Houseboating!

So we decided to take our Memorial Day weekend a little early this year since we were able to score an awesome deal on a houseboat rental - half price (thank you Travelzoo)!!  Good deals always make me happy :)

We headed up on Tuesday after getting the kayaks secured on top of the two trucks and we all caravaned our way up to Phoenix to pick up Chris who was coming off a trip... after having to change a tire in the 105 degree record heat halfway to the airport, and several pull-overs to resecure the kayaks... we finally made it up to Flagstaff to check in for the night....

I was very happy with our houseboat... it was better than I expected, and the scenery of Lake Powell was quite beautiful...



 We found a lovely little quiet cove somewhat sheltered out of the wind that was blowing with gusto on our first day, and anchored in, albeit a bit crookedly... but not bad for first timers...

 The second day was absolutely beautiful, and the lake was smooth as glass so we launched the kayaks and chris and i  had a great time paddling around for a few hours...

It was also a perfect day to try out the water slide on the boat!  The temperature was just toasty enough and the water just cool enough to make it quite refreshing... Luke had the best form, of course :)

Chris and i had fun sleeping on the top deck under the stars...

Um, excuse me sir, can i see your license? :)

Learing to fish with Pappa...

Enjoying the kayaks

And the dominoes....

And the reading in the sun...

A great time was had by all!

Aloha and farewell....

Well, Thursday we saw some sun, so we hightailed it to the beach in Kapa'a, but wouldn't you know it, the winds everywhere on the island were so high that we just ended up getting "exfoliated" (more like sandblasted), so we gave up "laying out" on the beach and decided to shake the sand out of our ears and walk around through the town instead...

We did manage to finish the kitty puzzle during our seclusion during the storms...

And we were treated to beautiful, momentarily rain free, sunset from our lanai during our final night...

I'd still do it all again even with the uncooperative weather, rather than to not have come at all.... and i think we did a good job making lemonade out of lemons, aside from a brief meltdown i had on friday after we were rained in again for the day...  i defintely had anticipated being alot more active on this trip (snorkeling, swimming, kayaking, more hiking...) but i'm still happy with what we did and feel grateful it wasn't worse... this vacay is going in the WIN column...  now, packing for the red-eye home!!  can't wait to snuggle my kitties and see everyone!

38 inches of rain later....

well, that bit of rain that started on Saturday at the Farmer's Market turned into a deluge that dumped 38 inches on our poor little saturated island! 

 I feel so fortunate that i happened to pick a place up on a hillside on the side of a cliff, so that if anything was going to happen to us, we'd just slide off into the ocean :) 

So today we drove all the way around the island (as far as the road goes anyways) and headed up into the spectacular Waimea Canyon...

the dirt is so red here, i just had to get a photo, 'cause i thought it looked cool...

We even spotted a feral goat down on the ridge!  (impossible to see in the photo)

Chris decided to show us the signs :)

When we reached the Kalalau Lookout and Pu'u o Kila Lookout at the top of Koke'e State Park, it was completely whited out with fog and a chilly drizzle of rain, so we decided to do our hiking lower where it was still sunny and warmer...

And we were treated to the lovely sight of a beautiful band rainbow stretched across the canyon...  can you see it above the falls?

Of course we had to reward ourselves with the best shaved ice on the island... Jojo's in Waimea! 

 I can totally relate to this sign :) ....

We then proceed to drive the rest of the way up the west side, just so we could say we did it! After braving spine realignment along a jarring 5 miles of an extremely rutted dirt road to Polihale Beach, we were treated to the beautiful remote vistas of the southern tip of the Na'a Pali Coast

The lovely sunset soothed us as we made our way back home....



I tried to capture the breathtaking full moon as it rose over the ridge, but this was as good as i could get...

We slept well after this big day!

Rest Day ~ Hanalei Farmers' Market, Pu'u Poa Beach & skip bo!

Today, we recuperated our sore muscles (which was perfect since it decided to rain pretty much all day here) with a trip to the Farmers' Market in Hanalei where dad went nuts... he was like a kid in a candy store picking all the unique and funky looking fruits he could find!  And we had to pick up our dinner (ono/wahoo) from the fish market... here's our bounty...

 Dad was very excited in particular to hack into and drink from his fresh coconut...

"This is way better than any milk I've ever had!!"

He also was excited to show me the monkey face on the older coconut he found at a beach yesterday... so which one is the monkey face? :)

Chris and i then proceeded to take a commanding lead in our Skip-bo tournament...

After we gave them such a beating, it was time to stretch our legs with a walk/rappel/climb down to Pu'u Poa beach below our condo...

Did i mention i'm starting to see a pattern here with steep and muddy?

We had the beach to ourselves and enjoyed watching some surfers...

The Chicken Whisperer....

That's all for now, it's time for dinner!