What's with all the hitchhikers?!

Sunday morning I woke up just after 7am. I watched a sheet of rain pass over the coastline and listened to the chickens crow for a bit before deciding to wake up Josh. I was excited to walk down to the beach (something we had yet to do) and check out the rest of the resort. It took some coaxing, but I finally got Mr. Sleepyhead up and at 'em. While I was brewing a pot of coffee, Josh "read the Sunday paper", albeit online, so he could check up on the Cardinals and the Mizzou Tigers.





We split a pot of "chocolate caramel macadamia" Kona coffee, and had some cereal before exploring "The Beach Boy @ Coconut Beach". After returning to our room, we got ready for church. I had looked up a Lutheran church online before our trip, and as it turned out, Lihu'e Lutheran Church is the oldest Lutheran church on all of the islands of Hawaii.



Parking for the church was virtually non-existent, but as we were parking along the side of the road, a woman in another vehicle was trying to figure out where she'd park too. She ended up parking in front of us, and we talked to her as we walked up to the beautiful little building. Maryann who was originally from Estonia, had moved to the United States in 1956 and lived with a host family in East Alton, Illinois before moving to Kauai!

The place was packed! And after having only the members of the church stand, we discovered that nearly 80% of the congregation were visitors. The pastor was lovingly hilarious and extremely passionate. The service was inspiring and unforgettable; there was even a baby's baptism. The kids of the parish were who were trying to raise money to go to New Orleans were selling homemade beignets (french pastries) and gumbo. Both were delicious!



My mom had called while we were in mass to let us know she had hopped on an earlier flight. We arrived at the airport just as she had, and we zipped off to find something to eat. She had suggested a restaurant, but when we pulled into the parking lot, we saw signs posted everywhere for "Sunday Buffet - $24.95". Um...no. We turned around and stopped at Macy's; I still had to find a swimsuit!

We decided to try out this little Taqueria in Kapa'a. The good news: It was all very yummy. The bad news: They only served us one basket of chips. Josh and I ordered a pina coloda for my mom, and she happily drank it!



After lunch we grabbed some snorkles and went to Lydegate, a public beach with a nice little manmade cove for swimming and snorkling. There were quite a few colorful fish out there, but the water was a bit murky due to the higher waves crashing over the rock seawall. The water was a bit cold and the wind was a tad chilly, but nonetheless we had a great time.



My dad was going to be arriving on the island sometime around 8:00, so we still had time to kill. Since we were already in swimsuits, we went back to our resort and hopped in the heated pool with beers in hand. That proved to be too chilly for me, so we squeezed our way into the hottub and claimed a corner for ourselves. The other tub-goers were drunk and talkative. One man with really bad tattoes owned a mechanical subcontracting business. Another man with leathery skin owned 6,600 acres of land in Wyoming and claims to have the third most complete triceritops in the world! His website: www.paleopark.com did not have any photos of said dynosaur, but to his credit, probably wouldn't until the unveling in 2010.

My mom wanted to hit up Safeway before picking up my dad, so Josh and I decided to stock up on soy sauce, since here in Kaua'i 1 gallon tanks are readily available.



Once my dad landed, we took my parents over to their condo and came back to ours. We snacked on chips and cookies for dinner and got to bed sometime before midnight.

Now it's Monday and we're heading back to my parent's condo so we can take them to pick up their rental car. And I had better quit typing since I promised my mom I'd be there at a quarter til 10.

Warning! A Full Day of Flying May Result in Paradise.

Josh and I awoke to the annoying sound of our alarm this morning at 5:45. Within 10 minutes, we had dressed, finished packing and were out the door. Okay, that might be a stretch, but, my dad was there within minutes of our waking and so we finished getting ready and made our way over to the airport to begin the long and grueling process of flying to Kaua'i.

We first had to fly into Phoenix before making our connecting flight to Lihue (la-hoo-ie; not lye-hoo).






















This flight was supposed to be 3 hours, but by the time they de-iced the plane and applied an anti-freeze solution to the exterior, we had sat on the mat an extra 45 minutes. The flight wasn't so bad, but upon arriving in Phoenix, we got stuck sitting on the runway for a good 20 minutes while waiting for our gate to clear up. I began to get nervous, as we had a connecting flight to make and didn't want us or our luggage to miss that plane! Eventually they pulled us into a new gate and we had just enough time to scarf down some fries and Starbucks before boarding the plane to "Paradise".



We totally lucked out on this flight. The man occupying the third seat in our row moved to a different seat as soon as our plane reached the maximum altitude, leaving the whole row to ourselves for the 7+ hour flight. I will not bore with the details of the flight, but it wasn't so bad. After flying over the Pacific for hours and hours, we finally, we saw some land; Oahu.



A short while later, we were touching down in Kaua'i and it was amazing!



After obtaining our rental car (a Chrysler Sebring convertible) and checking into our resort, Josh and I went to Wal-Mart and Safeway to load up on eats and treats. We had passed what looked to be a nice little seafood restaurant on our to the condo, so after unloading the groceries, we went back out to see if it was any good. It was! Josh got a 12 ounce New York Strip Steak with asparagus and macadamia nut, garlic mashed potatoes. I ordered the Sea Bass which came served over the same macadamia nut, garlic mashers, spinach and a mushroom/pesto sauce. Whatever is was, we loved our meal.



However, there was something strange about this Wahoo place; there was a donkey roaming around outside! Kids were petting it, then eating their dinners and no one seemed alarmed at this!



Well, now i think it's time to get a wee-little sleep. It has been one very long day, and I'm already looking forward to whatever events tomorrow may bring.

Just Because

I've decided to start a blog about...us! Not just about our house this time; I intend to post good ol' fashion ridiculousness and absolute absurdity.

Okay, and I suppose I might blog about things of a serious nature too...