Kauai Part 1

We thought our vacation to celebrate our 20 anniversary together was wonderful, AMAZING and so very memorable. Sure there were things that didn't work out exactly as we had hoped, but overall it was the trip of a lifetime. I took over 1100 pics in Kauai, plus Steve made many short video clips. I also tried to keep a daily journal of the activities/events/moments, but I have to say, it is difficult to express and share how wonderful it was. The one thing I do know is that the visual snip-its from our vacation invoke feelings of bubbly laughter, warmth, relaxation and love for me.
We landed in Kauai in the late afternoon on Saturday, May 14th. The airport in Lihue was basically open air, so the heavy warm air was the first thing we noticed. Then the wonderful smells tickled my senses because there were beautiful flowers everywhere. On the tops of trees, on the shrubs, simply all over! Steve bought me a flower lei while were were waiting for our checked bag (I'll have to explain more later about our LEARNS on how to pack light). Having the lei wrapped around my neck made the flower fragrance almost too overpowering for me. The beauty of the landscape was surreal. It looked like a movie set and we were still at the airport!
I have always been captivated by flowers and I tried to photograph the amazing varieties. It is no surprise that Kauai is called the garden Isle. On the second day, we toured part of the National Tropical Botanical Gardens called the McBryde gardens. The curator told us that during the month of May, there are more flowers blooming on Kauai than at any other time. I gave a silent prayer of thanks to God for leading us here for our anniversary vacation because there were so many other locations we were originally trying to go to. My heart literally swells when I look at the intricate beauty of a flower. I had originally told Steve that we didn't have to go to the botanical gardens together, he could just drop me off and do something else. Steve said, "I want to go with you. It makes me happy to see how excited you get about flowers." Really?? Made me fall even more in love with him.
Since were were staying on the south side of the island (Kiahuna Plantation Resort Condominiums in Po'ipu), we were able to take in every sunset. Some sunsets were more spectacular than others because it depended upon the cloud cover. We also were able to experience the full moon and enjoyed the impact of it on the tide. The beach was ever changing and we made a point to walk the beach together every evening. Nothing is more romantic to us than the sound, smell, feel and beauty of walking along the beautiful beach barefoot, listening to the waves crash, while holding hands with each other.

(Tip: If you click on the collage, it will open up larger to enable better viewing of the photos.)