Today we took a long drive to and through the beautiful Waimea Canyon. To get there, we drove through several small towns, alongside coffee and sugarcane fields, and next to a lovely stretch of coastline. The coastline offered amazing views of neighboring islands to the west. We also spotted several humpback whales, including one that thumped its enormous tale on the ocean’s surface.
The canyon was ensconsed in fog and at first it seemed that it wouldn’t be worth the trip. Oh how wrong we were. Despite a serpentine road (which caused at least two mild cases of car sickness in our minivan), the views from the overlooks were incredible, even with heavy fog and mist.
You probably can’t see it from this photo, but in the distance is the Pacific Ocean. I can imagine early settlers forming lookouts from here to spot approaching vessels. Farther down the road was another amazing scene.
In less than five minutes, complete fog passed to reveal this site, and then complete obscured it again. During that time a helicopter flew into the canyon only to be lost (to me) in the fog. Even its sound was muted by the cloud. Had I been in that helicopter at that moment, I’m fairly sure I would have been freaking out.
On the drive back, we stopped for lunch and then the kids all fell asleep as I steered the minivan back down the winding canyon road.
Hatchomatic 