what to do in kauai: day two

• Wake up early and drive up north to the Na Pali Coast.  Depending on how adventurous you are, you can do one of several different length hikes.  The hubby and I originally planned to hike four miles in to a waterfall, but unfortunately we underestimated the difficulty of the trail and overestimated our abilities.  The trail wasn't necessarily too strenuous, but it was very slick and pretty scary on some parts.  But the views can't be beat though.  We hiked two miles in to a beautiful, secret beach and after resting and enjoying a snack, we hiked the two miles back out.  

• Eat lunch in Hanalei, the absolute cutest town ever. Beau and I found such a wonderful restaurant.  I got a delicious chicken pesto sandwich and Beau ate the world's largest burger.  According to my standards at least.

• Stop at more scenic lookouts.  Cause boy oh boy is this island beautiful.

• Swing by a local fruit stand and get some local produce.  Beau found his favorite fruit of all time, rambutan.  He is seriously obsessed with these fruits.  He was one happy man when we found some fresh ones for him.  

• Eat ice cream at the BEST ice cream shop I've ever been to.  Seriously this place had the most delectable ice cream and sorbet I've ever eaten.  And the owner of the shop was super nice! Oh and he also swears there are drugs in the ice cream.  And perhaps its true, because it was oh so addicting.

• And finally, end your day relaxing at your wonderful hotel.

what to do in kauai: day one

So you're planning a trip to the beautiful island of Kauai.  

But if you're like me, you're overwhelmed by the surplus of information on the internet about all the great things to you could do.

To be honest, we did minimal planning, but ended up with a great trip.

Typically I would not suggest minimal planning, but since it was such a small island, it was easy to be spontaneous and kind of decide what to do as we went along.

Day one suggestions for you:

• Eat breakfast overlooking the water.

• Go on a drive up Waimea Canyon and enjoy the view. This beautiful canyon is known as the "Grand Canyon of the Pacific" and I do believe it held up to that review.  It was seriously majestic.  My only piece of advice?  Take something small to snack on while you drive up and down the canyon.  I'm not one to get car sick, but boy did those winding switchbacks just about do me in.  If you do get motion sickness easily, I might even recommend some Dramamine.  Going up wasn't terrible and the view at the top makes all of it worth it, but going back down was a little on the rough side. Just be prepared for potentially nauseating roads.  

• Stop and take a picture of goats. Oh, is that weird?  Don't worry, my husband thought so too.  Just look at him though, he's just so cute.  And I couldn't help but think about this scene from one of my favorite TV shows.

• Be prepared to stop every 1000 feet or so (okay maybe that's a slight exaggeration) to check out the scenic overlooks.  You might think you'd get tired of stopping at 'em, but seriously, the views never get old.  

• Hang out and relax at your hotel.  If you're like us and were crazy enough to get up at 4:00am to catch a 6:45am flight, you're probably exhausted at this point.

christmas getaway

Over the past few months the hubby and I have been a bit on the busy side.  

On the very busy side.

So when I finished my semester of school and Beau finished teaching for the semester,

we were eager to take some time for ourselves.

And let me tell you, over the past week and a half we have had such a fun time.

The day after Christmas we hopped on a plane at Honolulu airport and 20 minutes later we were stepping off a plane at Lihue airport in Kauai, HI.

This was my first time traveling to another Hawaiian island and it was absolutely gorgeous.

Seriously, the island was breath-taking!

Rolling hills, stunning canyons, lush forests, sandy beaches and rocky coasts lined the small island.

Come back by in the next few days to see my list of things to do on a trip to Kauai!

Guess where I might be going next summer...

Hubby and I have been invited to go to on a trip this coming summer. 

Where, you might ask?

Bangladesh!

Yep, that's right, not the typical vacation country.

But that seems to be the pattern with us.  

Because let me tell you, India was no vacation either. 

But as much as we love vacations, 

we'd rather travel around saving the world. 

Alright alright, so it's not like we're saving the world necessarily, 

but we definitely are doing some good in it.

via

We've been invited to help do a statistics evaluation for a program through the University of Dhaka.

From what I understand of the program so far, they help save girls and women from the sex trade

and give them a better life by teaching them skills and educating them.  

Anyhow, so my professor who took us to India back in 2010 

wants us to go on this trip as well.  The majority of the team (about 15 people including my professor) 

will probably only go for about 2 weeks.  A couple people need to go ahead of time to set the project up though, so my professor has asked us to go for about 2 months.  

Yep, we'd basically be living in Bangladesh for the summer.

via

I'll actually be graduated by next summer (April graduation! wooo!) and since hubby is no

longer in school either, it's surprising that the school would still fund us to go.  

But lucky for us, our school is AWESOME and has already approved funding for the project.

So now it's just up to us.

We've got big decisions ahead of us people...

a typical ride on the North Shore of Oahu

North Carolina, I think you're pretty enough to move to one day

On vacation we spent a week at Topsail, NC with Beau's family.  

There was about 25 of us all packed into two beautiful beach houses.  

We spent the week bumming it at the beach, surfing, paddle boarding, kayaking, and just exploring the beach.

The beach was so different from in Hawaii, but it was absolutely gorgeous.  Hawaii has beautiful water, but the beaches themselves are super narrow.  It was nice to be able to be on such a wide beach.  

We had such a fun week and can't wait to spend another vacation with everyone next summer. 

Yep, that would be a shark washed up on the beach. Cool? Gross? You choose.