Maya's Story (taken as dictation):
Today we went for a hike. I hiked some. Then we saw a waterfall leaf. And then we saw a waterfall rock. Then we went to the beach. There were two beaches and two waters. I played in the shortest water. The sand around it was like squiggly. And then I went out in the sand and then I told my mom I needed to go potty. And it was a compost potty. Then we walked and saw some flowers. And then we saw some fruits in the trees. We walked past the bamboo. Then we went to the waterfall. We saw a river and a stream. The waterfall was coming down a big big valley. And then we turned around and went to our car. Then we got in and I had an orange. And then we went to pick up dinner and then we drove to our hotel. And then I did my tricks and then we ate dinner. And then I watched Ariel and then after doing this we're going to go to bed.
Christine instructed me to augment the story of today's events, however I think Maya's account is spot on. (Some parenthetical additions by CJ.) We were able to sleep in until our friendly window-adjacent rooster graced us with his uncanny serenade at 5:56 am. After a quick breakfast of scrambled eggs and toast, we loaded up the car and literally drove to the end of the road on the north shore of Kauai. The day was uncommonly clear. We could see the peaks of all the islands mountains, one of which is literally the wettest place on Earth. After parking at Haena State Park/Kee Beach we began our hike on Kalalau (Na Pali Coast) Trail with our final destination of Hanakapiai Falls, by way of Hanakapiai Beach. We recently purchased a hiking kid carrier backpack. It made the 8 1/2 hour hike possible. The first leg of the hike consisted of 1 mile up (~500ft), then 1 mile down to Hanakapiai Beach. There were enough signs proclaiming the dangers of the undertow that, even without Maya's irrational fear of all things wave, we did no swimming. Luckily, there was a convenient and Maya-reasonable tidal pool. Much frolicking occurred. After a quick visit to the facilities (the aforementioned "composting potty") we headed up Hanakapiai Valley (read "up hill") for 2 miles along its stream to its source, an impressive 300 foot waterfall (and "impressive" does not do it justice). The trail was muddy and rocky with several fords of the stream. Maya's feet did not get wet or muddy during this leg. We had a nice picnic at the edge of the pool created by the falls before heading back down to the beach. It turns out that 2 miles down hill on mud and slippery rocks with 40 pounds of not-always-still on your back is not necessarily easier than same said up hill. (Though for others of us it was not surprisingly much easier.) We rested/played at the beach again, although the tide and waves had claimed much of the sand. The last two miles back to the car were a repeat of the first two miles, however they seemed much longer/steeper the second time. Maya seemed no worse for wear (or maybe it is more accurate to say she was no worse for being worn). We trudged back to the car and drove directly to Bubba's Burgers (serving Kauai grass fed beef). Despite being overcooked, they weren't bad. After some ice cream it was time for story time followed directly by a sound asleep child (to be soon followed by two sound asleep parents).
This bird (and several of his friends) joins us every time we eat on the deck of our condo.
2 comments:
Super!
Wow - great pics! What an adventure. - Michelle P. (rarely anonymous)
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