After two vacations in Hawaii during whale season, I finally spotted the gentle giants! At the end of the day, as the kids were heading back into the water near sunset for more snorkeling, there it was. The plume of mist shooting up into the air. Then a black body, then tail. There were probably four whales together, and yes, I was quite far away, but they were surfacing and motoring around the island. I've never seen this. And I've even paid big bucks to be taken out on one of those "whale sighting excursions". Yea!!! I've always wanted to see this!
Anyway, first the kids swam in the hotel pool for a while. Here are Bob and Bobby by a little waterfall between pools.
Then we drove over to Waimea Canyon and Ko'kee State Park to hike to the falls. It was about a four hour hike and very beautiful, but also quite different from the Na'Pali hike. The kids loved the jungle. My calves are very tight.
While we were at the Waimea official "Lookout", a rainbow appeared inside the canyon:
Family pic:
But we were here to hike it, so we found the trailhead and began. Here is me with the kids probably getting a little too close to the edge:
We hiked about two hours to get here. On the way up, we met an Ottwa/Ojibwe Indian named Two Dogs, whom we hiked with for a while - super interesting guy. Anyway, he brought a drum with him and sang songs at the top of the canyon, and told us about them and what they meant. He also told us that Minnesota actually means "The Creator playing tricks with you". Makes sense considering that with all the lakes, you constantly have to drive around them whenever you are trying to get someplace.
He also said that a couple of elders in his tribe has passed away in the last year and he was singing for them. How cool was this.
Tomorrow our flight is at 11:30 p.m., so we have one more full day...
