Kauai #2: Sleeping Giant, Secret Beach, and Sunset from Ke'e Beach

Our second full day on Kauai and we were still getting a handle on what we wanted to do and the "lay of the land." Right hear where we were staying was a mountain called "The Sleeping Giant."  We climbed it.  Here's we're looking at the head and it's head/chin facing upwards towards the sky.  I didn't ever get a good picture of the entire "body" of the giant.

 

The view towards the southeast and Kapa'a town/valley in the foreground.

Towards the northeast.

Towards the north coast

And looking east towards Mount Waieale'ale which is hidden in the clouds.

After lunch, we decided to drive to the North Coast and the first stop was Kilauea lighthouse.

Our guidebook noted that just west of the lighthouse was a place called "Secret Beach."  It was a slippery, muddy hike down but here it is.

The waves, it's a truth during the winter, were much too big in which to swim.

Once on the North Shore, we drove as far west as possible to Ke'e beach and the start of the famed Na Pali coast.  We spent a few hours here to watch the sunset.

Onions HATES the sun, so here's the sun shelter.

I, however, have no problems with the sun and sand.

My attempt at a warrior pose.  Oohhhh, not so pretty.

This would be our first of three trips up to this end of the island, however this first trip was the most dramatic in watching the sunset with Asia on the other side.

Kauai #1: Waimea Falls and Kalalau Valley

The Math Final was given on December 14th and on December 16th, Onions and I flew from Oakland to Kauai.  We rented a car, found the food court at the local mall and then drove up to see Waimea Falls.

We got excited by the rainbow, but it turns out Hawaii does rainbows OFTEN and WELL, so this first rainbow picture at Waimea Falls isn't the most stunning I'll post.

On our first full day on Kauai, we drove up to the far end of the road to the top of the famed Kalalau Valley.  Yes, this is the one you've seen in the pictures.

The clouds move in and out fast.  Rain comes and goes.  Rainbows appear and disappear.

We saw a trail go off along the ridge line, so we decided on our first hike of the day.  This is what we found.

The state of our boots at the end of the hike gives you great insights into our marriage.

At the end of the hike, we were planning on doing another hike in the next valley over but....downpour.  So we punted and went to the mall to buy flip flops (he didn't bring any, mine had ripped) and then to Costco instead for dinner.

As the sun set, we found a quiet beach to end the day.

Me and my new flip-flops.  The reason why there is a difference in lighting in the photos is the darker ones are taken on my iPhone 6 whereas the lighter pictures are taken with Onions new iPhone 7, his birthday and Christmas present rolled into one.

It was cool watching the storms come in.  Turns out the waves in the winter are too big, so it's advised not to swim in the ocean.

Is there nothing Onions can't do?  He made a fire.  Too bad we didn't have any S'more's supplies.

A great day to end our first full day in Hawaii.

North Cascades National Park

Black Friday?  Not for us.  Taking advantage of our US Parks Pass, we headed up to the North Cascades National Park!

We got up early and so as we were getting to the park, the sun was just starting to break through the clouds.  Here's the look at Gorge Lake

The clouds started to break through.

Diablo Lake

These next three photos were taken from the same spot within a 15 minute time frame.  The clouds parted just for us.

Unfortunately, Highway 20, aka The North Cascades Highway, was closed east of Ross Lake, so we could only do a short hike.  But this view was worth the drive.

Thanksgiving 2016

The Chen's first Thanksgiving Dinner occurred on the night before Thanksgiving.  We met up with the Kelly/Jones' at the Old Spaghetti Factory, which is closing in December.

Brian, Alex and Kendra

Thanksgiving Day Dinner itself was at the Carras House!

Eleni and Andrew serving

The traditional turkey, stuffing and cranberry sauce with the Greek Spanokopita and Mom's Asian Noodles.

Onions' plate!

O all dressed up

Mrs. Carras showing O the wonders of a see through glass door.  Mind blown.

Thanks to the Carras' for a great Thanksgiving evening and dinner!  And very little politics was discussed.