July 17

Today we tackled the trail to the Waipo'o Falls in the Waimea Canyon. (I think Adam picked it because he wanted to go to Jo Jo's again.) We started off at the Pu'u Hinahina Lookout and it rained on and off as we traversed the rocks on the way down (and then up and then down... it couldn't make up its mind). There was plenty of loose, fine dirt and fallen leaves everywhere, so it was a little scary at times. We walked through really dense patches of forest (where beautiful little wildflowers provided splashes of color against the mostly green and red-dirt backdrop) and up and down steep, rocky terrain.

We made it to the edge of the cliff (literally. It scared the heck out of me) and stopped short of the falls because we weren't sure about how the kids would manage being so close to the edge (given that it's a cliff and all). And also my terror-thing. When I get near cliffs, my feet seem to grow cement shoes and I feel like I'm literally stuck in place.

So we stopped for a while, took some pics, and sat on a big boulder with a nice view of the canyon (and the conga line of helicopters that flew through practically at eye-level at times) and the ocean in the distance, which we could still see even though it wasn't a totally clear day. Abby even felt charitable enough to share an earbud with Isaac, and the two of them sat peacefully on the boulder listening to Taylor Swift.

Kind of ironically (given the aforementioned terror), I ventured furthest down the trail because I hoped for a better view. I'm not sure that I got one, but I did get to see something cool: someone erected a small white cross on the edge of the cliff. I wasn't about to get a closer look, but I took comfort in the symbolism: even when we're on the edge of life's cliffs, He's still with us. Kind of neat, I thought. The cross is actually visible in the larger version of the pic in the lower lefthand corner; it's under the tree to the left.

When we headed back, we opted to skip the top part of the trail (which was super steep and probably damp from the rainfall) and instead walked an old, four-wheel-drive-only path back to Waimea Canyon Road. From there, we (very carefully) walked the last half-mile back to the car in the (wet) grass along the side of the road. And then, of course, we went to Jo Jo's, where I discovered that the Ha Coffee shave ice is actually mostly vanilla cream. Good, but way sweeter than I wanted! The rest of the day we spent at the house, and then it was on to the clubhouse to snag some dessert.

A blessed day with another adventure for the memory bank.