I couldn't decide between these two photos, so here they BOTH are! Just soak in that beautiful water and sky.......
Sign telling us about birds we'd been seeing....
These red-tailed Tropicbirds were so beautiful! If you look at this picture full-sized you can see the sliver of a long red tail.
The Nene...the Hawai'ian State bird (goose).
We left Kiluea and headed on toward Princeville and Hanalei area. We stopped at this little fruit stand to try an ice cold coconut!
The lady whacked off the top and plunked a straw into it...Mmmmm! When we finished drinking it, she cracked it open a little more so we could scoop out the flesh. It was so yummy! We'd never had a 'young' coconut before and the flesh was sorta jelly-like and had such a light flavor.
I loved the little roadside sign! I need a lesson in getting things 'straight'...
We bought some other fruit there, a star apple (the purple one) and two different varieties of sapotes. Then we left and drove to a little shopping center where we spread the neatsheet on the grass and dug in...
The textures and flavors were unlike anything we'd ever had before and they were very good. The star apple was kinda 'plum-y like' and the sapotes had a pear texture. The lady at the stand told us the one variety tasted like "baked cinnamon pears" and she was right!
We wanted to get a shave ice at the shopping center, but the little stand was closed so we drove on. Then we passed a little trailer selling it (these things are all over, really!) and stopped to have our first Hawai'ian Shave Ice.....Macadamia Nut ice cream on the bottom with coconut and rootbeer flavors. We actually ordered coconut and COFFEE, but she put the wrong syrup on...it was still really good though, possibly even better than if she'd gotten it right!
This little house was across the road from the shave ice stand. A real bummer to have to live there, eh? Poor people...
Ahhh! Time to check-in at the Ranch!
We checked in, hit the bathroom (not literally, duh), slathered on sunscreen and bug spray, got all harnessed up including helmets and piled in with our group to ride to where our adventure started! Can you tell it was a windy ride?! And please don't nit-pick about my run-on sentence.....
Two lovers...in very unflattering harnesses!
Our guides, Drew and Tyler, giving us the run-down before our first (little-170ft) zipline. Drew said if we didn't like this first one, it was gonna be a long day! They gave us form techniques to go faster or slower, and told us how to turn, take off and land, etc. On every zipline one of the guys would go first so he'd be there to help each person stop (there was a 'break' they held/used) and unhook our harnesses from the cable. The other would stay behind to hook everyone on and then went last. It was a great system and I felt totally safe the whole time...even though at times I was flying through the air a hundred or so feet off the ground!
(Most of) our group.
Wheeeeee!
Uh, you're kidding me, right?! This bridge, spanning about a 60 foot deep ravine, was probably the least fun part of the day for me! The planks, not real wide and about a foot and a half between each one. Thank goodness we were harnessed in to the cable up top! And it swung like crazy! Oh, and Drew & Tyler said if we could cross it without using our hands we'd get a chocolate chip cookie at lunch time!
Havin' lots of fun! It was HOT though!
Eric leaving backwards......this particular one had a BIG drop-off from the platform and they said it's fun to go off backwards!
This was another one where we were given a challenge (with the chocolate chip cookie at lunch being the reward...hmm). See the tree on the ridge about halfway across? We were supposed to try to touch it... It sure was fun trying, but it's really tricky. Even the guides have only done it a couple of times. You have to jump off with a swing, keep the cable swinging and hope you timed it right when you get to the tree! Eric was the last one across before Tyler, and he got within a couple of inches!
Eric coming in for a landing...Drew there with the break.
Such a beautiful view....We never got tired of the scenery!
Drew asked if anyone knew what 'Okole' meant...I knew.......let's just say 'butt'. He said 'Hau' means 'creeping'......so in other words, this particular zipline was called 'Creeping Butt' and rightly so. The ramp on the other end was steep and the angle at which you come in, well.......let me just say this; he told us to land backwards and go ALL the way to the top of the ramp before standing unless we wanted an atomic wedgie! I opted out of the wedgie!
More of the beautiful view...
Tyler getting me all set....
After 8 of the ziplines we headed down to the swimming hole for a late lunch/early dinner and time to swim. (Oh yeah, and we ALL got chocolate chip cookies...) There was a small falls...I didn't get a real good picture though. You can see someone getting ready to jump in the water.... and someone getting out...
Photo op by the 'King Kong'--the last zipline and the most fun of them all! 1,200 feet long....tandem (so two could go at a time)!
Getting ready to climb the 26ft tower...I have to admit I was a little nervous!
Whew! That was really high! I'm checking things out and if I'm honest, doing just a wee bit of freaking out! First thing Tyler did was hook us to the rope on the cable...safety first cause it's a long way down! That's weird, it looks like I'm holding both my rope AND Tyler's!
See? The platform on the other end is just a wee spec!
Eric videoed our ride down....took us about 30 seconds! We were bookin'! What a fun day! Video at the end of the post...for some reason I can't get it right here where I want it.
After we left there (around 5:45pm), we headed on to Hanalei. We were thirsty for something COLD, so we stopped at a shopping center and walked around for awhile. We went into a store called 'Strings and Things' and bought an ukulele!
I love this little church...nestled in the lush, green valley...
A view of Bali Hai.
Then we drove on out to the 'end of the road' again...to Ke'e Beach....for the sunset. It felt really good to see the trailhead again and know we'd done that (day 3)!
God painted a beautiful sunset for us....and the colors in the picture don't even do it justice.
"Step into the water...wade out a little bit deeper...wet your feet in the water of His blood...Oh, step into the water...wade out a little bit deeper...come join angels singing praises to the Lamb of God!"
Mmuuuwah!
Check out the roots of these trees! Years of wind and waves obviously washed away the sand/dirt they are growing in, and yet they still stand tall!
On the way back to the Resort we picked up a hitchhiker. He didn't need to go far, so we didn't get much of a chance to talk with him. One thing I do know, he's searching for Jesus even if he doesn't realize it!
We got back to our room around 8:30pm and got swimming suits on before soaking in the spa and.....you guessed it, laying in the hammock! We almost fell asleep out there! Ahh, it doesn't get much better than that!
And that concludes Day 6 on Kaua'i!
Make sure the sound is on!
1 comment:
That looks amazing!
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