Photos by The Bearded Bousman Photo Co.

Hair by: Glamour Bar Denver

Outfit by: Inspyre Boutique

Hey everyone! I finally have some pictures to show you from my trip to Kauai, Hawaii! Jordan and I went there the other week and we had an absolute blast!

On the way there we watched a few movies on the airplane. We watched the Great Dictator by Charlie Chaplin and Gangster Squad and we may have started one more, but those two basically got us through the whole flight. Then Jordan and I did something really dumb. We were already feeling tired because we would be landing around 9 PM Hawaii time which is 1 AM Colorado time. So we decided we would sleep the rest of the flight, but we didn't just let ourselves naturally fall asleep - we took melatonin and dramamine to make ourselves go to sleep. Jordan remembered this trick from one of his over-seas trips to Europe or Africa, and the melatonin puts you to sleep and the dramamine keeps you asleep. If you really want to be knocked out for the majority of a flight, you're supposed to take these at the beginning of your long flight. Not with only 2-3 hours left!

So, we were already super tired + we had some drugs pulling us down deeper into sleep, and then it was time to land! We had to fight super hard to wake up enough to put our tray tables up and sit our seats back up right and then we slumped back asleep. Then we landed! And we had to wake ourselves up again and fight through the meds to get our overhead bags, walk all the way to the baggage claim, and then call a taxi to take us to our hotel.

Here we are in the middle of the night in a place we don't know in the backseat of a taxi and Jordan falls fast asleep, leaving me to try my best to stay awake the entire car ride. (Is anyone else paranoid like me? I try really hard to remember all the twists and turns in the road just in case I get kidnapped and have to get back to the airport myself. haha) We were totally helpless if anything bad happened because we were so tired and being dragged down by the medicine. We did end up making it to the hotel safe and sound! And I'm never doing that again unless I have many many many.. many hours ahead of me on a flight.

But at least my hair felt good haha! I ranted on Instagram about how my blow out from Glamour Bar Denver felt so awesome. It was the BEST getting my hair washed, dried, and styled by someone else = no tired arms. #firstworldproblem And having clean hair for a whole 6+ hour flight?? That's priceless. If you travel often you know that's true!

We got to do so many fun adventures - practically one adventure a day with only one "bust" when we got rained out on the North side and didn't really find anything we could do in the rain. Some of the really fun adventures we did in Kauai were:

Explore the Kauai Coffee Company farm:

I posted a few of these photos to Instagram, but I'm still working on getting the edits juuuust right. The leaves all over the farm were such a lush green and I want all the photos to match and have the same green throughout haha I learned a lot about coffee cultivation on the walking tour. I hadn't ever seen a real coffee bean on the vine(?) before and it was so cool - honestly I still am confused is it a berry and the coffee bean is the seed? I'll have to ask Jordan. He is an ex-Starbucks barista, so he'll know :)

Explore the Waimea Canyon

I love being the passenger when Jordan drives, and he loves to drive! So, we are perfect for each other, what else is new? This was one of my favorite all-time drives with Jordan. 1. the scenery was beautiful 2. we had our favorite summer songs blasting 3. we both took our cameras along so he got to teach me a little bit more (if you have one of these big cameras, then you know just how intimidating they can be 4. The riverbed at the top of the canyon was dry so we followed it and followed it and followed it until we got al little scared and figured we should turn back haha.

Luau

Oh man! This Luau was so fun! Last year, I went to my first Luau and it was next to the beach and it was really nice. Something about this one's atmosphere was completely different and I felt so comfortable here. It's in the middle of a meadow surrounded by trees and the stage is under the cover of this huge rustic-looking plane hanger? That's the only way I can think to describe it. There are little store fronts set up all around the hanger where local vendors come to show off their products before the show. We both walked around looking at all the neat things beforehand and I bought some pearls from a local jeweler. I got a matching necklace and earrings in a green pearl which goes with so many of my clothes. I love them and wear them all the time now! Thanks Jordan for convincing me to buy them. (I'm so budget conscious that I rarely splurge on myself!) So thank you! xo

ATV Ride

The day we did the ATV ride, we weren't sure what we were going to do that day at all. I had overheard some people talking about ATVing through the land where Jurassic Park was filmed and that sounded like so much fun! So Jordan looked it up real quick and found out the company had two spots left that day! Read* You should book these things in advance. This ATV experience was another time when I was grateful I am the passenger I got to stare out at all the pretty scenery without worrying about driving! haha The land we were on was royal land at one time. In Kauai, whenever there is an entrance to royal land, there are trees planted on either side of the road lining the grand entrance. This one was so spectacular!

Snorkel and Sailing Tour on the Nā Pali Coast

Our snorkel tour was so good, but maybe it would be better if Jordan talked about this one. I was half asleep most of the time! ... I took some dramamine, even though I KNEW I shouldn't have - especially because of our plane experience - dumb dumb dumb, but I phsyched myself out and thought I miiight get sick. Now I know that I'd rather suffer through nausea and recover when I can than take pills that are going to knock me out involuntarily! FYI dramamine makes you super drowsy! So while everyone else was enjoying the ride out to the Na Pali coast, I was trying really hard to keep my eyes open! Ugh. It was the most frustrating thing!

Thankfully, when we got to the snorkel spot I started to wake up + Jordan asked the crew for a big cup of black coffee for me. The captain turned on some jams and the crew lifted the sail. (We had used the engine to get to our snorkel spot) The sun popped out, the sea breeze was wonderful, and we sailed all the way back home, along the coast. We could see every detail in the cliffs! The captain even drove us right up into a waterfall and people ran to the helm to get splashed by it.

Also! I love the shape of the houses in Hawaii! They are so quaint and just ooze the simple life. Jordan and I dreamed out-loud of moving to Hawaii while we were there - more like we really discussed the logistics of it all. When we would move, how long we would stay... If anyone could do it, I think we could! At least for the first few years of marriage before babes are involved! I just think of my favorite blogger Amber Fillerup who just got back from living there for about 6 months and how I could not get enough of her posts - so gorgeous! Also my sorority sister and favorite Instagramer @senaenelson lives in Hawaii now. Go check out her feed for more Hawaii vibes :) I just love how laid back it feels over there. Life just seems easier or simpler or both! Yep, I could live there.

I hope to get more photos up for you guys. (As I write this it's bedtime and I'll post photos of the trips if I can tomorrow.)

Thanks for stopping by!