Goodbye Hawaii, Hello California!

We've arrived in Los Angeles and are quite comfortable at Julie's apartment in Santa Monica. We haven't been out much but from what we've seen, it's beautiful here. We have been making lots of plans and organizing ourselves for our next month in the western US and BC. Tomorrow we will roam around LA, Beverly Hills, Hollywood, etc.

Our last couple days in Hawaii were great. We drove to the end of the line at Haena and hiked 2 miles, up and down, of the Kalalau Trail on the Na Pali Coast ending at a gorgeous, untouched beach at the base of Hanakapiai Valley. We then took a 2 mile detour to the Hanakapiai Falls. We were tired, hungry and hot and the hike seemed to take forever but we made it! It was all worth it. The falls were beautiful and the water was refreshing and perfect.

We both swam in the falls and stayed basking in the cool spray while eating our granola and trail mix snacks. There was such a temperature difference that Nicole even got goosebumps from the cold. Around 2:30pm we packed up and faced the 4 miles back to the car. We were happy to arrive at the car around 6:30pm after many rests on the long, hot trek back.

Before the drive back we stopped at a couple caves to check them out and then grabbed a fabulous pizza dinner in Kapa'a at a cute restaurant. It hit the spot after a long day! Check out all of the pictures!

The following day we checked out the wildlife refuge and lighthouse at the Kilauea Nature Reserve. It was fun to see all the birds in a somewhat natural habitat. We then booked it to the airport after returning the rental car. We were so early, they offered to put us on an earlier flight to Oahu. Great! We both enjoyed Hawaii but we were also both ready to head to LA so, since we were already at the airport, we thought about trying to catch an earlier flight to LA but gave up after Jason was on hold for over half an hour.

Instead we hopped on the bus to Waikiki and after an hour and a half ended up at our hostel. Cute place but we both had a terrible experience. We knew they had no private rooms available so we spent our first night apart in separate dorms. It was so hot and noisy neither of us got any sleep and getting up at 4:30am to catch our flight to LA was a relief. There's a few more pics of our time on Oahu.

We enjoyed Oahu and Kauai but both think there's not much reason to visit a second time. If we ever find ourselves in Hawaii again, we'll visit Maui and The Big Island.

Julie's a great host here in Santa Monica and Nicole has fallen in love with her apartment. In about 15 minutes we head out for a nice dinner along the beach. Should be nice :)

Na Pali Hike & Kauai Last Day Pics | Oahu Last Night Pics