travel diary: jackson hole, wy

every year gordon's grandma hardcastle takes the whole hardcastle clan to jackson hole, wyoming.  each family stays in different house in teton village.  we go a lot of places but this one is one of my favorites because we all get to stay in one big house as one big happy family!  once again, because of some phone upgrades and changes we lost some photos from our trip.  lucky for me, though, my talent sister in law, jenn, has started her own photography business and took some family photos of the gordon's sister's family and snapped a couple of me and little miss.  we were sort of stuck like glue the entire weekend playing princesses and stuff.  it might have been the best weekend of my life so far.  i could play princesses all day with her!

travel diary: kauai, hawaii day seven

the last couple of days on our trip were really relaxing.  we went to the beach (probably mahaulepu beach and spouting horn...i lost track of which beach we went to when at this point), played in the water, sunbathed...everything you would expect from an island trip.

free POG in our resort lobby.  POG = tropical fruit drink mix of passion fruit, orange and guava.  gordon and trevor got their monies worth that's for sure.

our last meal in hawaii was at the feral pig.  probably the best pulled pork sandwich i've ever had.

travel diary: kauai, hawaii day six

we decided to head down to the south shore of the island today.  we've been hearing about waimea canyon and how it is the 'grand canyon' of the kauai.  it was very large and very beautiful.  it blew our minds that on such a small island the climate was different.  the north shore is very tropical with lots of rainfall.  the south shore was dry and almost dessert like.  felt a little more like home.

**no photos of this but needs to noted was our lunch at shrimp station.  um, yeah, it was dang delicious.

after exploring waimea canyon the first half of the day and since we were down near the south shore, we decided to spend the rest of the day at polihale beach.  

this beach, though not as scenic as the others we had been to, ended up to be my favorite beach we went to on our trip.  the water was calm so we could play and bodyboard without the large ocean waves sweeping us away.  we packed some food for dinner and stayed the rest of the day to see the sunset and stars.  it was perfect.

travel diary: kauai, hawaii day four and five

on day four we did so more beach lounging.  we went to mahaulepu beach.  while exploring we overhead some folks talking about a hidden beach that was over the hills.  hidden beach?  yes please!  we went on a little adventure and found ha'ula beach.  although gordon made the trek in flip flops, it was 100% worth it.  we were the only ones there!

on day five we took a na'pali coast raft tour.  i would be lying if i said i wasn't a tad bit afraid of the little pontoon raft they put us on.  i held on for dear life (especially since falling off could have meant death for this non-swimmer!) and eventually enjoyed the ride.  

along the way we saw a couple of dolphin pods.  once again, we had photos and videos of it all but they are gone!

parts of jurassic park were filmed along this coast!

we stopped to snorkel.  this snorkeling experience was so much better than our mexico trip.  i was a little more afraid of the water 7+ years ago.  thank you madison for a few secret swimming lessons!

travel diary: kauai, hawaii day three

**so we lost some photos from our trip!  that's never happened to us before...but gordon upgraded phones and in the process all of our hawaii photos on his phone were lost! thank goodness for point and shoots! photos missing from this day include: ke'e beach and some kids using a machete to cut open a coconut for me to drink from.  we also took video of that process and it was also lost in the phone transfer.

we couldn't wait to do some hiking!  kalalau trail along the na pali coast was the trail we knew would fit the bill of tropical heaven.  and indeed it did!

let me just say that we could have hiked all day every day with the ease that sea level gives to us mountain dwellers.  it was soooo easy.  we kept saying to each other "this is pretty steep and my mind is telling me i should be tired but my body isn't even phased by it." the ease of it all topped with the aroma of smashed passion fruit all along the trail made me think i was in hiking heaven.

pointing at ke'e beach (a beach that would soon be our refreshing end to sweaty hike upon our return).

tropical heaven.

these views for miles, that blue water...oh take me back!

we're not in utah anymore!

all the death and warning signs made all of laugh.

death or glory, that's what we always say.

the first of many river crossings.

pit stop at hanakapi'ai beach before heading to the water fall. 

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our first sight of the waterfall!

unbelievable!  and a great spot for lunch.

we wanted to see if we could pick some fresh fruit...team work success right there!

it rained off and on during our 8 mile hike but it was so refreshing.  made for an extra slippery and muddy terrain but it was fine.  we didn't mind one bit!

since we were on the north shore of the island we decided to take a pit stop at hanalei pier and hanalei bay.

one way bridges all over the north shore.  i thought they were so cool.

hanalei valley overlook (top and bottom photos)