Kauai Geographic Spectacles
Wailua River and Opaekaa Falls
When I travel somewhere I love to immerse myself fully in the scenery of the place, be it man made or natural. The island of Kauai has an over abundance of spectacular scenery from the largest canyon in the Pacific to some of the most magnificent beaches on the planet. On my family's trip to the Garden Isle I tried to see as many of the natural wonders of the island that I could, and my camera's lack of memory space tells the pixel-side of my adventurous tale.
Our hotel was in Kapaa town, and just down the road from that picturesque little burg is the Wailua River. On our last day in Kauai we set out from our hotel on Kuhio Highway and took a turn onto State Highway 580. This little two lane road meanders along the river's side, and offers plentiful glorious views of one of Hawaii's only navigable rivers.
Part of the way up the road you'll come upon the turnout for Opaekaa Falls. The stop feels very touristy with tons of people in rental cars vying for a parking space, but the fight through the folks is totally worth it, for out in the canyon beyond is nothing but rain forest and the crowning water jewel of the view, the Falls themselves:
After spending a few minutes in the tourist "ooh and ahh" accented soundtrack that accompanies the roar of the falls, we started back down the road along the Wailua River. We did make a stop at one additional site of interest however, the Poli'Ahu Heiau. Heiau's are sacred Ancient Hawaiian temples of a sort, and it was really neat to watch my Native Hawaiian husband and our children wander around a piece of their ancestral history.
My favorite part of the entire day was while we were stopped at the Heiau. I walked over to a lookout of the river, and far down below in a pasture were two horses grazing contentedly. Growing up I was more horse than human, and I don't know what struck me in that moment, but I gave out a little whinny of a greeting. To my surprise the beautiful bay horse in the field a few hundred feet below picked up its head and started calling back to me, running towards us. My kids looked at me in amazement as the horse and I had what I think was a conversation. It was actually a pretty surreal moment, I blame the old magic of the Heiau!
Tonight I am sitting in my room at home in a fatigued and freezing state, and it is in moments like this that I find my mind wandering towards the paradise that is Kauai. If you ever have the chance to visit the Garden Isle, I would say jump on the opportunity, for the place sticks with you like leftover Spam sushi!
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What a lovely post. More horse than human and out meanders a horse. My imagination works overtime when reading your words. I can see the kids stunned faces as they watch you and the horse communicate. Lol! 🐓🐓
Awe! Your comment made my whole day! I honestly just type what pops into my mind, and nothing makes me happier than having the ability to evoke images and inspire imaginational wanderings:o)
Horses and I have always been pretty special friends, my mom would often find me out in the middle of my grandpa's herd, having conversations, lol!
Hope you are having a beautiful weekend, and a warm one, I wish I were down your way right now, it's supposed to be a blistering 5 degrees tonight, YUCK!!
Hmm, how did I miss this two days ago?! Such beautiful scenery! If there are horse whisperers, then why not horse whinniers? I've never had spam sushi, and I hope I never do. I've only had sushi once or twice, and was not impressed. If I could try some sushi without the seaweed, I might like it. But would it still be sushi?
Well, I am all for people putting their spin on whatever suits their culinary fancy, so I suppose seaweedless almost-sushi could be a thing!
As a person that struggles with whispering at a respectable tone, I am more than content being in the horse whinnier column, it sounds like a fun place to be, lol!
Seaweed-less sushi is a thing. In fact I think it is common!
Ooh, that is exciting to know!!! I need to find some!
Wow...such a wonderful and interesting nature photography collection by @generikat mam..
ʻŌpaekaʻa Falls is a waterfall located on the ʻŌpaekaʻa Stream in Wailua River State Park on the eastern side of the Hawaiian island of Kauai. It is a 151–foot waterfall that flows over basalt from volcanic eruptions millions of years ago. Below the ridge down into the ravine through which the water falls can be seen the vertical dikes of basalt that cut through the horizontal Koloa lava flows.[1] The name "ʻŌpaekaʻa" means rolling shrimp, "ʻopae" being Hawaiian for "shrimp," and "kaʻa" for "rolling". The name dates back to days when the native freshwater shrimp Atyoida bisulcata were plentiful in the stream and were seen rolling and tumbling down the falls and into the churning waters at the fall's base.
Cheers~~~
Thank you dini!
Hawaii looks absolutely beautiful. Definitely a place I want to visit one day.
It really is an amazing place, I sure hope you get to go there someday:o)
Sounds like we can add Horse Whisperer to your many and varied titles.
It is easy to take great pictures with a place as beautiful as Kauai, but it is even more beautiful when someone skilled with a camera is taking the pictures. You have talent with that image capturing device, Kat.
Wow my friend, that you think that I have image capturing and horse conversing talent really means a lot to me. Self confidence is most definitely not my forte, so it still knocks me off my life level when someone praises me, thank you so much, it means so much coming from someone who is as awesome as you are:o)
Its beautiful place................
It truly is!
Wowww Beautifull @generikat
Thank you!! It is a magnificent place!
excellent photography and lovely nature.
very funny cat. everything looks very beautiful.
Awe, thank you for all the kind words!