Waimea Canyon | Kauai, Hawaii Adventure Part I

Although snow and freezing temperatures surround us now, a couple of weeks ago Jay and I were enjoying the balmy weather of Hawaii in November. I’m finally getting around to processing our trip photos, and I thought I’d share some highlights here on my blog. I hope I don’t bore you dear readers to tears!

After a long day of traveling on the Friday after Thanksgiving, Jay and I arrived on the island of Kauai, Hawaii’s northernmost and oldest island, and finally made it to our hotel. I only managed a glance out the window before falling asleep. The next morning jet lag got us up early (that and the sound of roosters crowing), so we decided to head to the Waimea Canyon before it became inundated with hordes of tourists like ourselves.

We all have Mark Twain to thank for penning the phrase, “The Grand Canyon of the Pacific,” to describe Kauai’s Waimea Canyon. I’ve actually seen the real Grand Canyon and can say there is some semblance between the two, but Mr. Twain might have been overstating it a bit. Nonetheless, it is incredible to behold.

But I think I was more mesmerized by the rainbows. They were everywhere! Frequent, brief rain showers coupled with a bright sun worked to create multiple rainbows everywhere we looked.

Just a couple of drive-by shots…

Maybe it would have looked more grand without the dense cloud cover. Still pretty amazing, I think!

Jay holds up not one, but two rainbows!

After snapping some photos at the canyon, Jay and I began a hike along the ridges of the Na Pali Coast mountains. The magnificent Na Pali coast on Kauai’s northwestern shore makes it impossible to circumnavigate the entire island by car. There are couple of trails along the ridges, and this was one of them.

Here I am obviously striding confidently along the muddy trail. Or maybe I need to sneeze?

I forget how many different kinds of ferns are on the island, but trust me, it’s a lot.

This part of the path is actually tame compared to the muddy ridges we climbed and slipped along.

The sun only came out towards the end of the hike as we were returning. Finally, the coast!

Although I thought Jay had finished taking a picture of me in this frame, I actually like it more than the posed one, as you can see the mud on my legs and hands better. We were so dirty! I’ll spare you the close up of my feet.

Stay tuned for more warm photos from Hawaii! Aloha!