Last Day in the USA

Well, technically not the last day, but the last full day. But you get the point. Tomorrow at 1:00pm Hawaiian time, I leave for the Far East! Woohoo! I am very excited :) But before I get into details of my trip to China and Vietnam, it's time for a little recap of the events of the past week.

On Wednesday, my mom and I made it out to our wonderful hotel on Kauai. It had a bunch of pools, a water slide and a bar by the ocean. It was pretty awesome. Thursday, we spent our time relaxing by the pools, enjoying Pina Coladas and reading. Friday was our first big sightseeing day. We first ventured out to Waimea Canyon, driving along the 11 mile road that hugs the western side of the canyon. The weather was slightly overcast and it rained at times, but my mom and I loved the magnificent sights. Then we headed back east and stopped along the way at Kipu Falls. A small, 30-foot waterfall hidden off of a side road outside of Lihue, it was one of my favorite places in Kauai. I jumped off the rope swing into the clear pool below twice, and then we watched other tourists and locals do the same. We stopped back by the hotel for a few hours and then headed out for our last stop of the day: sunset dinner at the Beach House. The Beach House is an awesome restaurant in Poipu that sits right on the water and has stunning sunset views. Having reserved our table a few days before, my mother and I got a first-class table for two by the window. We enjoyed a delightful three course meal and watched the sun slip behind the Hawaiian mountains. As I went to sleep that night, I had little idea of what awaited me on Saturday.

Saturday featured a five hour rafting trip along the Na Pali coastline. The Na Pali coast is the western coast of Kauai, and there are three main ways to see it: by boat, by helicopter or by hiking. Not quite ready for a daunting 11-mile hike, we chose the boat. Our choice of boat however was more like a raft - kind of like a Zodiac, where you sit on the sides or the back of the raft in seats. As our tour began, we set out from the southwestern shore of Kauai and sped along the coast dotted with beaches. On our trip out we saw two pods of spinner dolphins. They were rather sleepy but it was fun to see them skimming the surface of the water. Then we traveled up the western coast and saw the towering cliffs of the Na Pali coast. The cliffs are the second highest sea cliffs in the world, and also the second fastest eroding cliffs. After rafting for about three hours, we stopped for a lunch break to eat, hike a little and snorkel. Snorkeling was my favorite part of our stop. I saw many different types of fish - my favorite was striped with royal blue, red, white and gray-green. Pretty awesome. After disembarking from our luncheon bay, we rafted one more hour back to the small harbor we left from, enjoying the opportunity to see one more pod of spinners before we left. The trip was a lot of fun, but left me quite sore the next day.

On Sunday, I saw farewell to my mother, and I have been relaxing and packing in Honolulu ever since. I am excited to see China, nervous about my new teaching role and thrilled to have this wonderful opportunity. I hope that all my travels go well and safely, and I look forward to tell you all about them right here! Until then... goodbye!