Went to our local spot, Tahiti Nui, last night for a drink. It was such a great way to end a perfectly wonderful day. The place was crowded with both tourists and Kauaians (is that a word?) everyone was singing and dancing to the live hawaiian music, and having a great time. The band was playing a song called Hawaiian Superman, and the cook from the back just whipped out a harmonica and started playing along....it was awesome. I think the song title is fitting for this post because the entire day leading up to our drinks at the bar, was so challenging that only someone like superman, and the four of us of course, could survive it.....ok, ok, I exaggerate, but I will tell you, we left at 9:00 hoping for a nice morning hike and then planned on spending the rest of the day at the beach....we didn't arrive home until 5:00, tired and bruised (well that was really just me after falling up a mountain- yes you can really do that- it brought my coolness down quite a bit :)) It was sooooooooo worth it though....one of the best experiences so far.....way better than meeting bond...seriously :)

We started out hiking the first 2 miles of the Napali Coast- the Kalalau trail- The views were amazing...way better than the pictures show. At the end of the 2 miles, we came to a beautiful beach called Hanakapiai. There's a freshwater stream that leads into the beach surrounded by a whole lot of cool rocks.....Jess wouldn't let me take any along...but I did sneak a small one in my back pack :) (I'm wondering how I'm going to get all these rocks home??). There was also a rock face cliff that I scaled...well at least a portion of it to a cave...Jay told me I couldn't do it....and, well, you know what that leads to :). The water was too dangerous to swim in, but we did get completely soaked while taking a picture in front of a big rock....the wave came up over the rock, and surprised us....we screamed like a bunch of sissy girls...it was so funny.

The next part of the hike was to Hanakapiai falls....we thought this was just down the path, but that wasn't really the case. We were hiking through jungle......giant bamboo, huge rocks, crossing streams...very LOST like. It was fun for like, 10 minutes, but then we were like, "where the heck is this dumb waterfall!" We reached a low point, when we passed some hiker who said, "you're almost there guys, only about a mile to go!" What did we get ourselves into??

Once we reached the waterfall though...all was forgotten....This wasn't some puny little trickle...this was a full fledged, 200 ft...gushing over a cliff into a pool of water HAWAIIAN WATERFALL, and we swam under it! Getting into the water was a feet in itself. The water was frigid...but there was no way I was missing out. Laying on my back and looking up at the falls crashing down, was unreal. I still can't believe it!

The way back wasn't quite as thrilling...we were pretty exhausted....8 miles, and I swear it was all uphill and as Jay keeps saying, "were not hikers guys"- well that's for sure.. Sitting in the car has never been so satisfying.
We treated ourselves to a burger and fries at Bubba's- this cute little burger joint later that night....It was a day to remember.

Apparently we all like the "hands in the air" pose- didn't realize this when I chose the pictures. :)