More Hawaii Pictures

This is the beautiful Waimea Canyon on Kauai...the Grand Canyon of Hawaii...so lush! How great are your wonders, oh God!!!!!!!!!! Thank you Lord, for creating such beautiful landscapes for us to treasure and enjoy on this earth. I can only imagine what Heaven will look like...
Mama & Kristi after dinner at a great north shore Oahu restaurant on our last night
GORGEOUS pineapples at the Dole Pineapple Plantation on Oahu...has anyone else ever seen this kind of pineapple before? There was a cool little garden that showed many varieties of pineapples, as well as diagrams of the growing process. I think it takes almost a few years to produce one pineapple. I could hardly believe it! No wonder pineapple can be an expensive fruit. But oh so delicious. We had so much fun eating pineapple chili dogs and pineapple slushy ice cream drinks...can't quite remember what that was, but it was yummy!
Erik, Melody, Melody's mom, Kim & Melody's dad hiking the Kanapali Trail on the Na Pali Coast of Kauai. Erik & I hiked this on our honeymoon 3 years ago, but I think we forgot that it was meant for advanced hikers! Mom, Dad & Kim were all such good troopers! And of course, little Kristi in the Kelty pack did a great job too, except for the last 45 minutes or so. She was exhausted after being in that pack and on the trail for a few hours. We didn't get to do the whole hike, which goes on for miles and miles, but we made our way to the top of the ridge where we could view the gorgeous Na Pali Coastline with its rugged textures. The wind was so gusty that day that we nearly were blown over as we got up to the top! And that is when we turned back.
This is the Hawaiian state bird, the Ne Ne. It is a goose of some sort, and kind of reminds me of the Canadian Geese that we see so much here in Minnesota. I was surprised to see these Ne Ne's walking around near the Kalalau lookout point at Waimea Canyon on Kauai. There was a small flock of them, and they were quite used to tourists as they hardly flinched when I took photos of them.

Hawaii Pictures

I'm not yet sure how to add text beneath each photo, so I'll just lump the descriptions into one spot down here...we had an AWESOME time in Hawaii this July! We went to see one of my dearest friends in the whole wide world - Kim! The top pic is of me, Kristi & Kim at the fireworks display on 4th of July; 2nd pic - Erik & Kristi & me at the fireworks; 3rd pic - us hiking Kanapali Trail on Na Pali Coast of Kauai; 4th pic - me and my dad hiking Kalalau (?) Trail on Na Pali Coast (sorry I couldn't figure out how to flip it around); 5th pic - Kristi...basking in the lovely waters of Hanalei Bay at Hanalei Beach on Kauai (I think this is where the song "Puff the Magic Dragon" was originated)...she absolutely fell in love with swimming in the ocean and playing in the sand, and of course...sitting in her "boat"...she is sporting her "surfer girl" swimsuit that I scored at Target! If you have not yet been to Hawaii and you ever have the opportunity to go there, I HIGHLY recommend it as a great vacation destination. It is one of the most beautiful and relaxing places that I have ever been in my life. We were blessed to be there for our honeymoon 3 years ago too...it was fun to go back with my parents and Kristi this time! I'll have to post a pic of my dear mom soon. I really didn't get any good photos with her on the trip, which is disappointing. Oh well! Maybe there are some and I just have to go back and look through to find them...