Canyon Fever

Day two in paradise was spent at Waimea Canyon. Kauai seems to have many different habitats from mountains to plains to beaches. It really is an amazing place to visit.

We woke up at 6:45 to the sounds of two guys talking right outside our window. Sadly, it was not Matt Lauer or Chris Meloni, but instead the two workers who it seems, weren’t told there were guests who had checked in. Since 6:45 is actually late for me, I started the coffee and got online to check the blogging world as the trade winds gently blew through the house.

We lounged around after a grueling evening of watching Project Runway. Three hours of eating blueberry muffins while planning the day’s events.

Larry and I drove to the canyon around 10 am. We wound through the narrow roads for about an hour before we had to stop and hike. With my love of heights, it was just perfect that I was on the side of the car with the 5000 foot drop. We pulled over several times for photo ops, usually ending up with very much the same photo shot that we had taken two miles back.

My favorite spot along the ride was the red clay falls. The contrast of the soil and the water was amazing. The canyon exists in the middle of this island paradise as if it were natural for every type of (type of location tropical, plains, beach) to be located on one island.

We eventually made it to the end of the road where we had to walk 1.5 miles to Kalalau lookout. After about 30 minutes (hey, they were tons of hills), we made it to the major viewpoint of the Na Pali coast. This is the location of such movies as Raiders of the Lost Ark and Jurassic Park.

The view was breathtaking with the sun shining on the water below and clouds covering the very tops of the peaks. We paused to take in the beauty. “Look how gorgeous it is up here. It’s like Gorillas in the Mist … but without the Gorillas.” Henry David Thoreau could not have said it better.

We continued down a clay path that eventually turned into a heavy duty trail with that created natural steps. After about 5 minutes we stopped and got our picture taken. It wasn’t until I turned the camera around to look at the photo that I realized we had both worn blue shirts and tan shorts. I pointed out this fashion faux px to Larry. He didn’t seem to think it was a problem.

“My shirt has a collar and you’re wearing cargo shorts,” he says. Clearly I was mistaken that people would think we dressed alike.

Larry decided to stop and I went on for a few minutes and then stopped. The winds picked up and it finally started drizzling. There were a number of other hikers beginning to venture back as well so I turned around and shouted back “Time to go…I’m getting moist.” Let me say that the cliffs can really echo statements that sound funny in my head, but not so much as 40 hikers listen in.

We headed down and grabbed some lunch. Then we finished the day soaking at the beach. Dinner tonight will be supplied by our favorite two guys; Ben & Jerry. (Again, Matt and Chris seem to be missing the boat.)

***BTW, bear with the postings. The WiFi seems to be sporadic.