{ Kaua'i ~ Part V: Our Anniversary }

July 18, 2009 was the day we got married.

How can it be two years already? It may be a cliche, but it's true: It seems like yesterday, and yet at the same time it seems like we've been together forever. I love you, Michael.

For our anniversary, Mike secretly made dinner reservations at The Beach House in Poipu. Over the past few years, I've seen this restaurant listed numerous times as one of the most romantic in the country, so I was delighted when I realized that's where we were going!

The restaurant is situated on a little promontory, so you have ocean views from every table. It's very beautiful and romantic--and that's before the sunset!

Hands down, the best mai tais we had!

I'm a little bit of a foodie, so I took photos of everything we ate. {Everything was delicious and worth every penny. We were not disappointed at all!} This is the crab cake appetizer.

As the sun begins to set, diners get up and go to the lawn outside to have their photos taken. We followed suit.

~two years~

For the life of me, I can't remember specifically what either of us ordered, but we both had fish.

I think this photo should be titled "Mike after Mai Tai."

Towards the end of our meal, our server asked us if we were celebrating an anniversary. Shortly after, he reappeared with a complimentary dessert and a "Happy Anniversary" card signed by the staff.

Afterward, we sat on a bench outside the restaurant and watched the stars and the surf. It was a perfect evening. And yet, in spite of how lovely every moment was, my favorite part was the conversations Mike and I had throughout the evening. There have been parts of this year that were really rough on our marriage--scary rough. We're in a much better place now, but that is only by Jesus' grace. He is the foundation of our relationship. His grace is every bit as evident in our lives today as it was 2+ years ago when we were starry-eyed lovers peeking into the beginning of our life together. To reflect together on how the Lord has led us, and looking forward together to the future...I can't imagine a better way to celebrate an anniversary!

{ Kaua'i, Part IV ~ Some Days }

When you're on vacation, some days you just want to laze around.

Maybe you want to get up early and watch the sunrise from your lanai.

Maybe you want to eat a leisurely breakfast, then spend an hour or two staring at the ever-changing beauty of the reef below.

Maybe after that, you're tired enough for a nap....so you take one.

Maybe you decide to find Secret Beach, since it's very close, and soak up some rays on the golden sand while listening to the pounding surf.

Maybe you'll marvel at the beauty of the exotic trees lining the path back up to your car.

Maybe you'll skedaddle to the grounds of the St. Regis Princeville to watch the sun set over Hanalei Bay and those pretty mountains whose names you don't know.

When you're on vacation, some days, that's all you need to do.

{ Potato-Leek Pizza }

 Last night I made The Pioneer Woman's potato-leek pizza.

Let me tell you, it is uh-mazing.

Unfortunately for those of you who do not yet own her cookbook, the recipe isn't on her website. And though I know that with my itsy bitsy blog I can't begin to put a dent in P-Dub's empire, I feel kinda....wrong...about posting a recipe of hers that she has chosen not to post online. So no luck Chuck, you're gonna have to buy the cookbook if you want to recreate this dreamy bit of gastrointestinal bliss for yourself.

Please forgive the dreadful lack of natural light in this photo. I make no claims to photographic heights of splendor: I live in a condominium with north-facing windows, shrouded by trees, in the Pacific Northwest, where it has rained approximately 340 days so far this year. {Don't argue with me. It has rained a lot.} And in spite of new kitchen lights that literally make a world of difference for they are no longer fluorescent, praise the Lord!, it is still dang difficult to take good pictures of food. But let me assure you, your tastebuds careth not what sort of light ye be in when once they taste this pizza.

Go make pizza. Put potatoes on it. You'll be glad you did.

{ We interrupt your regularly scheduled posting to bring you...La Push }

Last weekend, Mike and I went camping with a group of friends from church. Mike's sister Amaryah also came, which was great fun! And this was no ordinary camping trip: We camped on the beach at La Push, on the Washington peninsula. That may not sound very impressive--but La Push is the westernmost zip code in the lower 48 states! Betcha didn't know that. I didn't either till about 5 seconds ago.

Anyhow, in order to camp on the beach, one must first hike 0.75 miles on a trail through the woods to the beach, climb over massive driftwood logs, and then walk about a half mile down the beach to the spot where our friends set up camp. Did I mention that you have to ride a ferry over to the peninsula and then it's a 3+ hour drive to La Push after you get off the ferry? And that we weren't able to leave till after work on Friday evening? And that the wait for a ferry on a Friday night is horrendous? And that none of us in our car {Mike, Amaryah, me, and Amaryah's friend Tojo} had been to La Push before? And that none of us had backpacking-type camping equipment? And that it was 11:45 pm before we reached the parking lot at the trail head? And that once we located the trail, lugged all our stuff {including a cooler full of refrigerated goods, ice, and beer} to the beach, and climbed over the driftwood, we couldn't remember whether we were supposed to go up the beach {to the right} or down the beach {to the left}? And that once we found our friends' campsite {praise God!!}, it was approximately 2am?

In spite of the exhaustion and drama of our wee-hours-arrival, I enjoyed this trip so much! Last summer, Mike and I made a "bucket list" of eight things we wanted to do during the summer of 2010. "A weekend camping on the Washington coast" was one of the items we didn't get to last year, so I was really excited to be able to go with a group of friends and my SIL.

One word for La Push: Gorgeous. Another word for La Push: Balmy. There was very little wind {very surprising}, and it was warm enough for just jeans and a t-shirt most of the time. I've been to the Oregon coast a few times, and buffeting winds are a primary memory. And while La Push looks remarkably similar to Cannon Beach and Twin Rocks in Oregon, it was so calm. Enough with the rambling...let's get to the photos!

A sunflower sea star, which I had never even heard of before! {Mike's foot included for size reference. You're welcome.}

Mike inside the cave seen in the photo prior to this one.

And the photo below is looking out the mouth of the same cave.

Mark, our friend and real-life neighbor, made various interpretive structures with assorted sticks. This is "the line," with individual sticks representing how far over "the line" different people had gone in our conversation that afternoon. {I think this was shortly before I told my Little Mermaid joke: Why does Ariel wear seashells?.......Because D shells are too big, and B shells are too small!}

Impressive Batman logo in the sand....no idea who made it!

On Saturday evening, while Mike, Tojo, and another guy made a "run" up to the car for more supplies--it's cruel to call it a "run," really, since it takes at least an hour and you kind of want to die after schlepping stuff through the woods and over the beach--some of us went out to the two largest/closest rocky islands you've seen in the photos above. When the tide is out, you can walk most of the way out to them on solid sand, though we ended up having to wade through knee-deep icy water in one area.

The rocks were covered with starfish and sea anemones--literally hundreds of starfish everywhere!

Wading back across to the beach--that water was colder than you can imagine! I only LOOK calm!

I'm not sure what kind of a pose Nathan asked us to assume before snapping this photo, but I like the results. That's Amaryah on the far left, me on the far right, assorted friends--some old, some new--in between.

Here you can see part of our awesome two-sided driftwood shelter. Apparently the first guys in our group to reach the beach, took it over when the previous group of campers left, then added to it. There was a firepit in the middle, a shelf for a kitchen of sorts, and an old float from a boat hung from the highest beam. It was pretty sweet.

We had a really big bonfire that night. Spencer is in this photo for scale. Spencer is very tall.

Before we left on Sunday morning, we ate, burned, or gave away as much food as possible to lighten our load. Someone rescued the last two bananas I threw in the fire, and used them as decoration. Here Mike is helping Mari lift a hot pot off the fire using sticks in lieu of hot pads. That's Amaryah between them. Don't you love the look on Mike's face?!

This, my friends, is how NOT to pack. 'Nuff said.

One last look at our sweet fort.

I won't bore you with details of our eight-hour--yes, eight-hour--journey back home. Suffice it to say that if you're trying to get from the Peninsula back to the Seattle side on a Sunday afternoon and decide to drive around rather than wait in line for the ferry for at least two hours, make sure you know which highway will get you home the fastest. Just sayin'. And you shouldn't always believe what map apps on smartphones tell you. {That's part of the reason I refuse to get a smartphone. Sometimes they are just plain evil!!}

{ One of those days }

Sometimes, an hour on the beach lifts a weight you didn't even realize was crushingly heavy.

I've been in a funk all day. No particular reason, just lots of little things that really shouldn't bother me. But I let myself stew in sin juices for hours. I made it very clear to Mike that I wasn't happy. I was--gasp!--a bitch.

I let the Lord have it. I didn't want to....I wanted to clutch it close, keep it all to myself. But I went to the beach and puked all my mental, emotional, spiritual garbage at His feet via journal. And He was there. Not condoning my self-inflicted misery, but forgiving, extending grace, and promising to make something beautiful even of a day I ruined.

I love Him. And I need Mike to hurry up and get home so I can apologize.

{ Kaua'i ~ Part III: Kauai Coffee Co. and Waimea Canyon }

Most mornings we made a huge breakfast: Eggs, bacon or sausage, pancakes or cinnamon rolls, fresh fruit, coffee, and Tequila sunrises. We'd eat breakfast on the lanai and enjoy the view, the salty air, and the sound of waves crashing on the reef.

Once we recovered sufficiently from our food comas, we'd set out on the day's adventures.

On this particular day, we explored the southwest portion of the island, beginning with the Kauai Coffee Company.

Besides a gift shop, there is a teeny tiny museum, coffee tasting stations, and a short self-guided walking tour through part of the coffee plantation.

I'm not a coffee snob, so I left the tasting to Mike. Don't you love these vintage coffee tins?

Mike could barely restrain himself when he saw green coffee beans.

We stopped for lunch at the Shrimp Station in Waimea. I had spicy Thai chili shrimp.

And Mike had coconut shrimp. Sadly, neither dish was nearly as good as the little shrimp shack we found on Oahu's north shore on our honeymoon. Please, if anyone goes there, get me a couple orders of the spicy shrimp and steak to go?

From Waimea town, we began the drive up Waimea Canyon. It was so clear, we could easily see Niihau, the "forbidden island" 17 miles from Kauai, on the horizon.

Just a taste of the beauty to come...

...and just a taste of how cheesy I can be.

Kauai is well-known for having red clay that stains EVERYTHING. As in, there is a Red Dirt Shirt company that uses the bright red stuff to dye clothing. We hopped out of the car and explored one particularly accessible area on our way to the top of Waimea Canyon.

There are several lookouts offering gorgeous vistas of the canyon. It does look remarkably similar to the Grand Canyon, albeit with more greenery. If you too have heard that Mark Twain called Waimea Canyon "the Grand Canyon of the Pacific," we've both been snookered, my friend. Not only did Mark Twain not say that, he never even set foot on Kauai when he visited the Hawaiian Islands!

At the very top of the canyon, you find the Kalalau Lookout, which overlooks part of the Na Pali coast. It was too cool--we'd seen the Kalalau Valley by boat the day before, and now we were looking at it from the top down toward the ocean! You don't really appreciate how small Kauai is {about 25 miles by 33 miles at its largest} 'til you're at the lookout and see ocean {the southern coast} to the right....and more ocean {the northern coast} to your left. Spectacular.

The Kalalau Valley is the largest valley in the Na Pali range, and was inhabited until the early 1900's.

The photo below was taken from exactly the same spot as the above shots, I just turned 90 degrees to my right. This is a glimpse of Mt. Waialeale, one of the wettest spots on earth with an average rainfall of more than 452 inches per year.

This was another of my favorite moments on our vacation: Being able see all this incredible beauty, and sharing the experience with my husband.

Stay tuned....there are lots more photos to come!