When the path met the ocean, it was a shoreline scene that combined of lave and sand.

The water spout was a hole in the lava shoreline that shot out plumes of surf when the waves came in. Even though it was a calm day with only small swells coming into shore, the spout was still pretty impressive. I’m sure that it is magnificent right before a storm and during rough seas.

As can be seen, I was still feeling the effects of the plane ride over:

But the sunset didn’t disappoint…

Let’s hear it for exhausting days.

We then hopped into the car again and made out way to the very end of Waimea Canyon Road. Here, again was a beautiful lookout for those that don’t want to hike, but there is also a trail head leading to the ridge. There are some pretty steep areas from the beginning and it can be a bit tricky when the trail is wet:

If you are willing to forge ahead, though, you are greeted with numerous spectacular views of Kalalau Valley:

We made it about 1.5 miles down the trail when it became muddy and steep enough that we contemplated whether or not we should continue:

It was at this moment that we ran into what we will forever refer to as the Kalalau trail slasher. I managed to escape its razor edge end, but dad wasn’t quite so lucky:

The Kalalau trail slasher turned out to be a branch protruding into the trail. Luckily, the injury looked worse than it turned out to be (still glad it didn’t happen to me) although it will likely leave a nice scar — and allowing dad to tell tails of the hiking slasher for years to come…

As we headed to the Napali coast, a few friends decided to tag along for the ride:

When we reached the Napali coast line, it was absolutely beautiful:

We then went snorkeling for a couple of hours at a small island near Niihau Island just off the coast of Kauai. Unfortunately I didn’t have an underwater camera to catch all activity, but it did include a couple of playful sea lions, some reef sharks and lots and lots of colorful fish. One of the distinguishing marks of the island was Keyhole Arch:

It is being able to take advantage of opportunities like this that makes me love my job…

The upper waterfalls was only a short hike, although there were a couple of fairly steep paths to make it there:

Getting to the lower falls was more of a challenge. The path was littered with trees and branches from storms that swelled the river making one point of the path seem more like navigating a tree jungle rather than walking along a hiking trail:

But the hike was worth it as the lower falls was much larger

and afforded a beautiful view

Definitely a fun hike to one of the lesser traveled to waterfalls in Kauai.

The individual that made it clear that this flight was going to feel much, much longer was Thomas, a 2 year old in the center seat behind us. He started off by merely screaming at the top of his lungs when the plane wasn’t moving and progressed to kicking all the seats in front of him as hard as he could when he realized that his parents weren’t going to let him out of his child’s seat when he demanded.

As soon as the doors closed, the man in the far left seat basically clotheslined the first stewardess that walked by to ask if there were any free seats in the plane where he could move. The lady in the center seat was only a couple of minutes behind. That left me, alone in front of Thomas, taking the cries for a bottle and his kicking feet full force. It wasn’t long before the stewardess approached me and asked if I would like to also change seats. You could see the shock on her face when I said all would be fine.

Basically I knew that the screams that Thomas was emitting were loud enough that it really didn’t matter where in the plane I was seated. I could plainly see they were going to bother everyone in the general vicinity from the looks of the faces of the other passengers around me. And if the screaming was going to be the same, I saw the opportunity that Thomas had provided.

While the rest of the plane was full, I now had two free seats next to me. The looks of sympathy soon turned to jealousy when the fasten seat belt turned off and I immediately lifted the arm rests, stretched out my legs, made myself a three seat bed and relaxed in the comfort of having space in a crammed plane.

Thomas certainly wasn’t an angel the entire way, but his parents did let him up to run around when the seat belt signs went off. And even when he cried and complained, it was a lot more bearable in a comfortable lying position than all those around me that had to listen to the same screams while sitting up. Sometimes it really is possible to make lemonade when the day is giving you lemons…