Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds: kauai, hi

we took a impromptu trip to the island of kauai in hawaii. the timing was right and the airfare was cheap. selfishly i picked kauai so that i can say i've now been to every hawaiian island. my parents took me to oahu, maui, and big island. i remember big island made a pretty big impression on me with its active volcanoes and black sand beaches. but kauai was pretty special with its beautiful mountain and amazing views from its hiking trails. the na pali coast is breathtaking and i only wished i had the right camera equipment to be able to save it forever. we took a catamaran trip to the west side of the island to be able to see the famed na pali coast from the water. i don't think i could ever get tired of sitting on a boat and staring out at that view. the other option is to do an aerial tour by helicopter which we opted out not knowing how lucy would handle the noise of a helicopter. we were even nervous with the catamaran trip it was a 5 hr trip, but lucy was awesome and even took a nap. she got to help the captain by holding the steering wheel. mid trip we anchored and jumped out to snorkel in the deepest blue waters i've ever seen. the colors of the ocean here are ones of not seen in the caribbean. ranging from intense turquoise to deep navy. we'd prepped lucy for the snorkeling part and she was so excited to jump in and lay on her boogie board that had a little window to look at the fish. she kept talking about it at home and the whole way to hawaii and i was so disappointed when the time came and she wasn't able to do it. it was partly our fault the water was a bit choppy and when we got her in she took a big gulp of ocean water and that ended that whole ordeal for her. she refused to try it again during that trip. we were able to turn that around though when we went snorkeling off the beach where the water was calmer. she still talks about her boogie board and looking at the fish. i can't wait until she can swim and use a real snorkel to go snorkeling with us.
on the boat trip we also saw dolphins and sea turtles, lucy liked the dolphins they were swimming and dancing around the boat. the captain gave her some pretzels and showed her how to throw it overboard to feed the fish.

on another day we hiked along the na pali coast trail, so beautiful. we were only able to hike 2miles of the whole 11mi trail before we had to turn around. that's about how far lucy could handle. i don't blame her she's getting a little old to be strapped to nates back. and it was intensely hot and humid. it was a relief when it started raining a bit. we only wished that we could've hiked more on this trip. there are so many trails on kauai and it seemed they are all trails that will reward your with awesome views at every turn.

some other things we enjoyed in kauai: shave ice (almost daily), local food such as poke, spam musubi, and saimin. waimea canyon, considered the grand canyon of the west. we drove from sea level to 4,000ft said to be the rainiest place on earth. nate and i surfed for the first time, something we've wanted to do for a long time. we are now hooked.

kauai is a fairly small island and we were able to drive around the entire island and see a lot of it. we especially liked an area on the north side of the island called hanalei bay. it had a fun laid back surfer vibe. it was also more rustic and undeveloped. i think you can say that about pretty much the whole island compared to other parts of hawaii. we liked that about kauai.