Kauai: Waimea Canyon

My dad loves canyons, and growing up, many of our family vacations included a visit to a canyon or gorge of some sort.  We never visited the Grand Canyon, although my parents may have done that more recently.  I can’t quite remember.  Regardless, my dad would LOVE this canyon.  It was incredible.  I thought of him all day. What I was not prepared for before traveling to Kauai was the diversity of climate and geographical features on one tiny island:  coastal plains, mountains, one of the rainiest places on earth, dry and dusty swaths of land where cacti actually grow, rocky beaches, sandy beaches.  The day we drove up to this canyon was hot and sunny.  I was not complaining because there was a windchill advisory back home, and the temperature in Northern Minnesota never rose above zero.  I loved the waterfalls off in the distance in the canyon.