Waimea Valley Waterfall...

Waaaaaay back when CJ and Danielle were in town we went to visit the Waimea Waterfall.  If you check out Dave's blog from time to time, then you have seen this waterfall on this post or this post...since he's been there like 4 times  The first time I went to Waimea I mistakenly left my SD card at home (oops), so I didn't get to take any pictures.

Waimea is an Ahupua'a.  What is an Ahupua'a?  Well, I'll tell you!  First, you sort of pronounce it as awe-who-pu-a-a (at least that's as close as I have become to the actual pronunciation ..only true locals seem to pronounce it correctly; every time I think I said it just like a local did they just shake their head and say 'nice try, but still no.'  Ha).  The word literally translates to mean from the mountains to the sea.  It was how land on the island of O'ahu was initially subdivided between different tribes.  So each tribe, or group of people, had a mountain area (where streams would develop), a plains area (to grow crops), and the sea (fishing).  This ensured that each group had a mixture of necessary natural resources.

Today, for the most part, these ahupua'a's are gone, with the exception being Waimea Vally.  Waimea Valley is now a protected sanctuary for protected plants and birds.  Many of the cities around the island are actually named after the old ahupua'a (example: Honolulu and Waikiki were previous ahupua'a's).

OK, well on to some of the pictures.

Danielle, Dave and CJ crossing the bridge

Here is the beautiful waterfall.  It is very refreshing to be in since it's fresh water, but it's pretty cold too.  If it looks famaliar then that's because its often used as a filming location for TV shows or movies (ie. Lost, Jurassic Park, and so on).

CJ and Danielle in the waterfall

Battling a thorn...it was so big it went through my sandle and was poking me in the bottom of my foot.
...and I need a haircut, but don't worry: I already got one.