Aloha Kauai

 It's our last day on Kauai and thanks to Simone's planning, we are not rushed in any way today. No early morning hotel check out required. No rush to an early flight etc. 

I have a few jobs today...  do a light cleaning on the rental van... maybe a wash job if I feel like it.

Our flight leaves late tonight and we will fly through the night to arrive in Vancouver in the morning of the 28th... this is also known as the Red Eye. We will then jump onto another flight to Victoria.

We all enjoyed our morning coffee one last time and then started to prepare ourselves for departure. Some light packing and organizing for later.

Emile loaded his van with recycling while I cleaned out & washed ours. They took a trip into town to drop the recycling as well as Simone needed some eye drops. They also may purchase another suitcase for the trip home as they have a few extra items now. 

Kelly & I went through our closets/drawers and packed up most all of it, save for some swimming attire and clothes for the trip home. Although she will be using some of my suitcase space, our bag weights are well below the "Kelly Standard" that she usually meets which is 50 lbs less one ounce :-) 

We went for a walk on the beach as the weather has improved considerably since this morning's rain showers. The winds howled last night but have subsided a bit now.  Not great but certainly doable. The others had returned so we all decided to do one last swim down at the south end of the beach.

One last dip!

We all went back to the house and got the salt water showered off. Some additional packing and then a couple crib games broke out.  I eventually made up a big plate of  "Everything but the Kitchen Sink" Nachos (i.e. everything I could find in the fridge that sounded good!).  It must have been ok because it all disappeared quickly!

We did a major garbage clean out and then had a game of Five Crowns... didn't quite finish the game as time ran out so we loaded the vans up with our bags. Kelly and I headed out first as we needed to get fuel and deliver the van to the Turo parking lot. We left the house at 7:18 pm. and stopped at Shell for a fill up. We then went into town by Costco and easily found the area to drop the van, Pictures taken of our rental, we grabbed the Turo shuttle and went to the airport. We quickly joined the rest of the gang and once checked in and through security, we headed to the Tiki Bar for a beverage and to finish our game. We finished it up with me winning and then played another game as we had lots of time to kill. Emile won this one! 

Off to the gate and we boarded the flight and actually left a few minutes early.. bonus. The plane flew through the night and the ride was fine overall with just some light turbulence. 

It's now Tuesday the 28th, 2025 and we landed into Vancouver ahead of schedule. There was a medical emergency onboard so the paramedics came on to attended to a women in the back of the plane. She walked off off so not as bad as it could have been. A minor delay and then we all got off. 

Unfortunately the way the customs clearance is set up for connecting passengers, we did not see Hugh & Simone nor Emile & Heather as we headed to our connecting flight to Victoria. We did text and I called Hugh to thank them again.

Super easy customs with Nexus and once over at gate 10, we grabbed a Starbucks Coffee and relaxed until our flight departed. A de-ice spray was required due to the frost but we finally made it over to Victoria where our son Kris uber'ed us home. Kelly is now napping while I finish off this blog update.

It's been a great two weeks on the island and we managed to hit most places that intrigued us. A big "Thank You!" to Hugh & Simone for letting us come along on this trip. We are very grateful for their hospitality in allowing us to join them. It was also  great to have Heather and Emile along as they kept the activity options constantly coming.