Thursday, April 14, 2011

Kauai Part 5 - Holy sunburn!

Damn you, Hawaii, for being so close to the equator! And damn you, ocean, for washing off our sunscreen! And damn you, northern European ancestry, for making us so susceptible to UV rays! Yes, we just can't keep up and we are all suffering from some degree of sunburn. Spending 6 hours a day in or near a body of water will do that, I guess. We are applying waterproof SPF 50 at least twice a day, plus having the kids wear swim shirts. I guess it's not enough. I think we'll take a break from swimming tomorrow to allow our skin to recover. Being that we took the kids out of school for a week, I think an educational trip to the Kauai Museum is in order.

The day started at its customary 5 am, but this time we actually had to be somewhere at an early hour. We boarded the Black Beauty helicopter at 7 am and I must say it was pretty awesome. This island is so beautiful one can almost begin to suffer from beauty fatigue. So I may not have appreciated it all at the time, but I've been thinking about the sights all day. There are parts of the island that get on average 480 inches of rain each year, but a few miles over there are cacti growing! The big canyon looks almost like the Grand Canyon. There are literally dozens of huge waterfalls coming down the mountain. It is truly a tropical paradise.

We spent the rest of the day at two beaches, snorkeling and boogie boarding. Hence, the sunburn. For dinner, we met up with some of Lisa's colleagues. It was good to see these friends we only see every year or so. The reason we are even in Hawaii is that Lisa is giving a bunch of lectures at a veterinary emergency and critical care conference, so many of her ECC buddies are here. The conference starts tomorrow and Lisa is of course still working on her talks.

I've had a few glasses of wine so I'm going to call it a day. Goodnight.

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