Enjoying the Journey: July 2011

As promised here are more photos from my trip to the Garden Isle. I found Kauai to be the way I imagined the Garden of Eden to be. (I also feel that way about so many places in the Northwest. We live in such a beautiful place.) When I've described the experience to my kids, I've told them it's like the Oregon Coast except it's tropical instead of temperate. I would say that's true. Kauai has beautiful rugged coastal regions, beautiful forests that are tropical filled with ferns, and tall canopy trees, palm trees (including coconut palms), vines, and flowers. (The Oregon coast is a forested with ferns, Douglas fir, other deciduous trees, rhododendrons, etc.) Traveling the coast roads reminded me of the beautiful scenes you see along the coast lines in Oregon and Washington.

Here are some more photos:

An old sugar cane processing plant near Lihue. (You can see part of the cruise ship docked in the lower left of the photo.)

A banyan grove. I always wondered what banyan trees looked like. The only one I had ever seen was the sculpture on BYU campus.

Plumeria (top photo) and hibiscus. We had hibiscus planted in our yard in So Cal. I love the sweet fragrance of the plumeria. Plumeria make beautiful leis.

The top photo is near the lighthouse on the north shore of the island. The bottom photo is also the north shore looking toward Princeville and Hanalei. (Don't you think it looks like the Oregon Coast?)

This is looking toward Poipu on the south shore of Kauai. So lovely! (Again, kind of like the Oregon Coast.)

This is a photo of me snorkeling on a reef at Ke'e beach. I'm the third from the left. I LOVED snorkeling. I felt like I was part of the aquarium. I want to snorkel some more. I'm trying to figure out if I can here in Puget Sound.

I LOVE palm trees. These are coconut palms that just grow in groves along the ocean. I remember when we lived in SoCal that I loved having palm trees in our yard. There is something romantic and graceful and elegant about palm trees.

I had the MOST delightful vacation! School was out on June 22nd. (We go so late now!) Principals usually work until July 1. Well, this year, this principal went to Hawaii on June 24th. What a wonderful time. My dear friend Joan asked me back in March, if wanted to go to her timeshare with her. What's interesting is that literally a few days prior, I had been thinking about the fact that I really needed a vacation -- I mean a real vacation where I would rest and rejuvenate. I had prayed about it and a few days later this invitation came. Tell me that Heavenly Father doesn't answer prayers!!!

Joan and her husband Neal have a timeshare condo on Kauai. Neal had passed away in February. Joan wanted to go and she invited me. I was truly honored because I knew this was going to be a difficult and sensitive time for her. I gladly accepted -- truly feeling that my prayers had been heard. My job is so stressful and demanding (and I LOVE it) that I do need some good R&R. The challenge of being single is having people to travel with. I love going to the beach with my kids and their families -- but those vacations -- fun as they are -- are not necessarily restful. They are filled with activity and meals and planning and coordinating and loads of fun -- but not restful. I needed a quiet, adult vacation.

My Adventure:

So, on June 24th, I got on an airplane and flew to Hawaii. Before boarding the plane, the airline was looking for 1 person who was willing to take a later flight in exchange for a travel voucher (a nice one). I volunteered since I was traveling alone (Joan had gone over a couple of days earlier.) This meant I had to run to a far off gate to get on a flight that was going to Kona and then to Lihue. (My original flight was non-stop to Lihue.) That was fine. I arrived in Kona - which is beautiful and discovered that Alaska Airlines had not finished booking my flights through to Lihue. So, after a few minutes of great concern (feeling that I was stranded in the middle of the Pacific Ocean on a desert island -- love the drama) I was scheduled to continue on to Honolulu and then to Lihue. The gate agent had failed to tell me you don't fly directly from Kona to Lihue -- you have to go through Honolulu. Here are some photos of the airport in Kona.

I had a few hours to wait until my flight and I found a delicious Mahi Mahi sandwich and a great salad and enjoyed the breeze and the warm weather. (Most of Kona airport is outside.) At sunset we took off on wonderful Hawaiian Airlines and flew to Honolulu. I got to see Honolulu at sunset. It was beautiful. I saw Diamond Head and Waikiki and Pearl Harbor from the air with the sun setting over the Pacific Ocean. I was already in love with Hawaii and I hadn't arrived at my destination! I literally walked off of the airplane in Honolulu and onto an airplane to Lihue. My seat on the final leg of my journey was next to a delightful Hawaiian sister who lived on Kauai. She talked to me about her children who attend King Kamehameha School. About their ward on Kauai and the fact that Kauai is a stake. She was so nice and fun to talk to.

I arrived about 8:30 or 9 that night in Lihue. I had been traveling since 11 a.m. (Pacific Daylight time) and so it was like 11:30 Pacific time when I arrived. Joan was patiently waiting for me. I was SO GLAD to see her. She took me to the condo and fed me. I was so tired, I'm not sure I was coherent but I was there! My luggage had come through on Alaska with the original flight but they were closed up for the night and so I had to pick my luggage up the next morning.

The next morning we went souvenir shopping, had breakfast, and picked up my luggage. On Sunday, we attended church in the Lihue ward. I have to tell you that those ward members are some of the most welcoming and warm people I've ever met. Church was excellent and when sacrament meeting was over they had the members of the ward come forward and the guests stand (which was more than half of the congregation) and they sang Aloha Oe to us. It was so lovely. Then each guest received a beautifully braided lei with a note from the Lihue Ward. The spirit was so strong and it was so sweet.

Here are some pics from one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen: