The Outdoor Fireplace, Maddie's First (sort of) Solid Meal and Blue Hole

I started construction of the surround for my outdoor fireplace which has been ordered and is probably in transit somewhere in the middle of the Pacific as you read this. This involved cutting out the rails on the corner of the lanai and then constructing the surround out of plywood, 2x4s and slate. Things are moving relatively quickly with the biggest delays being the arrival of the firebox and chimney from the mainland and inability to use power tools above Maddie's bedroom while she naps (which happens to be when I have the most free time).



Speaking of Maddie, she still has killer hair, especially when backlit by the afternoon sun.
Angelic.
Maddie's first drink of water.
She got her first taste of rice cereal on May 5th and based on the pictures, she clearly enjoyed it. Even before the rice cereal she was growing in leaps and bounds, putting on weight and getting longer by the day. She's in the 90th percentile for length which makes her a veritable giant in the land of Hawaii.

On an unrelated topic, some friends and I hiked to Blue Hole this past weekend. The area is named for the view obtained by gazing up from the caldera of the extinct volcano Wai'ale'ale, the centerpiece for the formation of Kauai and now the wettest place on earth (~430 inches of rain/year). This hike involves a 4 wheel drive road through the gates featured in Jurassic Park to a gauging station and water diversion dam. The "trail" crosses the dam and runs through the stream and intermittently along the stream deep into the center of Kauai. After hiking/riverwalking about a mile, many multiple-tiered silver ribbon waterfalls come into view along the sheer green cliffs of the caldera.
At any given time, 5-7 waterfalls are visible from this point onward.
On and on we hiked over slippery river rock, mud and cliffs for about 4 miles until we arrived on a small clearing at the center of the volcano. What you see from this clearing can be conveyed by neither pictures nor words. I can only equate it to the grandeur of the NaPali coast, the summit view from a Colorado 14'er and Yosemite Valley, possibly the Grand Canyon. Sheer cliffs rise thousands of feet and into the clouds with waterfalls erupting from the tops and walls due to the sheer volume of water deposited in this area by near constant rainfall. From where we stood, these steep, watery walls surrounded us completely. Looking out through a notch in the "hole", a perfect 4-tiered waterfall was visible.

Despite being the only people in the caldera that day, the feeling of solitude was marred by the constant stream of helicopters invading this sacred place. Yes, they experienced Wai'ale'ale crater, but we were immersed in it. The hike out continued to be rainy, misty, foggy and slippery, but about 30 minutes after the turnaround, the clouds began to break up, the sun peeked through and soon the emerald green top of Wai'ale'ale was visible contrasted against the clear blue sky with waterfalls still shimmering on the walls of the crater.
I've lived here for 9 months and that was the first time that I'd seen the summit. Near the summit the mountain was all jagged notches carved by powerful waterfalls proceeding to precipitous drops into the caldera. Magnificent.

The hike out gave us a different perspective of the topography especially when we detoured onto a pig trail and ended up shoulder deep in skin-tearing ferns. We persevered until we found a moderate downslope to return to the stream. On arrival at the stream we were greeted by a deep pool which soothed our scratched arms and legs. We hobbled the last couple miles in the stream and crossed the dam back to our car after 7 hours.

Even a couple days later, my legs ache and I look like I got into a fight with a cat. I've hiked twice that distance and felt better afterwards, but I certainly wouldn't give up the experience.