For our 15th anniversary, Brian and I (but mostly Brian- I'm one lucky wife!) planned a trip to Hawaii. We went to Kauai for our honeymoon, so its a really special place for us. We haven't been back since then, so once Brian planned this trip, we were both so excited to be back there and celebrate. We flew into Oahu for one night and stayed at a hotel on the beach. We woke up early to go on a long run because I'm training for a half marathon, and Brian usually goes with me for the better part of my runs. I had 10 miles to do this time; we ran the first 3 or 4 together, after which Brian had to turn around to check out of our hotel. Around mile 5, I was running through a gorgeous neighborhood and got really caught up in looking around and didn't notice that the sidewalk severely shortened in front of me, causing me to miss the edge and roll my ankle really bad. I had to sit down for a few minutes and breathe through the pain. I had no way to contact Brian and really no way for him to come and help me anyway because we didn't have a car. My only choice was to run or walk back the 5 miles that I'd come up. I was really worried about it, but after limping a bit into the run, I was able to pick up speed again and actually ran with little to no pain. It was pretty miraculous because as soon as I stopped, my ankle became extremely swollen and bruised. I iced it and hoped that it was less severe than it looked so that I could do my half marathon in 4 weeks. We got our car and drove to meet up with our pseudo-daughter, Elle, who is at BYU- Hawaii. It was so fun to see her again (she lived with us in London when we first moved there) and have her show us around the island a little bit. It was a wet day, but we wanted to do a hike that would really pay off. Elle took us to Three Peaks, or the Olomana Trail. Didn't take us too long to realize this wasn't a hike for beginners, or us city-folks. ;) Elle pretty much jumped up the mountain and made it look so easy. Whatever the work to get up here, the views were most definitely worth it- even with a total bum ankle!!
Crazy beautiful views. We chatted the entire 3 hours up and down and it was so fun to catch up and hear all about her adventurous college life in Hawaii. Life is pretty good for these lucky BYU-H kids that get to live in such a beautiful place. On another note, we didn't bring a drop of water or a single snack, so by the end, we were famished and so thirsty. Not smart. Brian and I really had no idea what we were getting into...haha.
We were literally scaling rock cliffs with sheer drop-offs that made your stomach do flips. It was by far the hardest hike Brian and I have ever been on.
Afterwards, we got a drink, went back to Elle's apartment, rinsed the mud off of our bodies, and then went to grab the best burgers at Seven Brothers with her roomates. We also drove around the temple there- which was so gorgeous. Loved spending time with Elle! Next day....off to Maui!