Hawaii Trip (Part 3) Go to bottom of page for more Hawaii pics

We made a stop at the north shore to see the big waves! It's hard to tell by the picture but there were 15' waves breaking. We noticed there were cameras filming a group of surfers. We later found out that it was ESPN, and we heard that one of the surfers later may have broken his neck. Scary! There were signs all over that said enter at your own risk. That was enough for us to just watch from the beach.

Directly behind the water was a huge cliff. It was amazing to be able to take a picture of the waves, then turn 180 degrees and take a picture of a beautiful cliff. At the bottom of the cliff was a huge cave that we all walked through.
Us walking into the enterance of the cave. It was huge. It went back a few hundred yards and opened up into a huge room.
When the last surfing attempt in CA didn't go so great for Dave, he vowed to never try it again. This time, because of his rashguard, things went a lot better!

Dave surfing at Hanalei Beach.

Hawaii Trip (Part 2)

Kauai was so much fun. We left our two kids at home and went over there with Marisa, John, Candice and Bryant (Sarah's parents and sister and brother in law) Bryant grew up on Oahu, so he was a nice guide to have. We rented a van and drove around the island a few different times. The scenery was unbelievable. We could not believe that we had just left a foot of snow, with more on the way. For us, it was like a second honeymoon. We had such a fun time together. It was a bit hard not having the kids with us, but in a way it was also nice just being the two of us. Dave purchased a Hawaiian music CD from a vendor at the grocery store. The artist's name is Israel Kamakawiwo`ole, or "braddah IZ." We listened to the CD everytime we drove in the car, which was most of every day. We constantly joked how everywhere you looked the scenery looked like a postcard.
John and Marisa at the northshore beach outside of Hanalei Bay.
The hula dancers at the luau. We both were asked to get up and shake it with the dancers. We also both looked rediculous.
Dave and Sarah at the Kilauea Lighthouse. We saw a few whales and boobies here. (Boobies are just birds)
We definitely want to go back to Kauai. It was paradise. Hopefully one day we could get another group together and spend another week, or longer. When we picked up the rental car, the agent asked us if it was going to be hard to leave for home. He told us that he came on vacation 20 years earlier and never went home. After spending the week there, we understood why.

Hawaii Trip (Part 1)

(Before you read, you have to click play on the mp3 player to hear 'Bradda IZ'... just to get the full effect. )

In late January of 2008 we went to Kauai, Hawaii on vacation. We flew out to San Francisco on a Friday night and stayed with Candice and Bryant, Sarah's sister and her husband. We woke early to catch a 9:00 AM flight on Hawaiian Airlines. As we approached the ticket counter, we noticed huge lines for every other airline, except Hawaiian, which had no lines. There were a lot of people looking at us with our shorts and t-shirts and probably wishing they could trade places with us. We landed in Oahu and had a three hour layover. We hurried and caught a bus to Pearl Harbor. We wished we would have had more time to see the many museums. After spending a little over an hour at Pearl Harbor, we caught a taxi back to the airport and then flew over the island of Kauai. Kauai was incredible! It was so green and beautiful. There were large, green mountains in the background with waterfalls that formed from the rain. Sarah and Dave standing over a look out point just outside our condo. We were able to see whales and even a sea turtle.
Dave and Sarah at Ke'e beach. This was our favorite snorkeling site. We saw a lot of tropical fish.
Every day it would rain, but just for a minute and it would be gone. You can see the rain in the background.
Dave and Sarah at Wailua Falls.
Sarah and Dave standing over the lookout point of the "Grand Canyon of the Pacific" It was a lot cooler up here than down at sea level. It also could have been the Hawaiian shaved ice we had just eaten. Mmmm.