hawaii

On new years day my family and I set out for a 2 week vacation on the island of Kauai. We are all so busy now, so it was great to spend some QT with the fam. We did some amazing hikes...

and watched the Ags play in the Cotton Bowl.

We went to the south side of the island to visit "sea glass beach." They used to crush all their glass and dump it off the shore of this beach. All the glass rolls around in the sand and finally makes it to the beach rounded, frosted, and fabulous. I collected some of my own and am still looking for a small bottle to display it. 

My favorite hike was a long (8 miles, round trip) to a waterfall. We climbed over rocks, up and down steep inclines, lost the trail, crossed many rivers, stopped at a hidden beach and ate lunch, found the trail, and finally arrived at a 300+ foot waterfall tucked away in the cliffs of the Na Pali coast. Unfortunately, we forgot to put the SD card back in the camera that day, so the picture quality isn't that great, but I do have a video of my dad, brother, and I swimming in the pool. Please excuse my clumsy and painful less than graceful entry and exit. It would be safe for you to assume that waterfall pond rocks are very slippery, and that waterfall pools are freezing.

Right now it's whale season in Hawaii, so each morning we sat out on our balcony and watched for whales. Mostly we just saw their "spout," but we did see a few breaches and tale splashes--pretty awesome/crazy, which can also be used to describe the entire trip. Maybe I'll move there and study volcanoes?