Kauai

Jacob and I took a wonderful trip to Kauai July 3-11. We stayed on the east shore for 3 days, followed by 5 days on the south shore where we met up with our friends Britt and Jerry. Kauai turned out to be a beautiful island with very diverse land regions, ranging from the ocean to dry desert canyon to lush green rainforest. We were very active on this trip and participated in many activities including hiking up to the top of the "sleeping giant's" nose and in the Waimea Canyon, snorkeling at "Tunnels Beach" at the far North Shore, a fishing charter trip for Jacob and Jerry, a helicopter tour of the Na Pali coast (that you can only reach by boat or helicopter) and the canyon/crater, a kayaking trip up the Wailua River to a hidden waterfall and rope swing, boogie boarding and of course lounging by the ocean and pool with a Mai Tai in hand.
Sunset at the Beach House Restaurant on Poi Pu, where we enjoyed an excellent dinner. And I just had to show a picture of the fabulous drinks:)









Your ink blot test of the day. This is the "Sleeping Giant" mountain. Look closely and you will see the outline of the giant. The point near the left top is either his ear (if he's laying on his side) or his nose/chin. We hiked to the top of the ear/nose which was an elevation of 1000 feet. We had an excellent view of most of the island.
Jacob wants to enter this picture in a Corona commercial contest. All we need to do is insert a bottle of ice cold corona on the hood of the jeep and we're set.
The Wailua River, where we later kayaked. Jacob taking a shower in the waterfall pool.
Could Jacob just look at the waterfall from the bottom like everyone else? Of course not, he just had to climb through the forest so that he could stand at the TOP of the falls! Hiking in the Waimea Canyon with Britt and Jerry.
Boogie Boarding in the surf.
Jerry and Jacob's catch of yellow fin tuna (yes, they caught all of those). We BBQ'd up some on our last night there and it was delicious.
Jacob, Devin, Luca (our pilot) and our lovely helicopter. There are NO doors on this beast and it's awful windy up there and a bit bumpy, and a word to the wise from Devin...if you get motion sick at all then a helicopter trip might not be your cup of tea. As beautiful as it was from the air, Devin prefers to stay on land for her sight seeing. Pictures from the air follow.