Waterfalls, Old Shoes and Satisfaction

We hiked to two waterfalls. For the first one, we kayaked inland up Wailua River before hiking into the jungle. This is the same forest where Indiana Jones almost got stuck with darts at the very beginning of Raiders. It is easy to see why so many movies have been filmed here -- Kaua'i is covered with primeval forests, and they are both psychologically transporting and quite easy to get lost in. We did get lost on our way back -- only for 5 minutes, but they were my favorite 5 minutes. Our kayak matched the gorgeous blended colors of the most common flower in the trees -- and the Tevas I'm wearing are the same ones that took me through West Africa and down to southern Mexico. They belonged to Mom before me and are such good friends that taking them out of service would lessen the experience of travel. They're only a decade old; time to replace the velcro again and I'm sure they'll see me to another continent.

The second hike was much longer, took an entire day and involved no tour guide; definitely the more dramatic and satisfying of the two. We wore our bathingsuits and left the car at the end of the island's one big road. Brian is standing in front of the beach half way to the big falls, Hanakapi'ai. The cave with the breathtaking water is directly behind him in this shot. It was spooky -- the water was gorgeous as far as the sunlight reached, and then the cave was pitch black -- but the water continued through like a tunnel. You can sort of see it in this picture, but it was like swimming through a lava bubble -- floating on my back looking up at the black jagged angles of the ceiling, it was very easy to imagine the volcanic birth of the island. The edges seem so sharp, just barely weathered.
Very exciting -- enchanting, transporting, and now part of a memory already.

These beautiful columbine greeted us upon our return to our home, where after a day of confused exhaustion we are successfully recalibrating to life as normal. We will have been together 7 years as of tomorrow, 5/20/2008, and married 3 years as of 5/25. It was truly wonderful to dedicate a whole week to enjoying each other, with no obligations to distract us from that priority -- the greater challenge now is how to navigate work and life while maintaining the enjoyment of the connection.