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.

OK, back to the travel log.   I think that this leg of the sisters’ Olympic roadtrip was my favorite. 

As we turned off of Hwy 101 and up the road toward the falls, I said – “I really hope we see rays of light coming through the trees….”

And not 15 minutes later, we rounded the bend and saw this.  

Cool huh?

Of course another abrupt stop, in the middle of the road, was in order.

When we arrived at the trailhead, a group of young scouts was just coming back, leaving the area nearly empty.  I think we only saw 3 – 4 people while on the trail – it was perfect. 

The falls are very beautiful, but the .8 mile (each way) trek to get there was as enjoyable and memorable as the falls themselves.  The path was simply enchanting, and I wish that we’d stopped to take a few photos of the trail itself.  We thought of doing so on the way back, but were both in urgent need of the restroom so couldn’t take the time

Along the trail there were a couple of charming bridges and several babbling brooks. 

One in particular was covered with mossy stones.  Kristin was very patient as I obsessively took photos from a dozen different angles (I hauled my tripod on for just this purpose).   Because we were in the dry season, there wasn’t much flow in the stream – I really want to go back in spring when the water is cascading over the even more brilliantly green mossy rocks, and take a hundred pictures.

This is a hike/walk that most anyone could handle…. this is going to be on my “must see” list whenever I have visitors.  Michelle, Chris – you guys need to make another trip up here!  Kathleen and Ashley, you too.  

To see more photos of Sol Duc trail & Falls, click here

After spending a couple of hours in Hoh Forest, Kristin and I decided to head to the beaches for the late afternoon, and hoped to catch a colorful sunset.  First up was Ruby Beach, about 25 minutes south of Forks. 

We were relieved (no pun intended) to find a rest room in the upper parking area….  until we got within about 10 feet of it.  Man, it was stinky But we used it anyway. 

We could hear the roar of the ocean as soon as we got out of the car.  I love that sound. There is a quarter mile trail to get down to the beach, and the first switchback gave a breathtaking view.   

And as we walked further down the path I spotted a bald eagle just before it landed in a VERY tall pine.   Even with my telephoto lens, this is as close as I could get, and not very crisp.  He sat there looking cool and posing for my camera for a good 10 minutes. 

The haystacks (big, off-shore rocks) were amazing – close to shore and very interesting.  I decided to shoot them in a way that got as many of them in as possible…..  took a bunch from this angle below.

It wasn’t til I was sorting through them back at the hotel that I noticed the rather unfortunate placement and prominence of the one the right.   It just looks very erect if you know what I mean.  It’s just a bit embarrassing.

We decided to see if we could make it back to First Beach in La Push before sunset. After a reluctant 2nd visit to the restroom/outhouse in the parking lot we sped north, wishing we had Edward Cullen to drive us at break-neck speed.

We arrived a little before dusk and had the beach to ourselves. Kristin scoured the beach for colorful rocks while I took pictures of big foam blobs the waves had left on the sand. The sky was pretty grey, but we were rewarded with some pink before it got dark.

For more pictures of the beaches, click here

After the sunset, we returned to Forks and stopped at the Forks Outfitters – combination Grocery and outdoor store.  They had a big display of Twilight books and a bunch of clever Twilight t-shirts and sweatshirts on sale.  Several businesses in town had signs like “Welcome Twilight Fans” and a clever motel’s sign said “Edward Cullen never slept here.”  Kristin got a picture of that one : ) She was reading book 3 at this point I believe…..

Next up – Sol Duc Trail & Falls….

    By the way – my hummingbird was back again today. 
    It’s getting COLD here!  He needs to fly south!

Day 2 of the sisters’ roadtrip took us first to:

Hoh Rain Forest

In the first “oooooh!” moment of the day, the sun turned dew drops on gossamer moss into sparkling diamonds.  It looked magical to me. I have a bit of a fascination with moss.  In fact, Kristin probably lost track of how many times did I said, “I love moss” as we were walking through the forest.    I think we also confirmed that I love living in the northwest.  It’s just so beautiful here.

It’s a good thing Kristin loves taking pictures too, because I think most people would have wanted to slap me upside the head for all the abrupt stops I made along the side of the road to capture a picture. I think she may have wanted to as well 🙂

One advantage to being there in the off season in the middle of the week (besides the ridiculously low motel rates) is very little traffic on the road to the forests. Which was good since I developed a habit of stopping in the middle of the road, as there was no pull off.  

There were also very few people walking the trails, so we had the place nearly to ourselves.  It was a beautiful, sunny day which really lit up the yellow maple trees. 

One of the highlights was coming upon an extremely hyperactive little squirrel in a tree.  He scrambled down a branch and pulled off a leaf, then scrambled up to a more solid branch and gobbled it up VERY FAST.  Then back down again.  Squirrel on speed.  But he was very cute.  With a very orange underbelly.

To view photos from the Hoh segment of our journey, CLICK HERE.

Next post, Ruby & First Beach.