Wedding in Paradise

I'm sure you guys are wondering where the heck I've been all week.  I ran out of time last Thursday before Chris and I left for Portland to let you know I'd be living it up on the Hawaiian island of Kauai for five days.  Our trip was planned to join in celebrating my good friend Kristy's marriage to her love of nine years, Sean.

We'd been so pumped about going on this trip together.  It was Chris' first time ever to Hawaii and my first on Kauai.  So beautiful!  Originally, all we wanted to do was be lazy and get some good tan lines.  Once I started reading my trusty guidebook given to me by one of my friend/coworkers back at Nike on the plane over there, I realized that probably wasn't going to be the case.  There are so many beautiful things to see on the island and who knew when we'd make it back there.  Chris agreed that we should squeeze in what sights we could in our four full days there.

Our first activity was a welcome barbecue hosted by the engaged couple and their parents.  Delicious chicken, pork, Hawaiian rice and other yummy fruits and veggies.  There we received our couples goodie packs which included snacks, treats, informational packets and a fun contest for the guests to play while on the island.  Sean loves gnomes, but they weren't allowed to be in the actual wedding.  To still include them, they created laminated gnomes on popsicle sticks for us to take pictures of around the island.  The most creative pictures win prizes after the trip.  So fun!

I know I've told you this many times, but I am horrible at remembering to take pictures.  There are a few things like our condo and WEDDING PICTURES that I failed to take, but I'll still walk you through some of the ones I did capture (or pulled from the internet).

This one was obviously not taken by me because Chris and I could not afford the $500 helicopter ride on the island.  Someday, right?  This is the Kiahuna Plantation where we rented a condo for four nights.  The place was so spacious and amazing.  We absolutely loved the location and atmosphere.

Below is the beach just in front of the condo where I caught some pictures of Chris chillin' out in the waves.  In the sand you can see our gnome castle we built along with pyramids and sphinx.

And I have to say that I think we captured the winning gnome picture below.  Look at that wave crashing in on him buried in the sand.  Beautiful.  The prizes haven't been awarded yet, but I'm thinking we have a good chance.

On Monday we decided to take the long excursion to the north shore and hike along the Kalalau Trail two miles to Hanakapi'ai Beach.  We could have gone an extra two miles from there to the Hanakapi'ai Falls which a lot of people do, but since we'd gotten a late start, we figured it probably wasn't the smartest thing to hike eight miles round trip.  Chris and forgot to take our camera along on the hike, but our friend and roommate, Mandee snapped some which I'll share when I get them from her.

On the drive over to the north shore we stopped at the below view point and checked out 'Opaeka'a Falls.

Across the road and back towards the east shore a bit was there was another lookout that showed a beautiful view of the Wailua River.

The next day we decided to be adventurous in the morning and fit in more sight seeing.  For those of you who don't know, Kauai does not have a road that goes completely around the island.  On our trip to the north shore we actually drove to the complete end of the road which stops at Ke'e Beach.  This time we went the opposite direction all the way to the end of the road around the west side and almost up to the north.  Highway 550 takes you past some amazing lookouts of what many people call the "Grand Canyon of the Pacific", Waimea Canyon.

Our first stop was the major viewpoint.

Mandee snagged this shot of Chris and I with the insane view behind us.

Next stop was the end of the road at Pu'u o Kila Lookout.

It has absolutely breathtaking views of the Kalalua Valley below.

And here we are!

We actually had gotten the opportunity to see the valley from out in the Ocean a few days before on our sunset cruise with a lot of guests and members of the wedding party.  I failed to nab those pictures, but when I get a hold of Chris' camera I'll add some of those too.

We stopped to check out some red dirt falls along the road on the way back.  Pretty cool!

Our last stop of the trip before the wedding on Tuesday was to see the Spouting Horn.  The waves from the ocean thrust in through an opening on the lava shelf to create this spectacular blow hole.  Another hole nearby blows air through and makes a really creepy sound at the same time.

And of course, here is a lovely photo of the couple that I nabbed off Facebook since Chris and I were too busy dancing and having a good time to take any (good) photos at the wedding.

Thanks so much for including us in your big day Kristy and Sean!  We had such a blast...what an amazing place for a wedding!