Spring Break Camping

For spring break, Joey and I went camping (can you really call it "camping" when you're in a nice cabin?). Anyway, my hospital has a cabin in the mountains of Koke'e and we were fortunate enough to get to go there.  The sign says, "Wilcox Hospital Associate Retreat" and it truly was a retreat for us.

 We loved the cabin, which has three bedrooms and two bathrooms.

The living room has a nice fireplace and there was plenty of firewood around.

One of the bathrooms.  A little rustic, but the water was nice and warm and the toilets flush.

The view around the cabin is beautiful.  It's weird for me up at Koke'e because it looks a lot like the mainland and I forget I'm in Hawaii when I'm up there.

The road to the cabin.

Joey and I took a very ambitious hike.  We started at Pu'u o Kila lookout and followed the Pihea trail 1.8 miles to the intersection of Alaka'i Swamp trail.  It was cloudy but the view was amazing, from inside a cloud on top of the world.

You can barely see the island of Ni'ihau in the distance.

 Joey toward the beginning of our hike.

See the cloud behind us?

The Napali coast is simply breathtaking, whether it's clear or cloudy, but I was hoping it would clear up on the way back so I could get some clearer pictures.

There were ferns everywhere and I loved how they looked before the leaves open.

After the intersection with the Alaka'i Swamp trail, much of Pihea trail has wooden ramps to walk on, to keep you out of the swampy ground.

We walked FOREVER!

We came to a place that did NOT look even remotely like Hawaii.  If I had been blindfolded and dropped by helicopter to the place where this picture was taken, I would have bet big bucks that I was in Colorado or Utah, not Hawaii.  Joey got hot with his long sleeved shirt, so he put it on his head, then we made lots of jokes about terrorists,.

We hiked another 1.75 miles, thinking we were going in a circle and would end up back at the intersection of the two trails (my fault, poor map reading and poor planning).  Instead of reaching the intersection, we came to a parking lot.  Some nice French people were there with a map and we realized we had  gone way further than we intended to and we had to hike all the way back.  The entire hike ended up being over seven miles, hardly ever on flat ground but up and down the whole way.  There were many places where we were literally climbing up and down rocks for long stretches of the trail.

 The good news was that when we got back to the Pu'u o Kila lookout, the clouds had cleared and the view was beautiful.  You can't really tell where the water ends and the sky begins.  I wish the picture did the real thing justice, but it doesn't.

 

We were two tired hikers, believe me!  I had blisters on my blisters.  I couldn't wait to get in the car and take my shoes and socks off.

I was so glad the cabin had a nice shower and food and bed waiting!

Happy Birthday Dear Daughter

Once upon a time when I was still almost a little girl, I had a sweet precious baby and named her Angela, because she was such an angel.  When she was a tiny girl, she asked me once, "Mommy, why am I so special?"  The years since then have flown by so ridiculously fast that my little angel baby is now 31 years old and she is raising babies of her own.  Here are some of the reasons she's so special.

 She chose a wonderful man to be her husband and the father to her dear children.

She finds joy in the simple things in life, like a sunny day or a smile from her child.

She spends time with her kids, doing fun things, teaching them, loving them.

She has a sense of adventure and is not afraid to try things, like parasailing.

She makes the most beautiful grandchildren just for me to love (I know that's why she has them).

She keeps herself active and healthy.

She recognizes the beauty in the world around her.

She might not recognize the beauty in herself, but she is definitely beautiful!

She is playful and fun to be around.

She gives of herself tirelessly for her family.

I hope she knows how much I love her.  I'm forever thankful to Heavenly Father for sending this very special daughter to me.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANGELA!

Heavy Rains Force Evacuation Of Kauai Residents - Video - KITV Honolulu

Heavy Rains Force Evacuation Of Kauai Residents - Video - KITV Honolulu

Crazy weather we're having here in Paradise! We are safe and dry in our house on high ground but much of the island is suffering right now.

Good Friends Visit

We love having friends and family come to visit us here on the island.  Right now we are privileged to have our friends Danny & Joellen and their son Landon here.  Danny has been such a great friend to Mike and Joellen and I have discovered that we have MUCH in common.

 Here are Danny, Joellen & Mike on the beach.

We took a wonderful tour in a zodiac raft up the Napali coast.  That place is seriously, astoundingly beautiful.  I did not get pictures of the beauty of the coast because I didn't want to ruin another camera by getting it wet, but here are a few of the pictures that Danny took.  This one is inside the sea cave where a scene from Robin Williams' version of Popeye was filmed.

 The end of a waterfall that starts 4000 feet above and ends in a sea cave.

Here are the very wet but happy group:  Mike, me, Joellen, Danny, Joey and Landon.

More sea cave pictures.

Joey on the raft.

A tiny glimpse of the beauty of Kauai.

This boy was our skipper, brave and sure.  Here he is opening an unripe coconut.  The inside he called "spoon meat" and it was like coconut slime, but it tasted good.

We are having fun with our friends even though it now is POURING rain!!!!  We are praying for better weather tomorrow.

Some of the things that grow here.

 I've said it before, but I love all the things that grow here.  Most grow wild and grow everywhere.  My favorite are these trees with the red flowers.  They are so beautiful, I'm going to do a post only on them at some time in the future.  I think they are called African tulip trees, from my google research.

The yellow hibiscus is Hawaii's state flower and they also grow everywhere, as evidenced by this one growing in a parking lot.

Most of the beautiful flowers and plants here I cannot identify.  This looks like a Hawaiian orchid to me, but I'm not sure.

These are plumeria, which have the most intoxicating fragrance.

I cannot identify this, but I love it.

This little ground cover grows all over the place and some people don't plant grass; they just mow the natural ground cover to create their lawn.

 A big plumeria tree.

These are papayas growing.  I love how they grow from the stem.

Don't know what this is, but I like it.

Don't know what this is, but I like it.

I LOVE the palm trees!!!!!!!

Mike and I "putting out the vibe."

This is Hawaiian ginger.  There are several different colors of this that grow here.

Kids grow well here too.  See how big Joey has gotten?

LOVE the Bird of Paradise!

Mike of the jungle.