A whole aisle of coconut products!
Our dear friends Mia and Jen visited us recently! It was the first time for both of them to come to Kauai since they were lil kids. Highlights of their visit are posted below.
What do Mia and Harrison Ford have in common? They both stood at the edge of Kipu Falls! This hidden spot has a double water fall, surrounded by lush greenery, and was the site of the opening of Raiders of the Lost Ark. After a 5 minute walk along a stream, through some overgrown plants, we arrived at the top of the falls. Mia displayed her fearless, adventurous spirit by swinging off the tree rope and jumping into the pool. That's her in the picture right above this paragraph. You probably have to click on the picture to enlarge it, because she looks so tiny in this shot. Afterward, she had to climb up a tall slippery metal ladder to get back to the top. On the day that we went, a bunch of rascally boys were climbing up the tall trees like crazy monkeys. In the middle picture above, try to find the kid who climbed on a branch above the rope and started bouncing on the end of the limb. 
Some friends from our hall invited us to tag along to collect beach glass. When we agreed to go, we did not know that a dusty, bumpy adventure was in store. The beach with glass, a.k.a. "Glass Beach" (creative name, huh?), is located near the Lihue Airport. The main back road which leads to this site was closed, so the friends had us follow them to an even more remote road. This back-back road was a narrow rocky, hole-filled trail between tall shrubbery. It was the first time my Bug went off-roading! Other than the panic attacks I had every time it sounded like my cars' tires exploded, we had fun! After a bit, we got smart and decided to lighten the Beetle's load so it wouldn't ride as low to the ground. Jen, Mia, and I squeezed in the trunk of our friend's SUV, while Jeff drove the Bug. Finally, we arrived at the top of a cliff that overlooked the ocean. This is the location of a landfill/dump. Glass and debris from the dump fall down the side of the cliff into the ocean, resulting in a plethora of beautiful smoothed, beach glass along the shore below. We had to walk down the cliff on a trail surrounded by shards of sharp, broken glass (*note to self: next time wear shoes, not slippers!). You can't really tell from the picture, but the shore is covered with sparkly glass pieces in a multitude of colors.The trek was worth it and we all collected an array lovely treasures.
A group of us hiked Ho'opi'i Falls- or as the locals who like to abbreviate call it, "Hopi" Falls. Its in Kapahi, just a few minutes drive away from our house. The trail leads to two separate waterfalls along the Kapaa Stream. (Ugh, I'm beginning to sound like a tourist guidebook.) The first waterfall is reached after an easy 10 minute hike. Some of the kids jumped into the pool beneath the falls. The second waterfall requires a longer, more "involved" hike along the river, through oodles of flora, vampire-ish mosquitoes, and up and down some slopes. My out-of-shape body considered the hike rigorous, according to Gee-Standards. I just plopped on the dirt several times, just to catch my breath and not... faint. On the other hand, a couple of Kauai-bred gals practically ran through the whole course barefoot, wearing swimsuits, and said that this trail wasn't really considered a hike. Parts of the movies Jurassic Park and Six Days, Seven Nights were filmed near here. Oh, and speaking of movies, Pirates is being filmed in Kapaa town. We passed the set at Coco Palms a few times, but alas! No Johnny Depp sightings yet!