completely changed the housing. It was a shock. All of the homes have been rebuilt. Here's Hudson Circle now:

Here's the new home where ours used to be:

Joe and Paul's house looks like this now:

The country store is still there but is being remodeled. We went by Red Hill Elementary:

Barber's Point

Here's where we stayed:

Here's Gayle's pedicured toes (Marc is the yellow speck in the background):

The waves were a little disappointing but it was fun anyway:

The view was spectacular:

Boston's North End Pizza

The pizza is still great!