Our First Date

In honor of Disneyland's 60th anniversary (which is today if you haven't noticed all over Instagram, Facebook, network news, etc.), the first of my memory posts is at this beautiful place.

17 December 2008; Glen and me at Disneyland in front of Small World on what would be recognized as our first date. We look adorable, I know. I was eighteen and Glen, twenty-three. It was off and on rain all day which means the most magical time to be at Disneyland because others won't endure. 

Glen's mom dropped us off and his sister signed us in (free dates have always been the best). We spent all day there. I had Ritz cracker packages in my purse for snacks and we went on Mr. Toad's Wild Ride about twenty times because of the part where you drive through 'hell'; the heat was marvelous. We were soaked through to skin and dying from the cold (but we were dumb and happy -- kind of like now).

As evening was settling in, we were still getting used to the changing temperature and decided to hit main street for some hot chocolate. I hate hot chocolate. Hot drinks in general really make my head hurt, not sure why. But I was so cold and it really helped that Glen wanted some. We sat in the store on the edge of main street on the castle end, shared a cup, and played checkers on one of the store's tables with balled up pieces of the two straw covers we acquired. I can't remember now how we differentiated the two sets of pieces, oh well.We watched the fireworks and probably rode Indiana Jones three more times for good measure before heading out. 

Thinking back on that day makes me feel grateful and happy and joyful and blessed. We had a fun day together and Glen wanted to hold my hand the whole time but never summoned enough courage. Poor guy :) I wish I could go back as a bystander and watch us jump over railings, run from Thunder Mountain to Space Mountain just because, laugh, talk, take pictures of each other doing dumb things. Although, I probably wouldn't be able to see most of it because I'm such a crier now.

So, happy birthday, Disneyland -- you money-sucking, magical place, you. I'll love you forever.

Kaua'i: Everywhere Else

This is the second post about our trip to Kaua'i, if you want to view the first (Kalalau Trail) go HERE.

After emerging from the Kalalau Valley, as mentioned, we didn't have a plan, so we kind of just went with whatever came and it turned out really great! We don't have smart phones or any sort of navigation, but on a small island, what's the big deal, right? Hah. We just went to McDonald's for there wifi, found what we wanted to do, and went. We missed turns sometimes and found other beautiful places and things to see. We camped on beaches and drove around in a heavily dented Mazda. For most of our time, we stayed on the North Shore because there was so much beauty to be found there. We went to the other parts, and had a great time for sure, but we always found ourselves wanting to go back, so we did.

Ha'ena Beach. We camped here the first night out of Na Pali and it was not a bad choice. We had a campfire here at night, made s'mores with some new friends and talked about things people talk about when circling a fire pit.

 Wai'oli Stream and one of the five pictures we have of both of us (thanks Ben and Erin!!).

 Random stream on the way to Koke'e (Waimea Valley -- "Grand Canyon of the Pacific")

 It was hazy up at Koke'e; one of the wettest places on Earth is not too far off in the distance, so it was forgivable.

 Kalalau Lookout.

 We went on a hike atop one of the ridges that we had been at the bottom of in the Kalalau Valley two days before. This hike is Kalepa Ridge trail and is unmarked, but we had read some stuff about it online before. Thankfully, we had hitched a ride from some people while getting to the Kalalau trail who told us how to get to this trail; they had just been there the other day :) I am really proud of this picture, by the way. I'm still trying to get used to the whole manual focus deal and this photo is encouraging.

 This cliff had even larger of a drop with crumbly paths, but less crazy than Kalalau trail in our opinion. And there's a sweet waterfall that you can maybe, kind of see in the middle of the photo. Maybe you can't see it, but it was a beautiful hike.

Glen wouldn't let me go to the edge because his heart probably would have died from worrying so much, but the lookout was amazing from the not-so-close-to-the-edge too.

It ended up being (probably) less than two miles to the lookout. The trail is very steep on the descent to the lookout, makes for quite the trek back up.

 These huge patches of fog and mist would come and go throughout the hike, which ended up being a God send because it would have been unbelievably hot on top of that ridge if it weren't so. Those ferns were gorgeous and deadly. The green stuff was soft to touch and pleasing to look at, but the gray, dead ferns underneath were sharper than our kitchen knives (that doesn't say much, but the point remains). The hike was awesome and recommended for sure.

 Spouting horn and that face.

 Nene (Hawaiian geese)! Sweet action shot, I know.

 Lava Pools/Secret was an awesome beach, we looooved it because no one was really ever there for very long so it was our (huge) beach for the day. It may have had something to do with it raining on and off for a while, but you're at the beach... you're going to get wet. Duh.

 Lo'i make for gorgeous farmlands and delicious poi.

 Opaeka'a Falls.

 Wailua Falls and me.

Gorgeous island, great week off of school. And the funny thing is, while I was bummed to go back to normal life, I didn't have to feel like I was leaving paradise because we were just returning to the island 20 miles off shore. That was a cool feeling. One I will probably fall short of when we leave here for new adventures elsewhere.

Kaua'i: Na Pali Coast & Kalalau Trail

In the week break between summer and fall semesters we journeyed to the distant land of Kaua'i. While we had done a fair bit of research on what we would like to do there; our plans were decidedly flexible. We have found in the past that rigid planning is good for people that are not us; Glen inevitably over-plans if it is left to him, so we just had ideas of what we'd do and went with it. It's a long story that I'm not sure I am ready to write out, so here are pretty photos instead! Yes. Below, are pictures from our first few days on island.

Kalalau Trail (Na Pali Coast Trail)

 He's mine.

 The terrain on the cliff sides at about 9-10 miles in gets extremely crumbly and dangerous. There have been landslides that caused the trail to be washed out. The path is covered with loose dirt and drops off to sharp rocks and waves below.

Delightful.

 The shower of all showers. Glen is converted to it; it's on his list of home amenities now, which I am completely okay with.

 Our sleeping quarters (that little green tent) were in a small cave below a beautiful crumbling wall.

I will say that it was a tough hike and there were times that Glen and I really prayed about turning back due to unsafe terrain and lack of sleep. The full 11 miles is not all beautiful pictures and fun; there were moments of extreme difficulty for us and especially me because my shoes were not capable of having traction on ANYTHING. There are other options of getting to the Kalalau Valley, which, if you are planning on going, we would be glad to offer insight on.