Aloha - Day 3

Wow! What a difference a day makes!!!

It rained a ton again last night - seems to be what keeps the island as green and beautiful as it is. When I got up at 6:50 this morning, it was still a bit gray outside, but then....yup, the sun came out. I went outside in my jammies - which coincidently, are pink too! "K" and I are like bobsy-twins around here in the morning. The PINK LADIES! Phillip is the only one around here not wearing pink! Thank goodness! Anyway, I went outside on the deck and the temperature was awesome. So warm and tropical - finally.

I made us breakfast - bacon, eggs, english muffins and "fresh-from-Hawaii" canned Dole pineapple juice... Neither of us are normally breakfast eaters, well, except for the occasional weekend breakfast at the Gold Miner at home in Grants Pass, but since we were going to our Zip and Dip Ziplining Adventure at 10:30, I just knew we would be hungry way before they served us our box lunch. Sure enough, even with having had breakfast, we were so ready to eat once it was time.

So after loading up our "needs" for the day - bug spray (which we ended up not needing), sunscreen, bottled water, beach towels, camera, etc..., we headed down to Princeville.

Phillip and I had never Zip-lined before, but we were really looking forward to it. My friend "K", however, didn't seem as excited, more just a bit apprehensive, but she was a good sport and kept a smile on her face all day.

She even kept smiling when we read the sign about the ACTUAL Zip Lining tour details!

Too late to back out now!

We all listened intently to the safety rules, how to wear our harnesses and assigned a helmet - yeah, the whole get-up is real attractive, NOT! You'll see!

We were told to make a potty stop before departure, as this is a real working ranch and no facilities were available in the traditional manner, if you know what I mean.

So, off to the potty. And guess what? NO, not that. Well, actually, yes that, but that's not what I meant when I said Guess What?

Anyway, the bathroom mural screams Kauai Island Wildlife....

We rode these transport trucks up to the beef cattle ranch.

"K" was first to get on. I figured it this way, if she got in first, it would be highly unlikely that she would back out.

After everyone was in, we were on our way to the ranch. Not just over some fields and such, but on the highway - with real cars and trucks! That was kind of scary! But we finally pulled off the highway and rode up the dirt road across the pastures to our destination.

First, there was the little "bunny-hop" zip. Exciting and fun. But nothing compared to what was to come - 8 more times!!!

Here is Phillip.

And Me.

After a couple of zips, we had to cross a suspended rope/wood slat bridge. I had so much fun stepping down hard - left and right - getting the bridge to bounce! So, much fun.

"K" wasn't feeling it, so I gave her a piggy-back ride - OK, so we all know that a grown woman REALLY wouldn't give another GROWN woman a piggy-back ride OVER a suspended, bouncing, swaying bridge - but go with it baby!

See, I told you these harnesses were not the MOST flattering things. It's bad enough having a picture taken of your back-side, but this really looks bad....

One of our guides, Dave (and Rhonda), told us about wild boars being hunted on the ranch as well. He said the locals hunt them using knives and dogs. So, he told us that if we saw a wild boar, we were to bark like a dog AND not some whimpy Chihuahua (sp?) but BIG DOG STYLE, and that would scare them away. Somehow, I doubt it, not just the dog barking but many of his stories - he had a great sense of humor and clearly both he and Rhonda enjoyed their jobs.

Phillip coined the term for all of us - Native, Yellow-headed Wedgie-lopes. Every zip graced all of us with the ULTIMATE, FRONTAL-ZONE, SUPER WEDGIE!!! Bad for the women - even WORSE for the men!!!!

Then we zipped a few more times.

After the 8th zip, we un-wedgied and hiked down to a fresh-water pool with waterfalls and a stream, surrounded by ferns and other native foliage.

A few people went swimming and floating around in inner tubes, but we stayed dry, knowing that inner-leg rash when hiking in wet swimwear can prove really painful. So we sunned ourselves and ate lunch early instead.

There was a semi-wild cat too. Really skittish, but brave enough to beg for part of everyones turkey sandwich. Our guides say the little fellow eats at least 5 times a day. Couldn't tell it by how skinny the poor thing was!

After our break, we put our wedgie-gear back on. This took forever. A foot in the wrong strap. Twisted straps. Upside-down straps. Even our guides said this was the funnest part of their day - watching all of us dummies try to get back into those things - no wonder we needed helmets - if you get my drift.....we definately were kind of "challenged".

So, a couple last photos and we were off to the FINAL zip of the day!

After we left, we went and got an ice cream (me) and smoothie (Phillip). Then we drove around a bit sight-seeing. Back at the cottage, we sat out on our beautiful beach, ate some Funyuns, and watched the tide roll in.

"K" stayed at the cottage and got a little more sun. She's a little vanilla-cardstock colored now instead of the white-white she was two days ago. She tans faster and better than I do.

By the way, I've heard it told, that Hawaii custom says that a woman who wears a flower by her right ear is telling the world she is single and available. While, we married women happily wear our flower on the same side as we wear our wedding ring.

Next, a shower, dinner and .........