True to form, we’ve returned home from vacation where we fell in love all over again and strengthened our relationship even further in the process. Spending quality time together is vitaly important for any Couple wishing to continue thriving in their relationship. Even though kids aren’t in the picture to distract us from our bond we’re committed to strengthing our marriage with things like regular dates, adventures/activities together and so on. Our Trip to Big Sur and Kauai is such an adventure that provided us with ample opportunities to simply enjoy each others company.

Big Sur is a magical place located along the California coast and it’s a choice venue for what was dubbed the “Wedding of the Century” (WOTC). The location for WOTC was just south of where Jo and I got engaged in Carmel (on the Beach during a “green flash” sunset).  We stayed at the Big Sur Lodge and shared our place with some longtime friends, and coincidentaly they are childfree also. We spent the day before WOTC hiking (pfieffer falls/valley view), eating at Nepenthe (a cool clifftop bar/restaurant overlooking the Pacific), and just hanging out talking, having a beer/cocktails/snacks at our own impromptu happy hour, and taking an occasional nap.

Some highlights of WOTC include:

• Chartered buses to and from the venue (nobody had to drink and drive!)
• Ceremony took place on the cliffs edge, overlooking the pacific ocean at sunset
• Rings were brought to the officiant by the bearer who was handcuffed to a silver attache case and protected by mock secret service guys who wore suits, mirrored glasses and the whole 9-yards! (queue mission impossible music!)
• Full bar featuring vino from Chronic Cellars, good beers and all the hard stuff you’d ever want to destroy your kidneys with
• All food was excellent and prepared outside on the grill
• Vows included simultaneous “We Do” responses Vs. the traditional “I Do” from each as an individual
• 10′ x 10′ bon fire lit for a spectacular visual, heat, and to make smores! (a local kid dipped his marshmello in coffee before roasting…not bad kid!)
• Fully functioning photo booth along with goofy glasses for guests to take fun and silly pictures with, which they’d sign and place in an album for the bride and groom, plus a strip of the photos popped out to take home for whoever won the ro sham bo (that’s rock, paper, scissors)
• No wedding cake!…rather, there were several bite-sized and tasty desserts to be had. Most people sampled 2-4 different treats…I’m not most people – I had 6!
• River rocks with our names written on them with permanent marker acted as placeholders for our assigned seats (how organic, cool, and green-thinking!)
• Parting gifts were tree seedlings from a variety of species/families that could be planted in the ground in honor of the couple’s new beginning

How many of the above bullets are totally new to you when it comes to weddings? It was indeed the Wedding of the Century and perfectly embodies their class and sense of humor. Other than the full bar and great food, all of these elements were new to us…and it made for a very cool and refreshing ceremony/reception. This kind of wedding will serve as a great launching pad for the happy couple as they enter into their lives together doing things their way.

Now, on to Kauai!

We have four cats and one of them, Roscoe the Kid, usually goes on the road with us.  As such, we drove to our current home away from home in Stockton and tended to him (food/litter/water/love) before taking off for a week to Hawaii the next day (he was attended to in our absense as well…4 days alone for Roscoe is the max we like to do). After two loads of laundry and some Roscoe loving, we cruised over to the East Bay and had an awesome home-cooked dinner with Jo’s sister Cindy Lou and hubby Patrick. They are a hard-working couple that have chosen to be childfree as well…and they enjoy being able to take 2-week-long trips to exotic places by themselves from time to time – not something you can easily do with kids in the picture.

From dinner we drove to Oakland and crashed near the airport so the morning commute to our flight would be super-easy. Next thing we knew we were sitting pretty in our first class seats on Hawaiian Airlines and sipping guava juice and champagne (see previous post for explanation on how we got first class for free)…smiling, laughing and toasting each other every other minute it seemed.

Arriving in Kauai and getting to our resort (Marriott at Kalapaki Beach) was a piece of cake. Driving up the tiki torch laden entryway to the resort brought back memories of our honeymoon back in 2001. There is a huge escalator that runs from the valet/entry area down to the lobby. We call this escalator “the threshold” because our first time down it I picked up Jo and we kissed the entire way down…something we re-enact each time we go down now (except for the picking up – that was a special one-time thing).

Just about every time we go to Hawaii we intend to learn how to surf…but haven’t yet because of foot/knee injuries incurred early on our trip. Also, despite the fact that neither of us has surfed, we’re both drawn to it and even watch the same surf movies over and over again. You’d also think that since we’re avid beach volleyball players and spend tons of time in the sand alongside the Pacific Ocean where waves roll in endlessly that at some point we’d give it a try. We’ve designated ourseves as “surf snobs” because we only want to learn in the warm waters of Hawaii. On this trip though we had another priority, Stand Up Paddleboarding (SUP)!

We’ve been seeing this sport emerge over the last few years and keep hearing what a great form of exercise it is, especially for the core.  To avoid our usual self-induced injury-thwarting behavior we scheduled to SUP on our first day with a 90-minute lesson. I like to think I’m a fit guy and was pretty much in shock at how my legs became tired immediately, even before I stood up…I was just paddling from my knees! Add some gulps of ocean water from my piss-poor open-mouthed falling technique and you can pretty much imagine how not fun this initial outing was for me.

Jo on the other hand fared better than I and even got into position on one occasion to catch a wave from a kneeling position. She screamed as the wave took her rapidly towards the shore…traveling a good 100 feet or so. I had the opportunity to get into position for a wave as well but I was just too damn tired and didn’t have the energy to stand, except for short stints. To make day 1 of SUP worse, conditions were windy, choppy and some parts of the island were under a small craft advisory. Despite the adversity on the water and physical toll, neither of us were satisfied with the outing and we vowed to go out again.

For two days we worked out, let our legs recover, and marinated on our SUP experience while overlooking Kalapaki Beach from our balcony or Duke’s restaurant and barefoot bar, which has a great view of the water. We soaked up everything the instructor said in our lesson and from Duke’s we watched countless SUP’ers work the water the right way.

The next time out we rented paddleboards for an hour (no instructor) and hit it. The conditions were much better as the water had flattened out and wind died down. We both popped up with ease and instantly paddled smoother and with more power than on day 1. Jo steadily improved while I took a major leap and motored around the bay with ease. Even my falling was better. Jo taught me to “hummm” when I fall in the water so 1) my mouth was sure to be closed and 2) no water will get swallowed.

Since it was just me and Jo on vacation, we were able to try SUP’ing more than once together in the same trip. We both had a blast and were proud of how much we both improved in such a short time. This was one of our favorite trips to Hawaii and the fun we had on the water gets a lot of credit for that. As a couple we cherish all of our “first experiences” together…such as tasting wine at a new house, seeing a Van Halen concert, taking dancing lessons, etc.

Other highlights of the trip included:

• Morning walks every day (along the ocean, lagoons, golf course and resort grounds)
• Watched cruise ships come and go from a rocky point at the end of the bay
• Witness full rainbows on three consecutive mornings
• Intertubed through the ditch system of an old sugar cane plantation
• Ate fresh fish every night at great restaurants like Duke’s, Beachhouse in Poipu and North 22 (old Gaylord’s).
• Had “Good Morning” written in honey on the top of our chai latte’s at a local coffee shop (wish I had a picture of this)