I arrived on Kauai later Monday afternoon and Kristin was waiting for me at the airport (she arrived Saturday).

It’s been a bit blustery – windy and kind of cool so we haven’t spent a lot of time outside taking pictures yet… (we’re here for another week, so no rush….)

But we have been gorging ourselves on chocolate covered macadamia nuts. And socializing with our “friends” – the pairs of crested cardinals that we delight in every time they arrive on our lanai. We also enjoyed watching a family of little doves in Hanalei. The babies were so little and cute following mom and dad around.

Michelle, the next photo is for you. I call it “Bologna and Cheese with Waterfall”

Wish you were here enjoying one with us.

Santa delivered me to Salt Lake on his sleigh this year.

At least I think that’s what happened – I went to bed in Seattle and woke up Christmas morning in Salt Lake.

A bow on the door led Emily and Marie to open it and see what Santa had brought. It made for a fun surprise.

The camera is not my friend first thing in the morning.

Jennifer prepared a fabulous meal (I have no idea how she keeps the kitchen totally clean the entire time she prepares the meal… I’m thinking it must be magic.)

Brandon expressed his anticipation for his move to Costa Rica by donning a tropical shirt. They are becoming ‘Location Independent‘ and moving there in less than a week – you can read about why and how they are doing it on his blog.

Ashley and family joined us for dinner and visiting for the rest of the day (and I didn’t take any pics!). But the girls had a blast together. And I got nauseous when I attempted to play Mario Cart with them.

I joined Ashley and family for the next couple of days. Kennedy opened her gifts from me on Christmas night. Justin had to work a graveyard shift at the hospital, so after Kennedy went to bed, Ashley and I stayed up for hours and played on their new Wii. I suck at Super Mario Brothers, but at least I didn’t get nauseous. And I bowled pretty good…. Wii is fun.

Oh – did I mention that it’s been FREEZING here? Not as cold as forecast (3 degrees at night) but still pretty damn cold. These are the frost crystals that form on Ashley’s kitchen window. Cool, huh?

It snowed a bit and I slid all over the road – even in a 4 wheel drive Tahoe. OK, not all over the road – just down the hill, but even so I did NOT enjoy it. But I had to venture out to have a meal at Cafe Rio…

And the Salt Lake Valley inversion has been horrible. I am finally seeing a little sunshine today! I hope it lasts…

But the frost crystals – very cool.

And to finish up, a few more pics of the granddaughters….

Tonight, I’ll be helping out with Ashley and Justin’s New Years Eve party.

How was your Christmas? What are you doing for New years?

I just watched the first episode of a wonderful new PBS series called

National Parks – America’s Best Idea

Did you see it?

If not, I highly recommend catching it as it replays this week – and tuning in for future installments.

The National Parks: America’s Best Idea is a six-episode series filmed over the course of more than six years at some of nature’s most spectacular locales – from Acadia to Yosemite, Yellowstone to the Grand Canyon, the Everglades of Florida to the Gates of the Arctic in Alaska.

It is also a story of people: people from every conceivable background – rich and poor; famous and unknown; soldiers and scientists; natives and newcomers; idealists, artists and entrepreneurs; people who were willing to devote themselves to saving some precious portion of the land they loved, and in doing so reminded their fellow citizens of the full meaning of democracy.

The scenery is spectacular and will make you want to pack up and visit every single national park in this beautiful country. And the history and stories behind the parks’ creation is inspirational.

What are your favorite national park(s)?

Any great memories from the first time you saw Old Faithful, a giant Sequoia, glacier or waterfall in a national park??

OK, back to Kauai for a post or two.

There is a wide variety of landscape on Kauai – farmland, forest, beach, mountain, rocky cliffs, red dirt….

And even though we know it’s the tropics, it is always quite surprising each time we come upon areas that are “jungle.”   

One of my favorite jungle spots is on the north side of the island, along the stretch of road just south (west?) of Kalihiwai bridge.   The picture to the left was taken right next to the road, on one of those famous “Kristin, stop here!” excursions… 

On this one, I believe she actually tried to (jokingly??) enlist the help of a local cop to get me to come back to the car…. didn’t work : )

Oh, there is a more famous stretch of road on the south side of the island (shown here on the right) – actually known as “Tree Tunnel.”  And it is rather impressive, especially since it has had a chance to fill back in a bit after Hurricane Iniki in 1992.   Man, that hurricane wreaked havoc on the island…  

CHICKENS!!!!   (inside joke)

But even though Tree Tunnel is more famous, it simply can’t compare to the tree canopy covering the highway on the north shore.  This stretch of road simply takes my breath away every time I see it.

There is even a beautiful waterfall right along side the road. Nowhere to park nearby, so we roll down the windows to see and hear it each time we pass. Next trip I think we should commit to park and make the trek down the road on foot to walk across the bridge and take pictures.

The day was rather overcast, and it is hard to see how dense and green the jungle is without some sunlight filtering through – but these giant vines growing up the grees are beautiful and impressive.  Thanks again, Kris, for humoring me and my camera…

And this last picture is from the jungle area near Ke’e beach at the end of the road on the north shore.  When Ashley and I stepped into this forest, it was an incredibly surreal, unnatural looking green.  I’m not sure this picture can even capture how green it was – felt like we’d just stepped into the emerald city and even we were green.  

Of course Ashley tried swinging on a couple of those vines, but it didn’t work…

Kauai is known as the Garden Isle – for good reason.

Here are some of the beautiful (and sometimes strange) flora we have encountered…

Hibiscus is everywhere.

I love Bouganvilla… particularly this salmony/pink color. But the deep fuschsia is awe inpiring as well.

Bouganvilla creates fantastic bursts of color along the roadside, climbing walls, pruned into trees, arching over walkways.

Plumeria is just coming into season. We continue our quest to find pink plumeria blooming on a low enough branch to photograph…

I LOVED this funky looking blossom below… we found a tree covered in them. I believe it is called Ohi’a Lehua.

It looks like it belongs in a Dr. Seuss book, doesn’t it?

Along with a bottle brush tree.

(weird, huh?)

This tree looked like it was covered with big yellow rananuculus.

There are many red ginger plants around, but I prefer the pink.

An orchid growing in a plumeria tree.

I love blue flowers…

OK, enough for tonight. Tomorrow is our last day in paradise….

Yes, we’re still in Kauai.

Visiting Kauai with Kristin is awesome – she knows all the hidden away little waterfalls, best places to view waves, which beaches offer the best sand or most privacy.

Yesterday she drove us to these beautiful falls.

I’ve taken a lot more photos, but haven’t had time yet to sort through and post them… I will as soon as I can.

Today the girls had surf lessons in Hanalei Bay. They had a cute instructor named Teva.

(Chris, I thought of you when I caught a glimpse of him shirtless…. you would have oggled and drooled )

The water was quite rough, but they did great! They even rode their boards all the way to shore a few times.

Kris and I watched from the pier, cameras in hand. Ashley may add some video to her site.

Hawaiian Surfing Adventures supplied the sunny yellow rash guards – which was a good thing, because those boards are rough on the skin. All that climbing on and off, kneeling and standing… both girls’ knees are raw, and they have blisters on the tops of their toes. Teva recommended aloe vera.

But it was all worth it. If the waves look good, they may go back out for a few hours on their own tomorrow or Monday before we return home.

Today’s pictoral essay is about sea maidens and sea monsters. 

I happen to fall into both categories with this shot….  a sea maiden (sea wench?) creating a simulation of a whale breach. 

We actually have seen whales off shore – but no full breaches yet.  Except by me, in the pool.
 
 
J’Neil was attacked by a terrifying snorkle monster at Anini Beach.

And a 6 eyed sea monster tried sneaking up on Ashley in the pool.

Ashley the mermaid rejoices upon discovering she has legs. Heretofore, she had been bound to the watery depths by her fins.  

Isn’t magic wonderful?

Side note: I’d like to be able to believe it was magic that created her toned body, & that I could get some of that magic for myself… but alas, it is not magic, but hard work.  Like pilates at the beach.

I think I’ll go eat another chocolate covered macadamia nut.

Kristin the mermaid is enjoying playing in the falls.

Some lovely water ballet performed by J’Neil and Kristin.

And finally, J’Neil the mermaid posing on a rock by the sea…

This sleek lizard looked pretty cool poised on his leaf.

And on every one of my last four trips to Kauai I have tried to capture a good photo of these adorable cardinals. They are SOOO cute, make us very happy each time they appear – and they always show up in pairs. Always. Today, I finally got my first good pic of the Red-Crested Cardinal.

And why did I even bother to bring a hair straightener?

I should have known that 15 minutes in Kauai would turn my once sleek hair into an unmanageable lions mane.

Just call me Mufasa (Ashley did…)

I’m exhausted… so more tomorrow.

Be sure to check out Kristin’s blog for details of our lei making.

Today I’ll let the images tell the story.

Well, with a little explanation.

I was a pain in the butt today.

Insisted that Kristin drive down dirt roads (many with DO NOT ENTER signs). She was very patient and humored me.

At the end of one such road, we discovered a very cool old cemetary – all the headstones were in Japanese – some from the early 1900’s.

After another night of mesmerizing rainfall, the waterfalls were just as captivating as the day before.

Every time we looked at the mountain ridge, we’d spot another fall that we hadn’t noticed before.

It’s incredible to think of how many feet these falls plummet, and the volume of water rushing through the several rivers that lead to the ocean.

On our drive to Haena Beach park, I again insisted on stopping so that I could photograph this lovely field of blue flowers. Ashley was particularly fond of the horses.

Across from the beach is the Dry Cave. Pretty cool….

The day was mostly overcast and rainy – but the sun did come out for awhile, and we took advantage of it.

Ashley and J’neil played in the water, posed and we all built a sand castle.

Until it rained us out.

And we’re all jealous of Ashley’s abs….. though she’s the only one who does a half hour of ab-tightening pilates every night before bed…..

My final photo demand of the day was a stop at the taro fields on the wayhome…..

More tomorrow………

It’s been a long day – up before 6am (make that 5am when you figure in the daylight savings time difference), and nearly 7 hours on airplanes – an hour at Walmart and Kmart picking up necessities (including swimwear) but here we are, on the beautiful island of Kauai. 

As we flew over Oahu, the water was brilliant blues and aquas.  

From Princeville, and especially Hanaeli, we can see over a dozen waterfalls cascading down the mountain ridges.   There area always 2 – 3 visible, but when it rains (as it has been) more appear.   This one is the largest.

Our condo is lovely, and the bed is calling….    more tomorrow!