Hawaii and San Diego

We recently took a great trip out west to Hawaii and San Diego!  It was Avery's first time to HI and CA.  We first flew to Lihue on the island of Kaua'i.  The island is the farthest northwest and one of the least populated (only 50,000 people live on the island!).  We had a first class upgrade on our flight from San Francisco to Hawaii too!  Avery enjoyed first class

And Colleen enjoyed the Mai Tai's they served us!

Our Marriott resort was really neat!  It had the largest pool in Hawaii

With spa/hotubs underneath the columns that you had to swim to:

We drove up the road into Waimea Canyon which was almost a mile deep

and out the other side was a great view of the Napali Coast from about a mile above sea level (5100')

Ironically because the trade winds were reversed, the usual rainy peak was under clear sky.  In fact it is known as the wettest spot on earth, yet there were crystal clear skies!

We also took advantage of some of the remote beaches, and hiked up the southwest coast of the island where there is 16 miles of uniterrupted beach with no access points except each end, and you can go without seeing anyone, like you're own private beach:

Avery found a washed up coconut, and boy did she love it!  She banged on it, and enjoyed playing in the sand, she was so happy there!

 The water temp was 79 degrees so we hiked around and took advantage of beaches protected by lava rocksboulders from the waves so we could snorkel.  It was amazing how many fish we could see!  You couldn't even extend your arms to swim hard or you would have bumped into to all the fish!  We wish we had an underwater camera for it!  We also like the protected beaches without waves because Avery could float in her little floatie.  We had to ease her into the water because she was a little uneasy about it but she warmed up to the idea and began to like it

We also explored around the north coast to Hanalei Bay

And saw the Kilauea Lighthouse:

There were also waterfalls, waterfalls, everywhere, some small and some really big:

Notice there was a small white object in the photo near the bottom of the waterfall, when we zoomed in on the picture it was...a helicopter!

We saw a neat natural feature called Spouting Horn, it is a hole in the lava rocks that creates a large water spray and hissing sound with each wave!  (The legend was a giant lizard lives in the hole)  Another one nearby used to be larger but a few decades ago a farmer blew it up with dynamite because it was getting salty water blowing over his field and ruining his crops!

We also enjoyed spending time at the resort, we enjoyed having Pina Colladas

Avery and Colleen also spent some time relaxing, each busy with their "toys"

Avery also did an 8th month photo shoot on the beach by the resort, we can't wait to get the hard copy prints!

Avery also inspired her mom to do a photo shoot!

One thing that was interesting was there were roosters and chickens all over the place!  They were freed during a hurricane in 1992 and thrive there, they were everywhere!

It was a great place to visit, Hawaii was so beautiful!  We didn't want to leave but it was time to fly to San Diego for part II of the trip!  We will miss Hawaii and can't wait to return!

We flew out on Alaska Airlines from Lihue to San Diego and arrived Thursday night.

The first night we stayed at the Marriott downtown.  From our hotel we could overlook Petco Park, the harbor, a large cruise ship:

We stopped by Jim's old work at Caltrans, Avery is a future Caltrans worker:

Then we met up with Grandma and Grandpa Dahlem (Jim's dad and stepmom) for lunch downtown:

The next day we went to lunch with Colleen's cousin, Charlene, who is a senior at UCSD:


Then we went hiking up Iron Mountain, Avery enjoyed the backpack ride on daddy:

We enjoyed the view from the top:

 And Avery tried to rip Jim's hair out, notice him whincing!

You could even see part of the skyline 40 miles away:

Avery, however, was more interested in her paci:

Then that night we went to Colleen's old favorite pizza place in San Diego, Luigi's Pizza where we met up with our friend Ryan and LJ who lives in San Diego:

Avery was eyeing up the giant slices they serve

Finally on Sunday morning we flew out back home.  Avery was so worn out from the 9-day trip that she slept almost the whole flight home:

Our next big trip is a 9-day trip to New England this summer over 4th of July.  By the time we take that trip, Avery will have flown over 16,000 miles, been to 11 airports, and been on 5 different airlines by the time she is one!  She will be one experienced flier: