In the Clouds

Here is one of the posts I started in Hawaii:

Today I rode on this
This is what we were watching before we boarded. Me, forever scared of being confined in a small space, am saying lots and lots of silent prayers at this point. Prayers for the claustrophobic. And it is our only cloudy day so far! But it is still beautiful out here; I almost think the misty mountains are more beautiful.

We are strapped in, parachutes attached, Aloha bag (puke bag) in place, and. . . lift off. Once you get in you wear head phones the whole time that play music that is synchronized to the flight, and when the pilot wants to tell you some intriguing bit of info, it just interrupts the music for a second for him to let you know what you're looking at. Or staring at with your mouth wide open if you're me. Want to come? We are going clockwise around the island, leaving from the Lihue Airport.

First off(see the runway back there), our hotel:

And some beautiful farmland:


This was one of the most unbelievable experiences of my life. The pictures and my words do absolutely no justice. The ride was smooth and steady, and none of my claustrophobic fears even started to creap up. I think I was just blown away by the beauty and peacefulness of the whole thing. I wasn't expecting it to be so peaceful and serene up there. I did manage to take a few pics which I'll show you. Occasionally, you'll see the guy in front of me in the reflection. He didn't get the memo to wear dark clothing.



This is our pilot. Well, the back of his head at least. See how it's glass everywhere? Even the ceiling.

This is Jurassic Falls, I think. He pointed out so many scenes from the movie that I can't really keep them all straight. He got up pretty close to it and hovered for awhile.

This is the amazing Waimea Canyon, or the Grand Canyon of the Pacific they call it. Brad and I are driving here in a couple days to check it out more.

Can you see this waterfall? Another of the many that we saw. It was so long and beautiful. Kauai is home to the world's second longest waterfall. No pictures of that one though, sorry.

From here we went up through the clouds, over the last ridge, and decended to see the Na Pali coastline, which is inaccessible except by boat and air.

Can you see that little valley in the first pic? You cannot get here unless you kayak for several hours. Hawaiians inhabited this place untill the early 1900s when they left since they were too far from any medical care and people were starting to get sick. Now it is home to a colony of weed growing hippies. Big surprise.

And after flying through Na Pali, we rounded the corner on Honolei Bay, home of Puff the Magic Dragon. Apparently the mountain ridge resembles a dragon, and so in homage to the herb of choice grown heavliy in the area, Puff the Magic Dragon was born. Go ahead, sing the words to yourself. They are still stuck in my head. They changed Honolei to Honolee. This pic isn't quite Honolei Bay, but right next to it. It's near where that teenage surfer girl got her arm bitten off by a shark. Remember that?

After Honolei, we were flown right up into the Mt Wai 'ale'ale Crater, the rainest place on planet Earth. I was rendered absolutely incapable of taking pictures. It was emotional I tell you, the beauty. If you want to see what it looks like, click here. In fact, just look through any Kauai Helicopter pics on the web. It will blow you away.

And here we are, post ride, parachust still attached to hip. See our pilot in there? What a morning.