1 Soooo...I billed this hike as an escape from the muddy mountains. Let's go somewhere makai, says I, to hopefully find a trail that's dry! Gramma and Sam are doing a little sword-fighting to pass the time while we gear up. (Trekking poles for swords.)
2 Off we went through tall grass to the tide pools below Pele's Chair. Tried not to think about our dear friends the centipedes as we bushwhacked through grass and mud.
3 Hmmm... getting a bit muddy! I was thinking, what a great shoe choice, these hikers are not falling off like the crocs we sometimes choose! I would learn soon that even these shoes were no match for the mud!
4 Slipper inside and out!
5 Almost there! We're laughing all the way :)
6 Kathy and Anneliese are troopers!
7 Finally at the tide pools - cool grey sand and sedimentary layers evident in the rock.
8 There's Pele's Chair above us.
9 The view around the base of Makapu'u Point.
10 See the shoe floating? Mom is cleaning the other one :)
11 Time for a swim!
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14 Sam is really into building rock walls now. He worked for about half an hour to build one just where Anneliese is standing (orange shorts).
15 All the kids working hard now, just before we hit the trail back out.
16 See that plastic bag Kathy has? It will come in handy later...
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19 The rock wall! Good masonry!
20 We checked out a Jeep trail on the way out to see if it was any better. Parts were - the dry crackly parts - but the rest of it was very deep mud! Note to self - the upper trail was better despite getting less sun on the actual trail. I guess all that water drained down and collected and there was no grass to "suck" it up.
21 Ahhh...many discussions about "taking the higher road" but alas, the kids lost their shoes anyway! We moms tried to be good and laugh through it all, despite having just cleaned them up entirely.
22 Whoa!!! La Brea Tar Pits!
23 This shoe weighed a TON! We decided to go barefoot at this point!
24 Mom wrestled the other one out of the ground!
25 Look at Sam's face!
26 And his backside!
27 I asked Anneliese if she wanted to hold hands today, as is their sweet custom on many trails, and she declined, strangely. ha!
28 Mom is always up for a crazy adventure! Now I know where I get it from :)
29 Kathy is a real trooper. And you know why? Check out the next slide...
30 We both get RARE pedicures. Like annually. This is a FRESH pedicure from about a week ago! That mud will leave a nice line around her entire nail bed!! I know this from experience. I don't know why I had muddy toes a month ago, but I did. Ohhh...now I remember - the Jackass Ginger Pool expedition! Love ya, friend! Thanks for sticking with me (ha!) on dry trails and wet :) And that plastic bag? Went over the driving foot for the trip home :) People were looking at us a little funny at the parking lot thinking "we did read this is a PAVED road, right?"