An adventure is something you sit at home in your easy chair wishing you were having, but when you’re having it, you wish you were sitting at home in your easy chair.

My curiosity about the world began as a child watching slide presentations from missionaries visiting our small country church. The whir-click-click, whir-click-click, whir-click-click noise of the slide carousel advancing was like a drumbeat from a distant shore calling me to come visit.

So I traveled with the missionaries in their dugout canoes as they coursed the rivers of the Amazon to remote villages of raven-haired people with tattoos on their face and stone age spears in their hands. I sat mesmerized around African campfires as Maasai warriors, their tall, thin bodies wrapped with brightly-dyed cloth, seemed to hang suspended in air as they tested their ability for vertical jumping. I shivered as Eskimo children peered out through fur parkas, their eyes shining like pearls on a cloth of brown velvet. I giggled at the bare breasted women and the naked children playing amidst mud huts with thatched roofs.

I learned to travel the world through the words and images of others.

Often, when I meet new people or come to a part of a conversation when silence is awkward, I ask this question: Where is your favorite place to travel? Invariably, I hear a great story, my curiosity is peaked and I’m suddenly traveling with them.

Therefore, I decided to write a travel journal of our vacation to Kauai, arguably the most beautiful of the Hawaiian Islands. But that’s like comparing the winner of the Miss America to the other contestants; they’re all stunning.

Over the course of the following writings, I will share tricks I’ve learned about traveling from how to make sure the airline gods don’t steal your happiness to easy ways to get great photos from your camera or smart phone. I’ll share with you beautiful places you must see, fun things to do, fascinating bits of history, current issues facing the Garden Isle, and how to keep the ocean from killing you.

If you’re like me and all your imagination needs are a few words and photos to travel along or if you’re contemplating a visit to Kauai, then I think you’ll enjoy this journal.

To start with, let me share a few moments in time I managed to capture with my camera. Later, I will share more detail about how to find these same places and the best way to photograph them.

Kilauea Lighthouse

“The Sentinel” – Kilauea Lighthouse guards the north shore of Kauai.

 

 

"Unexpected" This is on Ke'e beach with the Napali Coast in the background.

“Unexpected” This is on Ke’e beach with the Napali Coast in the background. I was adjusting my camera settings when this lady walked into the frame. I snapped the shutter and was reminded of the effect of placing a human, or animal, in a photograph; it changes everything.

 

"The Tree Tunnel" - John Wayne, in the movie Donovan's Reef, races a jeep though this eucalyptus lined road.

“The Tree Tunnel” – John Wayne, in the movie Donovan’s Reef, races a jeep though this eucalyptus lined road.

 

"Purity" - the top of Kauai is the wettest spot in the world receive over 300 inches of rain a year. This was in Limahuli Gardens near Ke'e Beach.

“Purity” – the top of Kauai is the wettest spot in the world receive over 300 inches of rain a year. This was in Limahuli Gardens near Ke’e Beach.

You learn, if you travel with me, you don’t have to have much packed in your bags to enjoy a great trip, just an imagination and sense of adventure. I hope you enjoy the journey whether it’s in your easy chair reading along with me, or in the middle of the adventure wishing you were in your easy chair.

Either way, it will be fun!


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