Thanksgiving in Kauai

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Wednesday November 25, 2009
We left for the airport in Bennie this morning at 6 am. We arrived at the airport just fine and got to our terminal about an hour before our flight left. We had some spare time so we did some yoga! It was very relaxing and was a great way to prepare for our week of adventure! We arrived in Kauai at about ten we had to wait at the airport while Jake went and picked up our mini van that we named Vinny The Venture Van!
Once we got all our stuff loaded into Vinny we headed to Wal-mart to pick up sleeping bag and some food supplies. After Wal-mart we headed up to the north side of the island. We stopped at a farmers market that had lots of cute Hawaiian and hippy stuff. Then we went to Wailua Falls! It was huge and amazing! we put our suits on and took this trail that you have to know right where it is in order to find it. We hiked right down to the falls and went behind it! It was crazy! So much power and beauty and we were right in the middle of it. It was a great first stop on the trip. Then we stopped at this awesome surfing spot because the guys had to get out and watch! It was cool there were amazing waves and some really good surfers.
We went to this out of the way beach to do some exploring. We had to cross a river that went into the ocean in order to get the beach. It was a beautiful place. It was a totally natural beach that was right up against this hillside. There was this really big area that the trees hung over the beach and created a way cool over hang. We decided to camp there because it was really pretty and out of the way. We named our little corner of paradise Pirates Cove!
We had a great evening setting up camp, telling stories and jokes,and roasting marshmallows and hot dogs. Then night time came! It started to rain so we moved all of our tents and forts and combined them to make the super-fortress! Then it started to rain and rain and then poor and pretty soon we were right in the middle of a down poor! It was a crazy storm and our super-fortress turned out to be not so super! We got soaked! The tent was definitely not water proof, it was totally useless! We all huddled under the one tarp that was keeping most of the water out but all of our stuff and clothes were pretty wet. I totally felt like I was on survivor! It was so crazy!
Thursday:
In the morning it was still raining really hard and we decided to get out of there before it got any worse. Jake went out to see if the river was cross-able and to see if we would be able to get our stuff out. The river did get higher and the current was a lot stronger but we made it across. We hauled all of our stuff in big garbage bags holding them over our head. We had to load all of our wet stuff in to Vinny! It was still raining pretty hard too so we had to get in the van wet! We drove to a little camp site that wasn't too far away to put some dry cloths on and rinsed off the best we could. Then we stopped at the gas station to get some hot chocolate because we were all freezing and had about a twenty minute drive to the nearest town. The hot chocolate machine wasn't very good and some of us ( not me) only got hot water and they drank it anyway because they were so cold and still wet! Then our next goal was to find a laundry mat so we could dry all of our stuff! We had to do five loads in the big driers and it took about an hour. We used this time to brush our teeth and wash our faces in the water hook up outside. We were quit the secne. We also met another group if bum backpackers that got rained out and were drying there stuff too! Haley and I then went to the Burger King that was right across the parking lot to get a big box to put our really dirty and wet tents and tarp in so they wouldn't get the rest of our now dry stuff all wet again. It was my idea because I was in charge of packing the car.
After we got all our stuff packed and we were cleaned up a little we went to Kalae's house to say hi. He is Haley and Bart's friend from school and he said that we should stop by to say so we did. He told us where there was a really big water fall that we had to see. It was cool but you couldn't get close to it and it was really muddy water because of all the rain. We called it the muddy falls. Then it was lunch time, we didn't really have a game plan yet so we decided that a nice little picnic in the pizza hut parking lot would be a great place to eat and decide our next move! We looked like true bums! We even got really funny looks form this lady with an eye patch that was wandering around the dumpster.
Our nest stop was a town called Pupo. That is where a lot of the resorts and really nice beaches are. There is also this really big cliff that the guys wanted to jump off. I would have done it but it was a really long swim back to shore and the waves were pretty big. It was fun to watch them and we went swimming in one of the really nice swimming pools that was right off the beach. We started looking for the hot tubs but apparently the workers noticed that we didn't belong and they kicked us out!
That's when we met up with one of Austins really good friends from home that was spending Thanksgiving in Kauai with his family. We got to use the hot tub at their resort and then they fed us this amazing Thanksgiving dinner! It was way more than any of us were expecting! There was turkey and ham and rolls and jello and pie! They were so nice. We didn't stay too long after dinner because it was dark and we had to set up camp. The beach that we went to was about forty minutes away. It was a beautiful beach and we just slept under the stars. Luckily the rain had stopped and we stayed nice and dry.
Friday:
Today we hiked Waimea Canyon. We stopped at some of the view points to take pictures. It is so pretty! Its like the grand canyon but in Hawaii! It took us about two hours to hike in. At the end of the trial there are two water falls. One that looks like a giant X, we climbed up through the bushes to get on top of it. Then we went to the other water fall, that was the main water fall in the cannon. It was huge! So high and we were right on top of it! we even laid out in the sun for a little bit on some of the rocks that are right before the drop off! It was ridiculous! I felt like I was on top of the world!
After we hiked back to the car we drove farther up to the best view point of the Na'Pali coast. We jumped over the big brick wall and had lunch in the best picnic place in the world! It was the most beautiful place I've ever seen. We were higher than some of the clouds!
After lunch we made our way to the longest beach in Hawaii! It was a pretty long drive and we had to do some off roading, we weren't sure if Vinny was going to make it but he did. We played on the beach of the rest of the afternoon and then set up camp. Dr. man (aka one of Jake's friends) came to camp with us and he brought Costco pizza with him! It was awesome! It was cold so I tried to warm mine up over the fire by putting it on a 2x4 that we found, it didn't really work to well but I received a bum point for the effort. Let me explain bum points. All week we were living like bums so for each act that was "bum like" we awarded that person a bum point! Things like peeing in the woods, changing in public places, drinking hot water that was suppose to be hot chocolate, sharing toothpaste,and brushes, not showering for four days, washing your hair in the river, warming up pizza on a 2x4, using a hot tub as a bath and some others! It was great.
Anyway, this beach that we stayed on the last night was totally amazing possibly the most beautiful place on the earth. It went on for miles and there was nobody there but us! We watched the sun set over Nihue. Then we decided to wake up at 3:17 to watch the moon set. It was unreal! It looked like a small whitish sun set at night!Then the sky was still pretty light because there were so many stars! I never thought that camping could be this cool, only on Kauai I guess!
Saturday:
We slept in a little bit and enjoyed the morning on the beach. Then we packed up camp and headed back to the nearest town to get some breakfast. We got some fruit and donuts from the super market and again had a little picnic in a parking lot. (bum point for all) then the girls went across the street to the gas station to "clean up" in the bathroom. We were starting to look a little dirty ha! Then we went to Keystone beach. This place was wicked cool. It use to be an old dump site. There is a beach, blue water, black lava flow, and garbage! It was cool garbage like super old rusted motors and train parts, and a ton of broken glass. It was pretty neat to see. We wandered around there for a while then made our way through the jungle to this little cove that again was beautiful and deserted! It was a really nice little beach/swimming area. After that we wondered into a really old cemetery on our way back to Vinny. It was pretty neat to see all the old Hawaiian names, the oldest person that we found was born in 1852.
For our last stop we went to this super amazing river that became a water fall into a pond called Kipu falls. It was like heaven! We had to really hike through the jungle (when I say jungle it's like ten feet tall grass everywhere) to get there. It was so cool. My favorite spot on the trip! We climbed across to the middle of the river and jumped off the water fall, then there was this massive tree that had a rope swing tied to it and you swing on it into the big pond! It was so much fun! I did it five times. We hung out here till it was nearly dark, but before we left we washed our hair in the river! It felt so good to rinse off in clean, non-salt water.
For our victory dinner we went to NO.1 chines food. It was a little place that we had seen a few times and decided it would be a good cheap victory dinner. It was really good! Then we cleaned up the car and headed to Wal-mart to kill some time before the airport. We tried on Mumus and got some post cards. And finally it was off to the airport.
It was a great trip and probably one of the best experiences I've ever had!

SKY DIVING VIDEO!!

SKY DIVING!

This Saturday me and three of my best friends signed our lives away and jumped out of a plane! It was AMAZING!!! We have been talking about doing it for a few weeks now and we did it. We had to sign like ten pages of paperwork saying that we understand that this is extremely dangerous and may result in serious injury or death! HA apparently they didn't want to get sued! Then we got all harnesses on and our jump instructors told us what we had to do (Which isn't much) then we took some fun pictures. The plane ride up was really fun and such an amazing view. Haley and Erica were pretty scared but I was just excited! We jumped from 12,000 feet and we free fell for about two minutes at 120 miles per hour! it was crazy! Then the chute opened and it was like falling in slow motion. My instructor let me control the chute for a little while, that was really cool! The view on the way down was the prettiest thing I've ever seen in my life! Then we landed. And I am still alive!

We all got certificates for completing our first tandem jump! Our hair looks like we just jumped out of a plane! SO FUN! I can't wait to do it again!!
The video was taken by a random instructor that went on the jump with us just for fun, I think he liked Haley the best lol.

Also the reason I haven't posted for so long is that I have been working a lot! I work at McDonald's for those of you who don't already know. Its pretty fun. I like the people that I work with and I like working there for the most part. I really only dislike it when I have to clean the bathrooms, kinda nasty. Its a good short term job, and I can get way more hours there than I would working on campus!
My next adventure is spending thanksgiving in Kauai!
Until next time! :) leave comments!

WARNING! DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME

On Wednesday Me and some friends decided to go on a little 14 mile hike up to Laie falls! It was soo pretty! It was a fairly easy hike and the water fall and pond felt really good after hiking for two hours! The trail was super muddy cuz it had been raining earlier that day but that made it even more fun specially because we all wore flip flops! This is my friend Austin

The water was freezing!!!!

We saw this sign on the way up and we all thought it was pretty funny that the people of Laie warn the drivers that they have slow kids at play! I had to take a picture by it! Ok so this was Wednesday oct 14.

This is a picture from last Saturday. Me and Erica at Ala Moana mall in Honolulu! We really wanted to go to the swap meet that is usually held every Saturday at Aloha stadium but it had been canceled because U of H had an early football game that day, so we hit up the mall for a bit instead. It is a huge mall and we had a good time just wondering around. And this was Saturday oct 10. Im a little out of order. haha oh well :)

Yesterday was another amazing Hawaiian Saturday! I went cliff jumping with a bunch of friends and hung out on the beach for most of the day. In the video i was attempting a front half back tuck and as you can see i didn't quit make the second rotation all the around. I hit the water face and shines first instead of feet first! I was really close though and it really didn't hurt as much as it looked like it did! I love to sound affects! After we got back from the beach the school held its annual Food fest! This is a big party pretty much. All of the school clubs set up tents and sell food from their native countries and then there was a really cool free concert! They had Hawaiian dancers, tiaithsan dancers, and Samoan music and rega music! It was really awesome!

I really am smart!

So last Monday I had to take my first big test! It took me nearly two and a half hours in the testing center to take it and I studied for about three days for it. Today I finally got my grade on it and guess what! I got a 47 out of 50!! I feel like a stinking genius! (As I use spell check to fix like 5 misspelled words lol) Any way I was just really excited about that because I really didn't know how I was going to do. I had an other test this morning that I just finished and I think I did really good on it but we will see! Maybe it is possible to over come genetics! HAHA JUST KIDDING!

Saturday Bowling!

Saturday night after conference we decided we needed to do something fun and active because we had been sitting all day. Since we are all poor, and we don't have a car, our choices were pretty limited. It was also raining pretty hard for a while. We went bowling in the school game room! It was really fun! There were ten of us playing and it only cost 4 dollars each. I almost won the first game, I was winning till the 9th turn. It was a fun game especially because we are all really bad! The second game that we played we made up a rule for each round! That was really funny! We bowled with our eyes closed, with our bad hand, granny style, under the leg and from our stomach... we looked pretty stupid but it was really entertaining!

After that we decided we needed some ice cream so we walked to McDonald's, unfortunately they had just closed, bummer! So we walked to food land (grocery store) and got some treats instead.

Today I had a HUGE test that I just took! I was in the testing center for two and a half hours! Longest test ever! I think I did pretty good but who knows. All the Hawaiian Islands are on flash flood alert for today and tomorrow! Kinda scary, its been raining off and on today and its been super humid this whole week. But it is still nicer here than it is there!!! haha

Please if you are reading my blogs I really like comments :) Thanks!

ALOHA! Story of My Week

No pictures this time but I'm a little bored waiting for my friends to get off work so we can go to dinner so I thought I would tell you all how my week went. There have been a lot of firsts this week which is not unexpected, some where good and others not so much. I am enjoying my classes for the most part and I have a really good schedule. The only class I really don't like is my astronomy class. I thing that's just mostly because I'm not really interested and its a 100 level class so I feel like I'm back in high school/community college. The social work classes that I'm taking are good, its different now that I'm learning things I will actually need to know.
My first research paper was due today! It has been a while since I've had to do a paper like that but it wasn't too bad after I got started. Then I have my first big test on Monday so hopefully I can get my self into study mood this weekend so I can do good on that.
The weather has been super here! Its a little windy most days but it feels pretty good. Its 85 and sunny everyday! I did homework on the beach the other day, that was a pretty good first. I think I'm only going to do easy HW there though because its kinda hard to concentrate haha.
Another first: haha this one is kinda funny and mean and sad at the same time. There is this guy that I went out on a date with last Saturday. His name is Andy and he is from china. He is a really nice guy and he drives a 2007 blue convertible mustang. Ha so that date was fine, a little awkward cuz his English isn't really great but not bad.
So then he started texting me like everyday and it was getting weird for me cuz I could tell that he liked me, but I just like him as a friend. Then on night I missed dinner because I only have two meals a day and that day I had breakfast and lunch. I was fine but then he went to a fast food place without me asking or even hinting him too and he got me some chicken and a smoothie. So that's when he became my problem. So Monday he asked me if I would like to go out with him again on Saturday (tomorrow). Ok now I don't want to go out with him because I don't like him and I dont want to lead him on either. So I told him that I already had a date for Saturday, but I really didn't. Then Tuesday his facebook status was "from now on my CAR is my girlfriend!!!!" So now I feel bad but I feel like I did what I had to do. I think he'll get over it though and hopefully we can be friends.
Another First, I was officially dumped last night. I kinda knew it would happen and It is probably for the best because he is in Washington and I am in Hawaii but it is still a bummer. Oh well it was great while it lasted. So I'm a little hurt but being in Hawaii makes everything better!
Well thats all for now! ALOHA