Aloha spirit

For years I’ve been wanting to make it to Kauai, so when I created my 50 for 50 list, it was right up at the top. My aim was to kayak the Na Pali coast, but that was before I learned it was a 17-mile journey that really only very experienced and fit kayakers should undertake! I decided to opt instead for a Na Pali coast boat ride and added a helicopter tour to see even more of the coastline.

My week in Kauai in early July 2018 was more than I ever expected. A college friend Kim Fretz joined me, buying her ticket as we sat at a bar waiting to go into a theater performance. Such great spontaneity! Together we let Kauai charm us and steal our hearts. We breathed in aloha spirit, which permeates the air of Kauai. Essentially it’s all about being chill, gentle to the earth, and loving to those around you. I slowed down within 24 hours and didn’t even know what day it was within 48. And when I exited a supposedly simple Waimea Canyon hike (to protect my hurt knee) covered head to toe in mud, I laughed about it within minutes of getting off the trail even though I was swearing up a storm while scrambling up the slippery cliff sides. Kim reminded me that I met a cute guy who chatted me up the last 30 minutes of the hike, somehow changing my attitude in an instant. Yep, that aloha spirit was working everywhere, and was even more powerful on the sublime Secret Beach.

Go, go, go and let Kauai steal your heart as well.