Possible dates Thursday through Saturday of this coming week.
Shoot me an email if you want to schedule something at rachel@rachelthurston.com
The north shore of Kauai is my location of choice, preferably in the Princeville community. I have stayed in many different condos/apartments/villas within the community but my favorite development by far as been the Villas of Kamalii. The one I found for Grant and I was my favorite unit within the villas. It Is unit #51 which the owners lovingly call "The Rainbow Connection" and once you check out the views from the lanai, you'll know why.
Coming from our humble 520 square feet abode, it really felt gigantic. The kitchen was beautiful and clean and equipped with a vita mix blender! There were two huge flat screen TV's, 30 second walk to the pool, hot tub and grill and the most amazing viewing from the lanai. Seriously we just sat out there and stared.
I am totally plugging this place, because if you ever need a place to stay on the north shore Adria and Louanne were great to work with and their villa beautiful.
You can find more information on renting this unit here.
2. Jump off sand cliffs
3. Watch the sunset at Ke'e beach, rain or shine.
4. Go kayaking and see what the humidity can do to your hair.
5. Gnaw on your lovers shoulder till he says ouch.
6. Stop off for another round of Banana Joe's.
7. Take photos of sun rays or rainbows from the Hanalei look out.
8. Take a horseback ride where you end at a swimming hole and waterfall and eat a picnic lunch with a rooster.
9. Go watch the sunset or look at the view of the Napalei coastline from the deck of the old Princeville Hotel (now St. Regis). (If you are already sick of sunset photos cover your eyes).
10. Leave your beloved north shore and spend your last few days at the Hyatt in Poipu. Swim in the pools, order drinks poolside and get your own private cabana with an ocean view. Act like the royalty you are.
11. Kick and scream as they drag you on your red eye flight home. Be a little bit mad at Kauai for being so perfect. Make up the next time you are reunited.
The End.
Every morning we ate a papaya (sometimes 2) with lime and apple bananas.
Lau lau is my favorite Hawaiian dish. Usually consists of fish or pork wrapped in taro leaves and steamed. Sadly I usually have a hard time finding this and when I do it is in short supply. I should move there and sell lau lau out of a truck.
Banana Joe's. My guilty pleasure. But not so guilty really.
They have what they call "frosties".
The only two ingredients in this magical treat are frozen pineapple and frozen banana.
Blend the two together and out comes a delicious, creamy, all natural delicacy.
I think we came here 4 or 5 times. I hear I can make this exact same thing in my blendtec blender. I must try.
We found amazing chocolate haupia pie at a bakery Hanalei.
This place was a new find for me. Pat's Taqueria. A taco truck parked in the parking lot by the Hanalei pier. It was out of this world. We tried the carne asada and fish tacos and both were excellent. Full of flavor and spice. Pat Grenz, who once cooked at Bar Acuda, opened this joint because he wanted to run a place that serves the food he loves....and for that I love him.
...and there were gold fish. Parmesan gold fish to be exact. A girl should never go kayaking without them.Want to eat this stuff too? You should:
Lau lau- Pono Market
Banana Joe's
Haupia Pie- Village Snack and Bakery
Pat's Taqueria
Yesterday while I was editing these, I started watching "Biggest Loser" on Hulu. I'm not sure if it was the show, or the fact that these photos are of my favorite place or how adorable and in love these two are....OR that I'm female and sometimes get hormonal..but I cried on and off the whole time. Serious. I would see someone on Biggest Loser climb a mountain and then simultaneously open up an image of Tony kissing Nicole's forehead in a taro field, and it was really too much. I was overcome with positive endorphins.
I wish I could just post every image I took at this photo shoot, so you could see how fun and awesome and beautiful the day and this couple were.
I am leaving my calendar indefinitely open for Hanalei engagement shoots or wedding shoots, or any type of shoot! Just watch out for tears while I edit.
In celebration of it being Monday, I wanted to share with you my favorite discovery....instant oatmeal on airplanes!
It doesn't matter if I just ate a huge meal, I step onto an airplane and am hungry. Sometimes I get fancy and make food and bring it, but other times I fall prey to airport food or WORSE airplane food. Then it came to me. Instant oatmeal. Healthy, filling, add water and presto! Now I keep a couple bags in every carry on (and a plastic spoon, or you will be sipping it). My instant oatmeal of choice is the organic kind from Costco.
Bon appetite.
Back from Kauai. Pretty much the best week ever. Oh, and did I mention I had a couple fly over from Oahu for a photo shoot? Icing on the haupia pie. We shot their engagements in Hanalei, which is probably my favorite place in the world. You heard me. World.
I am kind of out of sorts from the fake night of airplane sleep, but once refreshed I plan on tackling all sorts of things to edit so I can share some great images from these past few weeks.
Mahalo.
-bikes
-bridges
-streetcar
-aerial tram
-old architecture
-new architecture
-sustainable fish and amazing organic foods
-river
-trees
-haylie and ross are super cool and easy to photograph
-and the rental cars are not off site at the airport! major bonus.
While in Portland we ate at this great restaurant, Besaws, in the Nob Hill neighborhood.
Basically it was lunch time, but we had to order breakfast. I could really eat breakfast items for every meal. I ordered a salmon scramble and Grant ordered some hamburger, cholesterol laden egg thing that was super good. Oh, I almost forgot! We ordered mac n' cheese too....only a half order, but still...
We were very happy, especially since our server use to be a sailor. I like to think of him as a pirate though.
After belly's full we took a walk around the neighborhood. Big trees, colored leaves, warm sunshine. Good job Portland.
hotel indigo is located in the gaslamp quarter of san diego, ca. It is brand new, completely "green", and just a few blocks away from the mission that serves delicious breakfast. I would stay there again.
(don't know where I found this photo, just know I can't take credit)I think my sister should have a bouquet of yellow ranunculus for her wedding. don't you? and I would like to wear one in my hair to match, thank you very much.
I am in glorious portland oregon this weekend to shoot what I'm sure will be an amazing loved filled wedding. I even brought along my favorite assistant, granty pants. so much to post next week, including mandy and brian's wedding that took place in san diego and three arch bay in laguna beach. tons of delicious images.
now I need to go explore portland. any good food recommendations? I'm so sure....I just ate breakfast and I am already planning lunch. I should have married food.
husband came home from work one day this week and presented me with his laptop. I clicked through the powerpoint presentation and saw these....
best early birthday surprise ever!!!!!
I have recently become ever increasingly obsessed with getting back to my island, somehow with someone (I know I went to hawaii 3 times last year, but to be fair, only once to kauai).
It's true I am in charge of travel...online forms just give the mr too much trouble. so, this week in between editing I have been planning and daydreaming. I booked the tickets today and november is the month!
I know it seems like we travel a lot, and we do, but most of it is for work and although those trips can be relaxing at times it's not the same as planning REAL r&r . also, some of you may be thinking "you've been to kauai how many times? don't you want to spend your time and money vactioning someplace else?" for those with any similar questions, I'm guessing you haven't spent much time on the garden isle. it just doesn't get old.
(is my husband a dreamboat or what?)
ansel adams isn't the only one who can take yosemite landscapes. so can YOU!
lil' banan joined us for family fun. she was lovin sharing a tent with the newlyweds. I had no choice but to sleep smashed in the middle...but guess who was toasty and warm?
brilliant food tent. bye bye bugs.
sometimes grant carries a lot of electronics.
I didn't take very many photos this trip becuase unfortuantly I wasn't feeling too well. allergic reaction on my lip, upset stomach and motion sickness. wristbands as proof.
happy baby.
did you know they can catch bears in this contraption? makes me kind of sad to think about it. oh, also there were signs everywhere that said, "driving slowly saves bears"....true... but what about, "people beware! a bear might eat you!" I want to protect the bears but I also want to protect myself.
swimming hole. icy water...but we were brave and dipped in.
my fish, mountain river or ocean.
love this one of half dome. want to backpack it and maybe sleep in a hammock off the side of a cliff.
took a short STEEP hike to vernal falls. ate lunch on top of a rock.
"wingapo"
nanny goat bought anna her own raft but the water level was so low we didn't use it. she was very sad not to use her special boat for special people.
I think I was wearing 5 layers at this point. I should have taken measurements.
one of the best things about camping, cooking over a fire. tinfoil dinner night.
on the way home stopped at a little food fair. had these aweseme smoked pulled pork nachos with bbque sauce, ranch and a coleslaw salad on top. SO delicious.
we also tried a navajo taco. ok, but not the best. the bread was too fluffy.
of course we had to get the baby boy a hand dipped corn dog. when you look this good in your 30's you can afford a little grease.thanks hugh and nancy for inviting us. we had a great time. next time more photos and more star time. next time winter at the ahwahnee?
believe it or not BOTH of these photos were taken at night.
the moon in the first image looks as bright as the sun...but if you look closely you can see stars in the dark blue sky.
...and that second photo...lets just say I have a major star crush. I could lay and stare forever.
we spent labor day weekend in yosemite. it was very pretty indeed. after camping, I flew straightway to utah for work. I make my way back home today...excited this week to work on a wedding, some family documentaries, pretty jewel photos..and really excited to lay on the hammock and continue crushing on the the sky from my own backyard.
happy thursday.
taken on our drive back from boulder, nv.
(on my way to oklahoma today...where the wind comes rushing!)
t
during our stay in paradise this weekend we took a few hours to tour the hoover dam. worth it!
it was really hot outside (understatement), but it was interesting to learn all the little facts.
for some reason it made me so sad that they had to divert the colorado river from it's original path while building the dam. that river had traveled down path and created that river bed for how long? and we just come in with a bunch of steel and decide to move it? I know it helped in a lot of ways, but I just felt bad for the colorado.
in true form, I wanted to know more facts about the lifestyle of the workers. what did they eat? what were living conditions like? were they happy? did they feel like they were living up to their full potential....you know, the basics. I also was slightly obsessed with finding out how many people died while building the dam. why weren't they telling us this fact? I wanted to know if there were people stuck inside that concrete! finally we had to ask one of the tour guides and the number wasn't very impressive. I can't even remember....30 or 40.
they were about finished building the bridge that will take traffic over the dam. amazing! it was a bunch of concrete hanging over the air. how? HOW? made me think of "the fountainhead" by ayn rand.
thanks to the dam for an interesting and information afternoon.
thanks again to beana and her family for inviting us. this place is a total dreamboat.
grant and I are trying to relish our weekend getaways while they are still easy to do. life only gets more complicated right?
summertime just makes me happy.
highlights:
- BIG TREES! (seriously scared me at first)
- camp fire
-cooking over camp fire
- grant gathering wood for about 18hrs. my man, keeping me warm.
- dates to the outhouse
-chapstick in the bear locker
-smoke
-queen sized blow up mattress
-"cute"
-the bear clapping while hiking
-cherries
-pasta salad
-car sick! (lowlight)
-1st road trip with mini computer
-grace alles house and grandpa peters notes!
- light+ sunflares+ smoke=slight obsession
-grants hot air on the fire
-tired at 7pm
-waiting for the stars
-wet wipes
-mineral king canyon hiking. amazing.
- love languages in the field on a blanket by a stream with golden light and popcorn.
- mind numbing cold water
-nectarine pie
-g laying in my bed of pine needles
-family posing in front of park sign
-brioche buns
-la princessa
-the way the air smelled
-reliving old memories with grant (I loved being somewhere he had been when he was little)
-making new memories
-marmots!
-biggest tree (overrated!!)
-swimming hole. NOT! (next time babe, promise)
It was my first time to sequoia national park. I love going somewhere new, almost more than anything and I love going to those new places with grant. we stayed two nights in mineral king in the cold springs campground and drove our last day into the park to hang with some giant trees. It was amazing to see a place with so many memories for my husband. I loved mixing the old memories with the new. I was car sick for a whole day coming back down mineral kings windy road, but I think if I wait long enough I think I could be talked in to going back. might have to get out in walk in front of the car next time like g's mom did when she was younger.
seriously love those big trees. hard to really get how humongous they are from a photograph. gotta be there. gotta go!
a really amazing way to celebrate independence day weekend. huzzah!
(here's my man on what may be the world's most gorgeous hiking trail)
what's up with making promises I can't keep?
dear blog,
please forgive me for abandoning you this week.
next week will be better, promise.
(there I go promising again!)
xo-
rach
more photos from our holiday weekend tomorrow. xo.