on an adventure

Last May, we (Bob and I) observed a significant event.  Our 40th wedding anniversary!  Trying to think back to the 21-year-old minds that embarked on this marriage adventure, we had no way of knowing what would come our way.  The ups and downs always enter into the picture along the way, but we tend to let the memories of the good outweigh the bad, so it's good to be where we are today!

We are vacationing on the island of Kauai, in the Hawaiian Islands, and loving it!  We had a long day of travel to get here, I was starting to go a little stir-crazy towards the end of the flight!  But Bob's a good travel buddy, and even though I hate that he can sleep sitting upright and I can't get even a cat nap, we made it to Lihue in one piece!

Yesterday we did some driving and exploring around the south and west sides of the island.  We were like the typical tourists, amazed by the views of the ocean and mountains around every turn!  And since we were on midwest time, we were up and on the road long before most locals!

We stopped at several little towns for breakfast and just walking around.  I'm enjoying the fact that there isn't much "city" life around here.  In the little town of Hanapepe, we saw this little swinging bridge.  I'm not a fan of hanging suspended over anything, even on a good day!  And just a day or so ago I saw a video about a similar-looking footbridge that collapsed, and there was no way I was going beyond a few feet out there!  Bob, on the contrary, doesn't mind going out there and even bounces on purpose!  He's crazy!

After surviving that, we drove up a steep and winding road to Waimea Canyon State Park, known as sort of a tropical Grand Canyon.  This is a setting for quite a few adventure movies.  There's a beautiful waterfall barely visible in the shadows on the left of my picture.

The drive back down got my motion sickness meter going bonkers, so we had to stop and let that settle down!  We stopped at a spice company and a coffee company, then back to our resort to enjoy the beach, the pool, and a nap!  Some good reading time, too.  Yes, we live exciting lives!  Actually, I already finished one book before we got here!  I had been waiting for the chance to read this one---

and I got started on it before we left home.  This is the 4th book in a series that I really liked, called the Millenium series, by Steig Larsson.  Larsson died after the 3rd book, but supposedly had plans for more.  Now the 4th has been released, by another guy carrying on with what had been started.  I was excited to read more about the girl, Lisbeth Salander, who is the center of the stories.  I have to say that the first half of the book did not have enough Lisbeth in it to keep me happy, but that did improve.  Not saying any more than that to give away anything!

I also spent some time tracking down my suitcase yesterday, because it didn't arrive in Lihue with me.  Found out that it went to Paris without me!  So I made do with Bob's gym shorts and tshirts, and found a Walmart for underwear and a swimsuit and toothbrush!  Keeping my fingers crossed that the suitcase will show up later today!