Zoooooooooo

I also added photos from a trip to the San Diego Zoo last week. Monkeys rule!

https://picasaweb.google.com/JimmyTheCook/20110405SanDiegoZoo

Frank the Tank. Yes I know he's an ape, not a monkey.

Hawai'i Conclusion

I flew from the Big Island to Oahu on the 15th of March and spent a couple of days there before spending ten days or so touring Kauai by myself. I returned to the mainland on the 30th (via San Diego for a week) and am currently in Dallas for a couple of weeks. I need to get my car ready for road-tripping, and I plan to head to Florida for a space shuttle launch scheduled for 4/29.

I've posted a lot more photos on Picasa Web, mostly related to my time on Kauai. Here's a brief summary:

• St. Patrick's Day in Honolulu with some EB friends.
• Spent three nights at three different beach parks on the eastern and northern coast of Kauai (Anahole, Hanalei, Ha'ena).
• Three days on the Kalalau Trail, a hike that I've been wanting to do for several years. Hiked in on day 1, stayed at Kalalau Beach for day 2, then hiked out on day 3. It was amazing.
• Visited some state parks on the south coast, with mixed results due to the weather.
• Spent a day doing some more touristy stuff on the south coast.
• Hiked through the highest swamp in the world and looked down on the Kalalau Trail from above.
• Saw a few final things before catching my flight off Kauai.

That is a painfully abbreviated synopsis of my time on Kauai. It's a beautiful island and I hope the photos will help tell my story more than I am putting in words here (shouldn't be hard).

All-in-all I was in Hawai'i for almost four months, and it was a hell of an experience. I have a lot more to do throughout the coming year, but this was a good start (especially considering the miserable winter they had in Connecticut and in Texas).