Hawaii, Oh How I Miss Thee

Kauai was beautiful, even more beautiful than I imagined. It truly is a tropical paradise.

This is Waimea Canyon that formed from a volcano. It is known as the Grand Canyon of Hawaii.

A rainbow formed off of the Napali Coast. Many movies have been filmed here, including King Kong, Seven Days and Seven Nights, Pirates of the Caribbean, etc.

This is from the Allerton Garden at the National Tropical Botanical Gardens.

A Surnam Cherry Tree from the Allerton Garden. The cherry tastes like a peppery tomato.

One of the many sculptures in the Allerton Garden.

Gorgeous vegetation from the Allerton Garden.

While the garden doesn't have a lot of flowers (it is more of a green leaf garden), this is one view of some of the flowers.

A view overlooking the Allerton Garden, which is known as Allerton's Garden of Eden.

A view of the sunset from our sunset dinner cruise on a catamaran.

A common sight, and one that I could look at forever.

The pine trees in Kauai are tall and slender.

This is a flowering tree on the Kilohana Plantation. We went to a luau at the plantation.

Look one way and you see the ocean; look the other way and you see mountains.

Most of the dining is outdoors because the weather is so luxurious. Sometimes you get unexpected visitors. He didn't eat much!

The most surprising thing about Kauai was all the chickens. They were everywhere. Two theories exist, one that Hurricane Iniki hit their pens and released them. Another is that the mongoose, a natural enemy of the chicken, was never introduced onto the island.

One of my favorite dinners: Grilled Opah with polenta and cherry tomatoes.

A view of the scenery at my favorite restaurant, Keoki's Paradise.

Stunning landscape in Kauai.

We had weather in the 70s and 80s the whole time we were there; with the tradewinds coming in off of the ocean, a light breeze was created, making the days perfect.

The tide coming in--if the water is teal colored near the shore, that means there is a sandy bottom.

This is the restaurant we ate a for a sunset dinner--the Beach House.

Ocean view with tide coming in.

Yellow Hibiscus bloomed everywhere.

This is where I stayed. It is the Waiohai Marriott Beach Club, and this was the view from my room.

This is one of the first shots of the ocean I saw. LOVED IT!!!!!!!