2 January 2022

We finished a Christmas puzzle the day after Christmas.

Helen turned 17 on Wednesday! Sofi, Helen and Gibson stayed up late the night before to make a midnight run to In-N-Out to celebrate, rocking out to Dancing Queen by ABBA as Helen's birthday officially began.

We celebrated Helen with a 5 layer cake with blackberry filling about 21 hours later.

There's plenty to celebrate about Helen. She's kind, smart, creative, a hard worker and a good friend. She also blew out the small bonfire on her cake with one breath.

We left Thursday morning for our long awaited trip to Kauai. We weren't sure our trip would happen. Covid is spiking again and the Pacific northwest was experiencing unusual winter weather which delayed thousands of flights. We got a little more excited as we completed each leg of our trip. In Los Angeles, we got wristbands that showed we had submitted our vaccination paperwork and a health questionnaire and were pre-cleared to enter Hawaii.

We finally made it onto the actual plane that would take us to Kauai. We had to sit on the runway for a couple of hours, but ultimately our plane was cleared for departure. A very kind flight attendant brought Sofi, Helen and Gibson kid snack packs (applesauce, turkey sticks, granola bars, fruit snacks and Pirate Booty) to eat while we waited.

We got to the airport later than we had expected, which meant all of the lines were very short. We immediately noticed how comfortably warm the air felt. And this unusual sign.

It was after midnight by the time we checked into our condo and went to bed. We woke the next morning to this incredible view from our lanai.

We are staying in Poipu, a small town on the south coast of Kauai. The resort is beautifully landscaped.

Leaving snow behind at home made the warm temperatures feel especially heavenly.

The resort we are staying at borders Shipwreck Beach. We started our day by heading to the beach. A monk seal was sunning itself in the sand.

Someone ringed the seal with signs to keep people from getting too close to it. We could tell the seal was alive, but it was good to have the extra information that the seal was also doing well. The seal moved very awkwardly on land.

Helen and Gibson enjoyed playing in the water. The ocean was a little cooler than the air temperature, but after experiencing the chilly water along the Oregon Coast, the water felt very nice.

Gibson banged his shin on a rock while playing in the waves and the salt water stung in his cuts so we went back to the resort pool. We basked in the sun until a cloudburst surprised us. We waited under an umbrella for the rain to let up before walking back to our condo.

Our condo is on the third floor, to the left of Gibson's head.

In the afternoon we set out to explore Poipu. The road into town is through a tunnel of trees.

While we didn't see any chickens at the airport, we have seen plenty of chickens everywhere else we have been outside of the resort.

There are lots of roosters, too. The chickens have gorgeous and dramatic feathers.

Buying groceries was an adventure. We saw a lot of products that were a little different from what we buy at home, like avocado ice cream, which we skipped in favor of mango ice cream. Groceries are very expensive since almost everything is imported. For example, a dozen eggs cost over $10 and a pound of chicken cost $12 a pound. Which is hard to believe since there are free range chickens wandering in very parking lot, including the grocery store.

After a successful shopping trip, we made dinner back at our condo, then played some games and watched the movie Jo Jo Rabbit until 11:45 pm. Our kids have planned for weeks to celebrate the New Year on the beach. Sofi and Helen changed back into swimsuits and we headed to the beach. A giant frog on the path surprised us along the way.

As we waited the few minutes until midnight, we saw many flashes of light in the sky. It was raining lightly and we thought the flashes could be lightning. Getting in the ocean with lightning around seemed pretty risky. On reflection we decided the lightning we thought we saw could also be fireworks being lit in town that were obscured by the clouds. So possibly being risky, but maybe not, Sofi and Helen dunked in the water to ring in 2022.

On Saturday, Helen and Sofi wore the matching Twilight T-shirts Sofi bought Helen for her birthday.

Our first stop was a fruit stand next to a cattle ranch. We bought lots of tropical fruit to try, most of which we didn't understand the names of.

Our plan for the day was to drive up the road to the Waimea Canyon. Saturday was a wet, rainy day, but still warm. Here is a photo at an overlook along the way.

This photo shows the Waimea River far below. The river is brown with silt the rain erodes from the hills above the river. The ocean itself is also brown for hundreds of yards at the point the Waimea River runs into the sea.

Here's Gibson, Sofi and Helen.

The canyon got mistier and mistier the higher we went. This was the view from the Waimea Canyon Lookout. Which is to say there was no view.

We also stopped at the Pu'uhinahina view point and decided to hike through the lush forest. 

We've never seen fungi like these vivid orange mushrooms.

We hiked to the Cliff Lookout Point. Once again, the view was obscured.

As we watched, the wind shifted and the fog began to lift. . .

. . . revealing this amazing landscape. Within a few minutes we went from zero visibility to being able to see all the way to the ocean. The black, orange-brown and green layers of the canyon were stunning. We saw many waterfalls flowing over the cliffs in the canyon.

We were delighted with this bit of serendipity. We would have enjoyed the hike for its beautiful foliage and interesting topography with no view, and this unexpected unveiling of the canyon felt magical.

The trail was very muddy, steep and slick as we went down one slope and up another to get to the viewpoint.

We then drove to one more view point, the Kalalau Lookout, with views of the fluted hills and the Napali Coast.

Once again, we were thankful for a view on a day which could easily have only shown us fog.

As we drove back down the canyon, Brandan noticed the fog had lifted at a viewpoint we skipped on the way up because of lack of visibility. He quickly pulled over so we could admire the Waipo'o Falls.

This photo shows our muddy feet and shoes.

We tried to stop for shave ice and a coconut at a roadside stand, but they ran out of ice while we waited in line. We still got a photo of Helen with a pile of coconuts. Notice the chicken on the edge of the deck.

Instead we went to dinner at Chicken Barrel Barbecue in a beautiful setting.

We watched the sunset on Waimea Beach.

We feel so lucky to be here and look forward to a few more days of exploring and warm weather before heading home.