Kauai

This may be the longest post of pictures ever.....

We left Saturday a.m. and arrived late afternoon on the island. First stop on Kauai: Walmart. Ashley forgot his hiking shoes so we had to go straight to the store. He bought $14 athletic shoes that lasted (just barely) the whole hike.

Kauai! Isn't it beautiful! Wait, we're at Walmart,  do'h.

Our air BnB the first night near Poipu

A BnB way up in the hills. The other side had gorgeous ocean views. We didn't have ocean view, but it felt like we were in a tree house.

 The first afternoon we went into Poipu and walked around, grabbed a bit to eat and beer at a restaurant and watched humpback whales and the sunset. Not a bad first evening on the island!

The next morning (Sunday a.m.) we got up early to drive to the North shore to start our hike along the Napali coast.

Hiking in - 5 miles in or so

Steep drop offs to beautiful blue water. 

Beautiful although treacherous. We saw humpback whiles in the water around here.

Narrow trail on the cliffs. I HATED this part. You can see me just off center on the trail.

That is BARELY a trail and you would definitely die if you slipped. It was also VERY VERY windy here. I was shaking the whole time. I'm apparently more afraid of heights than I knew.

But it pays off with beautiful views! This photo must be as we are approaching the last couple miles of trail.

Steep Napali cliffs

We arrived around 5 or 6pm, were wiped but immediately set up camp. Beautiful view from our campsite.

Morning view from tent. We didn't have sleeping pads and the ground was hard, but we were both beat from the hike, and with a waterfall behind us and the sound of the ocean on the other, we slept surprisingly well.

Beautiful source for fresh water. We did a lot of filtering here.

View of our campsite from the ocean side

Cosmic Aloha : )

The naked residents swimming for their provisions the boat is dropping off!

We had all of that day to just chill, rest, and explore around the beach. Since there are so few people back there,  this is the only photo we have of us together!

Ashley relaxing in the hammock

We had a guava tree over our campsite. Yum!

Sunset wave show. So beautiful

Sun almost set....

The photos don't do it justice - the waves were going crazy, it was really beautiful.

Hiking out the third day - good bye Kalalau beach!

Had to hike those dang cliffs again, ugh!

Ashley and pretty mountain views

When we got off the trail Tuesday afternoon, we went straight to grab fish tacos and a beer in Hanalei and then to our VRBO in Anahola. We showered, grocery shopped, ate and slept like rocks.

The next morning we snorkeled at Anini beach - saw lots of fish and swam with sea turtles! That part made my trip. : )

In the afternoon we toured a beautiful botanical garden

Stopped at a farmer's market in Kapa'a to make dinner - mountain apples, lumquats, avocado, cilantro, tomatoes, papaya, pineapple and limes. We also picked up different types of poke - we at poke every single day. That and the kahlua pig were my favorite foods.

Ashley eating breakfast on "our" beach : )

"Our" bay that the VRBO was on - drank coffee and walked on the beach every morning. Going on walks around our neighborhood in Portland is so uneventful now : )

Ashley taking a break on the surfboards in Hanalei bay

"Queen's Bath" near Princeville. GORGEOUS clear water. It really is a huge pool fit for a queen.

I didn't get any pictures of us swimming since I didn't want to get the camera wet, but some folks came along right after us and I got their picture. We had it to ourselves for a bit, which was awesome. The pool is at least 7 feet deep and so clear. Huge waves come in and fill it up over and over again. Tons of beautiful fish swimming around in there.

Ashley's Walmart shoes get one more use: We used them in place of foam when mounting the surfboards to the roof when we went to return them. The shoes went in the garbage after this, but I'd say Ashley got his $14 worth out of them : )

Our little rental with the boards on top

View from our VRBO bedroom window. Good bye beach, sun and crystal clear blue water! I swore we'd plan for another vacation of this type next winter : )

Random this week

We laid low this weekend since we were in Bend the previous weekend and leave for Kauai this weekend. Four days till we leave, woo hoo!

Started packing, cleaned, caught up around the house and worked on some crafty projects on Saturday:

I've started needle felting with the fleece we got from Dave and Nora's alpacas.
Here's a little mouse and an owl (that only has one eye so far). Am going to make a group of little woodland animals as a baby shower gift for our friend Jami who is due in June.

This one will be a nest with three little eggs - thought I'd make a bunny and chick to go with it as a springy/Easter decoration. Heather - it reminds me of your nest necklace : ) 

Bottled a batch of limoncello from Fritz and Susanne's lemons.

Found this jadeite butter dish at a resale shop. I've been looking for an antique jadeite piece that I like for a while, so excited.

Embroidered a tea towel as part of a wedding shower gift for our friends Bryce and Heather (he's from CA, Heather is from AK. You all probably met Bryce at our wedding - he's a childhood friend of Ashley's that lives near us). Needs a wash to get the wrinkles out, but its pretty much done. Can't wait to see some of the embroidery Mom has been doing!

Sunday a.m. I went for a hike with girlfriends (we go the last Sunday of every month) and out for dim sum afterwards.

So much good food! This is the dumplings course (this is Haylie in the picture - Mom and Dad - you've probably met her at a kickball game or Dad, she was at my bday party last year).

Long weekend in Bend

I had off work Monday for President's Day, so a while ago we reserved a yurt in a state park near Bend to spend the long weekend in some snowy sunshine.

We left Saturday morning, stopped on Mt. Bachelor to do some classical cross country skiing on trails, and checked into the park late day.

Home for the weekend: sunny yurt porch on Saturday afternoon

Bunk bed inside yurt. Its pretty sparse: there were the bunks, a table and chairs, a futon and coffee table and that's it. It had heat though, which was definitely needed. The days hit the 50s, but nights were in the 20s. We cooked hobo dinners over a campfire that night and crashed early since we were tired from skiing.

We went for a morning dog walk with our coffee along the Deschutes river Sunday morning
 (Heather - it still cracks me up that you said Deschutes sounds like "the runs" in French - so true!)

Later Sunday morning we headed up to Mt. Bachelor to ski. My insanely dorky skate ski outfit cracked Ashley up so much that he took a picture. I use my skate ski boots, skis, etc that were my 14th birthday present : ) Also, notice the BIG snow drift in the background - Bachelor had tons of snow, it was great.

Ashley loves it when I take his picture.

This is the groomed skate ski loop at Bachelor. The peaks in the background are the Three Sisters - Ashley and I climbed one of those peaks over Labor Day weekend around 2006 - our first backpacking trip together : ).

And my circa 1994 skate ski boot finally bites the dust - I was leaving pieces of plastic on the trail behind me.

 After skiing we grabbed some beers at a brewery in Bend, showered back at the campground, and headed to see Life of Pi in 3d at a theater. I loved the book years ago, and really really enjoyed the movie.

Monday morning we made breakfast at the yurt and headed on the road back to Portland early. We stopped at  Smith Rock for a leg stretch and to wander around. Its a famous rock climbing spot - can you see the climbers on the wall? They are INSANE. I could never do that in a million years.

Smith Rock with Black Butte in the background.

Better photo of climbers on the face of the cliff. 

Got back to Portland Monday afternoon in time to grab a late lunch near our house, unpack, clean up and get some stuff done for the week. It was a really nice long weekend and felt great to escape the pea soup of Portland for some sunshine!

Also, lets see, Deb and Dave were married in 1995? So this is your 18th anniversary?!? Holy cow. Hope you enjoyed celebrating! XO