finally . . . vay cay cay . . . part 4

Okay, here's the final (l-o-n-g) installment of the big trip . . .

Thursday morning we woke up early and drove to Waimea Canyon. Not everyone went on this outing . . . Den, Jo and kids stayed behind (Den & Jo had to listen to their condo spiel) and Jen and Jake didn't make the trek either. It was a long, windy drive to the "Grand Canyon of the Pacific". Tom tried to convince me that we don't have to go see the "real" Grand Canyon now since we've seen this. Not happening.

We stopped by a fruit stand (my Dad called it a fruit "table") on the way home and got some yummy "lady finger" bananas (they are teeny), coconuts, pineapple and melons. Tom had fun cracking the coconut when we got back to the condo.

Tom trying to pierce the coconutCoconut milk, anyone?Trying to crack it openThat was a lot of work!We ate lunch by the pool and then went snorkeling at PK Beach. Snorkeling was one of my favorite parts of the trip . . . it was the first time for both Tom and I . . . wow! If you want to come over for a sandwich and stay awhile, I can tell you all about our snorkeling adventures . . . getting leg cramps in the water, losing a contact, kicking Tom in the face with my flipper, getting in and out of the water . . . but I can't do it justice on here. Let's just say when I was trying to get out of the water, Tom was yanking on my arm and telling me in a very stern voice, "Get up, get up . . . people are staring." I looked like a beached whale . . . I'm not kidding.

She's going in . . . this was before it got uglyTom used Mom's disposable underwater camera to get some pictures of the fish Thursday night we went for pizza and ice cream and did some shopping Eating ice cream and shopping at Old Koloa TownTom's new "slippers" (that's what they call flip flops in Hawaii)
Tom and I got up early, early Friday morning to watch the sunrise, but it was too cloudy. We went snorkeling again . . . I had it figured out by now . . . well, still not the getting in and out of the water part, but once I got in the water, I just stayed there. Everyone else got in and out multiple times, but I just floated and floated and snorkeled and snorkeled . . .

Watching the sunrise
We ate lunch at Puka Dog and then went out for a nice dinner at the Poipu Broiler since it was our last night.

Tom and Dean by the Puka Dog menuAfter dinnerDen and Tom . . . what a pairSaturday morning we went to Shipwreck Beach (the cliff scene in 6 Days, 7 Nights was filmed there), went for one final swim in the pool and packed up.
My Dad . . . traveling in styleOne last look around the condoOur last swimRight before we left . . . the jeans were because we were going to be on planes all day (and night) long Tom and I had to leave earlier than everyone else to catch our 14 different flights (slight exaggeration). When we got to the airport, the lady noticed that we were flying to Kona (on the big island) and then back to Honolulu and then to Seattle. She was trying to be nice and save us some time and cut out the Kona leg of the trip . . . but after her working on it for over an hour (and me getting very nervous about not making our plane) she figured out she couldn't make it work. She had to escort us through security and we walked right onto our plane, without a minute to spare. From Honolulu to Seattle we flew through the night (we left at 10:00 p.m. and got to Seattle around 6:00 a.m.) I don't even remember taking off, I was asleep so fast.

Waiting in the Kona airport . . . it was tiny and all outsideThe end of a fabulous trip!I can't say enough times how much fun we had on this trip . . . of course, being in Kauai was beautiful and amazing, but being with "our peeps" was the best part of it.