So it's been a while since I posted anything here, and that is because I have been about as swamped and stressed as I have been for a while. So when I realized that this medical training journey was actually going to end, I also realized that I wanted to celebrate this end right. I also realized that after I started working I would probably have a hard time getting away for long.
So putting my realizations together, I realized that what I really wanted to do was go somewhere cool. Somewhere far away. For a long time. We, of course, had time and money constraints, so after much debating and comparing, we settled on a trip to Hawaii. More specifically to Kauai. We chose that island because it was described as the most beautiful and undeveloped island with lots of outdoor things to do. We love outdoors activities, and this was supposed to be loaded with them.
Fast forward to our trip. Grandma and Grandpa Steed were kind enough to watch the kids, so that Heather and I could get away from (almost) all of our responsibilities. And although we were still involved by phone in getting ready to close on our house in Texas, we had a blast! We actually didn't do as much as I thought we would originally, but we did relax. We saw beautiful places like the spectacular view from the first 2 miles of the Na Pali trail, an amazing botanical garden, and the fantastic beauty of the plants all over the island. We loved all the hibiscus, plumeria, monkeypod, and african violets just to name a few.
We went on a helicopter tour of the island, which was amazing, but did make both Heather and I pretty nauseated, which tempered how much we liked it. We loved going to a fun luau at the Smith Family Garden. We tried the shave ice, which I have to say, didn't live up to all the hype for us. We also tried the local saimin, which is a fancy ramen noodle dish that we did like. I even ate fish and really liked it. I have to figure out what kind of fish Ono is on the mainland.
The whole experience was wonderful. We have now put Kauai on our list of places to definitely go back to. For us, that is saying something, since we almost always want to go somewhere new. So there you go.
This is an official Sycamore Thumbs Up to Kauai. Pictures to follow!
