Fifty years of marriage calls for a special celebration and for me, a week with the whole family, staying in a luxury home on Kauai is about as celebratory as it gets! I went to many 50th anniversary parties growing up - parties in church basements for my parents, aunts and uncles, family friends - and the honorees always seemed so old! I wanted our celebration to be different - no wedding cake, no tables with wedding albums and framed pictures, no crystal vases and plaques with calligraphic sentiments. We are the generation that is starting earlier to declutter and we certainly didn't want to invite more "stuff" into the house. As a matter of fact, I have a few items in storage labeled "Gift to mom and dad on their 50th wedding anniversary." While 50 years is undeniably a milestone, I wanted to mark the date as more a time to look forward, than to look back.
And so we flew to Kauai, Jim and I a few days ahead of the kids. Hawaii was one of the first vacations we ever took; forty-five years ago we spent 2 weeks over Christmas and New Years visiting Oahu, the Big Island, Maui and Kauai. We had few clear memories of the time we spent on Kauai but we remembered it as a favorite island. We stayed at the Hilton Island Inn this trip and from our notes of 45 years ago we deduced that this is the same area we stayed in back then. We remembered dining at the Coco Palms resort which still stands but is shuttered and heavily damaged from the hurricane that hit the island in 1992. We took an all day drive up the north coast along the Kuhio Highway until the road ends and the famous Kalalau Trails begins. We had lunch in Hanalei and walked to the end of the Hanalei Bay Pier and marveled at the surrounding scenery. We also stopped at the Kilauea Lighthouse. Another day we drove to Waimea Canyon, the "Grand Canyon of the Pacific." Pu'u o Kila Lookout at the very end of the 20+ mile drive treats you to one of the greatest views in the Pacific as you gaze into Kalalau Valley, the largest valley on Na Pali.
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| Kilauea Lighthouse |
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| Hanalei Bay |
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Kalalau Valley
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On Saturday, March 31 Nicole, John, Benj and Claire and Derek arrived and we moved into the beautiful VRBO near old Koloa on the south shore. A few pictures can describe the house better than I can!
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| Outdoor Kitchen |
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| Living room adjoins kitchen - |
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| One of the 3 master suites |
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| Pool |
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| Our bedroom - note the walls open by remote to the outside!~ |
