J and A's Excellent Adventure

We visited Kauai along with Ted, Erika, Devin and Tom for Thanksgiving.

JJ with Lei

Our trip started out well after Andreas won the United Airlines midpoint to Hawaii game and we got a free travel guide! We received wooden Leis at the resort to start off the Hawaiian vacation.

Andreas with Lei

We realized this is JJ's third time in Hawaii (one time each Oahu, Maui, and Kauai), Andreas' second time in Hawaii (one time each Oahu, and Kauai) Not too bad..

The condo was amazing with a pimped out kitchen, stunning views and a cabinet for Devin (and JJ) to hide in.

Juliette doesn't quite fit (Devin and Juliette).

Devin hiding in the cabinet.

Cabinet for hiding (Devin)

The Sunsets from the condo were awesome..

Sunset from condo.

Group shot of sunset from condo (Andreas, Juliette, Erika, Ted, Tom and Devin in front).

There was also a neat pool with an Island and mini Golf.

Hanging out at the family pool (Ted, Erika, Juliette, Devin).

Andreas and Juliette drove up Waimea Canyon (see track below) for a stunning hike and a view of the Na Pali Coast.

Driving Route along Waimea Canyon.

The hike was downhill to the viewpoint and then uphill on the way back. The GPS and elevation profiles are below.

GPS track of our hike.

Elevation Profile for our hike.

The photo below of Juliette and Andreasis at the viewpoint looking out at the Na Pali coast.

Juliette and Andreas with Na Pali Coast from the hike viewpoint.

Na Pali Coast from the hike viewpoint.

Flowers on the hike.

Waimea Canyon is impressive and looked like a smaller version of the Grand Canyon..

Waimea Canyon.

We had a lot of fun snorkeling/goggling. Our two favorite spots were Po'ipu (below) and Ke'e Beaches.

Po'ipu Beach

Can you identify this goggling photographer?

Here are some of the fish that we saw (and our attempt to identify them) with Moorish Idol our favorite. Please help with identification of some of the fish!

Surgeonfish (brown?)

Hawaiian Sergeant

Christmas Wrasse

Four spot Butterfly Fish

Fish Party!

Bluespine Unicornfish

Saddle Wrasse

Hawaii White Spotted Toby or Puffer Fish

Convict Tang/Convict Surgeonfish

Parrotfish (Speckled?)

Orangebar Surgeonfish

Chub (lowfin?)

Moorish Idol (our favorite)!!

Raccoon Butterfly Fish (JJ's second favorite)

Saddleback butterfly Fish

In addition to fish we also spotted a Hawaiian Monk Seal.

Sunbathing Monk Seal (Andreas' favorite)

Tom gave us a detailed tour of the North Side of the Island.

We stayed in the South side of the island (A). The purple line shows our trip to the far North of the Island (B and C).

We stopped by the Kilauea Lighthouse. Tom used his pass to get us all in for free!

Lighthouse on the left.

View from the lighthouse.

Most Northern Part of Kauai is behind us (Tom, Juliette, Andreas).

We visited the picturesque Anini Beach.

Group Shot at Anini Beach (Andreas, Juliette, Tom, Ted, Erika and Devin in the Front).

Devin enjoying Anini Beach

Enjoying Anini Beach.

View from Ke'e beach.

Andreas and Juliette enjoyed the coral reef and fish spotting at Ke'e beach. A spot that Tom knew about at the very end of the road near the beginning of the Na Pali coast.

We BBQed for Thanksgiving with Pork, Veggies, Poi, Kimchee, Shrimp for the meal and POG for drinking. For dessert we had a delicious Mango.

Andreas and Juliette went on a Blue Hawaiian helicopter tour of Kauai. Our pilot was laid back Joffrey. Some views from the tour are below.

Hanalei Bay

Na Pali Coast

Andreas and Juliette after the helicopter tour with our copter in the background.

The current weather in Kauai. Wish we were still there!

We had a mini adventure in Tahoe, Nevada with Incline Village as our base camp. We enjoyed the 5 Lakes hike near Alpine Meadows. We found all 5 lakes. The one below was the biggest and the prettiest (the one on the lower left corner in the Google Map).

Largest of the 5 Lakes.

Between the largest lake and another lake.

This lake was also quite serene.

Lake with some ducks.

Here is our route on a Google map (7.88 km/ 5 miles total) and the elevation profile for the 5 Lakes Hike.

Our GPX for the 5 Lakes Hike.

Our Elevation Profile for the 5 Lakes Hike.

Our next adventure was the "world famous" Flume Trail. Our hosts dropped us off at Spooner Lake and then we road back to their house, which meant we had a very nice one way ride. The first part of the route is on a steep, dusty dirt road up to Marlette Lake. We were rewarded for our hard work with a beautiful lake and a bald eagle! Unfortunately, we didn't get any good photos of the bald eagle, but it dove for some fish in the lake right next to us and it also made the classic eagle screech.

There is a brief glimpse of the eagle in this video.

Lunch at Marlette Lake.

Marlette Lake

Juliette riding by Marlette Lake onto the Flume Trail.

After the lake it was onto the Flume Trail!

Our first look at Tahoe from the Flume Trail.

Sand Harbor from the Flume Trail. Looks like a postcard.

Sand Harbor below.

The Flume Trail has spectacular views, but is not for people frightened of heights.

Juliette on the Flume Trail with a steep drop off to the right.

Taking a break on the Flume Trail.

We finished the Flume Trail and next was a sandy and slippery ride down Tunnel Creek Road.

We finished the Flume Trail.

Awesome view from Tunnel Creek Road. Just watch out for the sand.

Sandy Tunnel Creek Road.

Here is our route (24.7 km/ 15 miles total) for the Flume Trail and the elevation profile (we didn't have good signal for this elevation profile so there are some gaps).

Our route for the Flume Trail.

Elevation Profile for Flume Trail Ride.

To our surprise at the end of the Flume Trail we came across an area that was used for filming the tv show "Bonanza" and also used as a Bonanza amusement park. Bonanza must be popular in Germany (Andreas had seen the show, but I had not).